Your earliest Muppet memory

[MrsPepper]

What are some of the things you remember about the muppets from your childhood?
My childhood was filled with alot of muppet influence.


My favourite plastic spoon, bowl, dish, and cup were Sesame Street, each with a unique design. The only 2 surviving pieces to my fabulous pimped-out dishware are the bowl (which has cookie monster on the bottom with 4 cookies and a big number 4, and the numbers from 1 to 20 are around the rim) and the cup (which is very faded, but it has various characters holding blocks with things like ABC 123 on them, and stuff).

Also, as a small child whenever I'd fish with my family, my brother and I would always call "Heeeeeere, fishy fishy fishy!!!" to catch fish (it actually works!).

I had a Big Bird doll, also. And my parents would always quote Sesame Street to me. I think they liked it as much as I did! (Though they're not perfect; I still hear about "Smy Guiley" once in awhile. )

I used to love the muppet movies, as well, and reruns on TMS.

So what are your earliest muppet childhood memories?

(By the way, these can be both Sesame and Muppet. I figured this category was generic enough to include both. If a mod feels it should be moved, please do so. )

 

[Sgt Floyd]

Suprisingly, I hardly EVER watched sesame street when I was younger (and dont really now). I remember watching TMS reruns with my dad though...the only episode I definatly remember seeing is the one where the pigs take over the show.

 

[superboober]

By age two in 1984 I had Muppets 6 out of 7 days of the week. My local PBS affiliate (WVIA-38 Scranton) aired SS at 12 and 4 weekdays (they used the 70s PBS logo for about 2 years after the rest of the network retired it). I'd usually watch both times, although I'd usually switch away before the credits ended because I consider the CPB horns and bells ident to be apocalyptic at the time. I would crawl under my mother's laundry basket and pretend I was Oscar, popping out at key intervals. I would also find myself imitating Grover at times, hopping up and down in the yard and saying Wubba Wubba (because he's right; it does sound so nice to say). Sunday nights at 7:30 I would turn instinctively to HBO. I dare anyone in the same age group to say they didn't feel that rush of adrenaline when the immortal HBO in Space bumper--a thrill in its own right--started rolling at the bottom of the hour (with that special variation that had a different end music once we zapped inside the O), knowing that once those flashing comets disappeared, we'd fade into Doc's workshop and to a special place. I recall distinctly standing right in front of the screen and rocking from side to side with a big grin on my face along with the theme. It was soon after that we made sure to procure stuffed Gobo and Wembley dolls at the local Gee Bees, both of which I still had with me up till age 9.

 

[Tim]

I guess I'm lucky being as old as I ma. I got to see Jim's work almost from the beginning.

My mom was really cool about letting my sister and me stay up late even on a school night to watch Jack Parr, but only if The Muppets were on. (For those of you too young to know who I'm talking about, Jack Parr hosted the "Tonight" show before Johnny Carson, who hosted it before Jay Leno!) We got to see such bits as "Glowworm" done for almost the first time on televison! Next thing was Rowlf on "The Jimmy Dean Show"-that was in black and white, which was o.k. since so was our T.V.. My sister and I could never figure out how Rowlf could have a moving mouth AND both hands working! Best of all, one Christmas the Sears Catalog had a Rowlf pajama bag/puppet for sale! Sadly, we didn't get one that Christmas..or any other. I've never even SEEN one of those anyplace since then..even eBay hasn't come through with one yet. I also remember some of the commercials they were doing, including an HFC home loan one involving a talking house!

Anyway, those are my earliest memories...

 

[ReneeLouvier]

I was born in 1986, after the big "new programs" of everything was done. We didn't have HBO, so I never saw Fraggle Rock until I was ten years old or so, and...somewhere they had reruns of it. (Forgot where now. >>)

Sesame Street: My mother and me always watched SS together. I used to sing along with the songs, if I knew them. And my mother's told I always tried to sing the ABC song with Big Bird. I loved the Kermit bits the most.

Muppets: I forgot which came first - Re-Runs of Muppet Babies, on Nick, or re-runs of TMS on Nick. But either way, I just fell in love with them...then I fell out of love with them. Not really falling out of love, but just...not around them as much. Then 5 years ago, we saw MCC in the bargain bin at Wal-Mart. It was $5, a VHS. Mom suggested we get it. So...we got it. I watched it. Then I went scouring the house for other muppet stuff. I found my 6 1/2 hours of Muppet Babies, recorded and bought VHS's. I found "Follow That Bird", and "The Great Muppet Caper" also recorded. I had forgotten I had those.

And I was hooked again.

 

[Muppet Matt]

I had (still have) a plush Big Bird toy that I used to play with, I also used to LOVE the PVC figures and got a SS back pack for Christmas one year. I remember watching SS too.

 

[CensoredAlso]

This is a nice thread idea.

I always watched Sesame Street and I had...let's see...a toy chest, foot stool, toothbrush, play set, action figures, etc. Sheesh, I think my parents made the CTW very wealthy! I had records and books on tape (Yeah I feel old!). I remember one where Bert and Ernie sang about how they used to be afraid of the dark and taking a bath.

I distinctly remember watching Sesame Street and hearing that today was the day the adults were finally going to see Snuffy, even my mom knew that was important!

My very first exposure to The Muppets was probably the three fairy tale specials, Hey, Cinderella!, The Frog Prince, and The Musicians of Berman. Kermit was in all of them of course and I guess that's how I was able to connect with Muppet Babies and the three Muppet movies as well.

I used to sing the "Brave Sir Robin" song from The Frog Prince. Oddly enough, I never thought it was odd that one minute he's a prince, the next he's Kermit's nephew!

When I was five, I had a Baby Fozzie Halloween costume. He was my favorite Muppet Baby character. I went to a friend's party only to find out she had the exact same costume!

I've always loved The Muppets Take Manhattan; it was the first Muppet film made in my lifetime and so probably the first one I ever saw. I still love it today, it's funny, extremely touching and it made me love New York City.

I don't know why but I wasn't aware of The Muppet Show until around 5th grade when it was shown on Nickelodeon, along with Muppet Matinee (Nickelodeon treated The Muppets much better than Disney!). It was weird seeing all the usual characters looking so different or having different voices. Muppet Matinee showed specials like The Muppets Go To the Movies. Interestingly, a lot of my favorite moments from that special came from Richard Hunt's characters, though I didn't know about him at the time.

 

[pepestarr]

My earliest muppet memory is when I rented 'Muppets from Space' out of the video shop and loved it!

 

[Barry Lee]

My earliest memory was seeing "Hey Cinderella!" back when the muppets were on Nickelodeon. I thought Mona and Lisa were Beaker's twin sisters.

 

[Pug Lover]

My earliest muppet memory,was by age 3 or 4,in the early 1970s,having two small hand puppets,one was Cookie Monster,the other Oscar.I've mentioned these two puppets once before,in a thread I posted in Muppet Merchandise.I think I even used to wonder why these puppets looked different on TV.(hahaha)

Around the same time,I had one of those Little Golden Shape Books,"The Circle Book".It starred Herry and Cookie Monster in cartoon form.They were at an amusement park,where Cookie Monster drove Herry crazy by eating everything circular throughout the story.