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3 0 SXS W O R L D | M A R C H 2 0 1 7 I N T E R ACT I V E / F I L M | SXSW.COM It's Time to Meet the Muppets ... Key Creators Convene in New Film By anDy Smith More recently, Oz brought the Muppets and directing together in a new documentary called Muppet Guys Talking: Secrets Behind The Show The Whole World Watched. The film brings together five veteran Muppet performers (Bill Barretta, Fran Brill, Dave Goelz, the late Jerry Nelson and Oz himself) to discuss how they created their characters and share some of the stories and experi- ences that went along with their work. Yet even though the five worked together for so many years (Brill and Nelson were part of the original Sesame Street team; Goelz joined in time for The Muppet Show; Baretta joined in 1991), Oz says that they had never really discussed their creative process. "It's weird, isn't it?" he explains. "I would have individual interviews, and they would have individual interviews, but we never before sat around talking about things. And we found out things that we didn't know about each other, even after working together for 35 years." Oz says that the idea for the film came from someone outside the Muppet sphere, his wife, Victoria Labalme. "She didn't grow up with the Muppets," he says. "And she would be at gatherings with me and Dave and Bill and Fran and Jerry, and we would have fun and tell stories. She realized that what we did was valuable, and that people would really like to hear it, so she was the one who had the idea and pushed me to do it. I didn't think it was interesting to people because it's just my life that I'm involved in." Among the many topics covered in the film's fond and often hilar- ious discussion is the physical exertion required to perform. Even though it was never apparent to viewers, the sets were elevated and the performers stood underneath with their arms above their heads moving and voicing the characters while watching video monitors. I n May 1955, Sam and Friends, a live-action, puppet show consisting of five-minute segments, debuted on WRC-TV in Washington D.C. The show was created by an 18-year-old col- lege student named Jim Henson and Jane Nebel, his future spouse. Henson called his hybrid puppet/marionette creations "Muppets," and six decades after those humble beginnings, his Muppets are television, film and pop culture fixtures, recognized and beloved all over the world. From TV shows such as Sesame Street and The Muppet Show, to numerous Muppet films, the beloved holiday classic Emmet Otter's Jugband Christmas, and innovative departures such as The Dark Crystal and Labyrinth — Henson led his merry band of performers, puppet builders, writers and crew until his sudden and untimely death in 1990. Since then, the Muppets have endured with Henson's family and numerous collaborators keeping his legacy alive; and today, Kermit the Frog and his cohorts are as familiar to new generations as they were to their grandparents. In 2013, the Henson Foundation even donated 21 Muppets to the Smithsonian's National Museum of American History. Frank Oz, who joined Jim and Jane Henson as a 19-year-old in 1963, has also been a key figure in the Muppet world. He created and voiced such memorable characters as Cookie Monster, Grover and Ernie for Sesame Street, which has aired continuously since 1969, as well as Miss Piggy, Fozzie Bear and Animal for The Muppet Show (which first aired in 1976) and in ensuing films. Oz also developed and performed Yoda in the Star Wars films and later directed such major movies as Little Shop of Horrors, Dirty Rotten Scoundrels, Bowfinger and Death at a Funeral. Muppet Guys Talking: (L-R) Dave Goelz, Fran Brill, Frank Oz, Jerry Nelson and Bill Barretta Photo copyright 2017 Vibrant Mud, LLC