The evolution of Bert & Ernie

[MIKEB97]

Hello! Bert and Ernie have had lots of makeovers for the past 33 years. Back in 69, Bert's facial expression indicated that he was always mad. His voice was very monotone and his hair hung down. Ernie's hair looked messy, he was bug-eyed his voice was sligtly monotone and whispy. Bert's shirt had the same colors as today but Ernie's was purple, pink, yellow and orange.

[Drtooth]

The heads were different too. If you notice, Bert's neck and chin kind of merged into a sloppy, droopy hand puppet look. If you look at Bert today, his head is much more in shape. It is completely rounded off where the droopy thing once was. Plus, I think their noses were a little different!

[MIKEB97]

Ernie's nose was dark pink or purple. Bert's was orange but it was droopy. Bert's voice seems falsetto. Ernie's voice is kind of hyper.

[Fozzie Bear]

HIYA!

Not too long ago, Bert's material had a wrinkle in it. I think he needs a little hem work...

Maybe they should call in that investigative tailor, Sherlock HEMWORK to repair the seams...WOCKA WOCKA!!

FOZ

[MIKEB97]

Wow! There's somthing I noticed. In the episode where Snuffy debuts from Sesame's third season, Bert & Ernie had their fourth season look. In the rainstorm episode from 1972, they had their 1971 look. Did they only look different in the third season premiere episode?

[Splurge]

Originally posted by MIKEB97
Wow! There's somthing I noticed. In the episode where Snuffy debuts from Sesame's third season, Bert & Ernie had their fourth season look. In the rainstorm episode from 1972, they had their 1971 look. Did they only look different in the third season premiere episode?

I'm pretty sure that in the Rainstorm episode, the Bert and Ernie clips are inserts from Season 2.

[MIKEB97]

So the Bert & Ernie clips aren't from 72. They're from 1970. I've noticed that as Bert & Ernie evolved, so did Frank and Jim.

[Splurge]

Originally posted by MIKEB97
So the Bert & Ernie clips aren't from 72. They're from 1970. I've noticed that as Bert & Ernie evolved, so did Frank and Jim.

Well, we're all a work in progress, aren't we? :)

[Janice & Mokey's Man]

Hmmmm...I wonder if this has anything to do with possible makeovers of Jackie and Emmy? . . .

[Fozzie Bear]

Janice & Mokey's Man :" Hmmmm...I wonder if this has anything to do with possible makeovers of Jackie and Emmy? . . . "

You mean into cola and muffin dips?

FOZ

[MIKEB97]

Originally posted by Splurge


Well, we're all a work in progress, aren't we? :)

Definitely. To quote Harry Smith, "That's how it's always been with Jim Henson's Muppets".

[Jackie]

Originally posted by Janice & Mokey's Man
Hmmmm...I wonder if this has anything to do with possible makeovers of Jackie and Emmy? . . .

Yes Emmy and I both got a haircut and just the other day she removed my nose and stuck it on a clay statue of myself....

[EmmyMik]

Originally posted by Jackie


Yes Emmy and I both got a haircut and just the other day she removed my nose and stuck it on a clay statue of myself....

Was that before or after I tried to dance myself to sleep?

:D


(or was that you? I can never remember, since we're like Bert and Ernie, only we're both Ernie)

[Fozzie Bear]

Hmm. Jackie, Emmy...you just reminded me.

When I was a kid, this old man comes over and says, "Wanna see me do a trick?" I said, "Sure." So, he reaches on my face, pinches my nose a little and says, "See? I got your nose!" Then, he showed me my nose, stuck it in his pocket, and WALKED AWAY!! So, I just realized, he never gave me my nose back, but when I look in the mirror there's a nose there, so I have to wonder, whose nose is it and what did the old man do with mine??

FOZ :confused:

[MIKEB97]

Originally posted by Jackie


Yes Emmy and I both got a haircut and just the other day she removed my nose and stuck it on a clay statue of myself....

Did you happen to see a flock of pigeons or a display of rubber ducks on your way to the barber shop?

[Jackie]

Originally posted by EmmyMik


Was that before or after I tried to dance myself to sleep?

:D

(or was that you? I can never remember, since we're like Bert and Ernie, only we're both Ernie)

I think we both danced ourselves to sleep while our buddy Squishy Bottom was taken away via a bunch of Boogie Woogie Sheeps!

<<Did you happen to see a flock of pigeons or a display of rubber ducks on your way to the barber shop?>>

I always keep a pigeon and rubber ducky in my pocket! :)

[Janice & Mokey's Man]

Originally posted by Jackie
Yes Emmy and I both got a haircut and just the other day she removed my nose and stuck it on a clay statue of myself....

Heehee . . .

[EmmyMik]

I think we both danced ourselves to sleep while our buddy Squishy Bottom was taken away via a bunch of Boogie Woogie Sheeps!

Oh yes. I remember now.

That Squishy Bottom. You'd think that he'd learn by now...


:D

[MIKEB97]

Originally posted by Jackie


I think we both danced ourselves to sleep while our buddy Squishy Bottom was taken away via a bunch of Boogie Woogie Sheeps!

<<Did you happen to see a flock of pigeons or a display of rubber ducks on your way to the barber shop?>>

I always keep a pigeon and rubber ducky in my pocket! :)

Wow! I keep my rubber duckie on the window sill in my bathroom. I wish I was able to find a red & blue striped shirt. I have a few pairs blue jeans and kaki pants. Now all I need is some saddle shoes and orgile socks.

[Fozzie Bear]

>>. Now all I need is some saddle shoes and orgile socks.

And a rubber chicken. Don't forget the rubber chicken.

Or the muffins.

FOZ

[Janice & Mokey's Man]

Originally posted by MIKEB97
Hello! Bert and Ernie have had lots of makeovers for the past 33 years. Back in 69, Bert's facial expression indicated that he was always mad. His voice was very monotone and his hair hung down. Ernie's hair looked messy, he was bug-eyed his voice was sligtly monotone and whispy. Bert's shirt had the same colors as today but Ernie's was purple, pink, yellow and orange.

Ya know what? If you plug in "Jackie" where it says "Bert" and "Emmy" "Ernie", this takes on a whooooole new level of humor... *snicker* :)

[Janice & Mokey's Man]

Originally posted by FOZZI3B3AR
Now all I need is some saddle shoes and orgile socks.

And a rubber chicken. Don't forget the rubber chicken.

Or the muffins.

Uh, ya mean "argyle" socks? lol :p Looks like you were too excited over them saddle shoes!

And just make sure the muffins aren't rubber---let's not go there.

[Fozzie Bear]

Mikey Bee 97542345235 said that about the orgill (misspelled right?) socks. I was quoting him.

Rubber muffins, huh? Hmm...now I feel suddenly lonely for some reason...

Well, one thing about Bert: He has wrinkles in his fleece sometimes. That's ONE sure thing you don't have to worry about Fozzie, cause he's furry. You cannot see wrinkles under fur, right Byron? :)

FOZ!

[MIKEB97]

Even though Fozzie is furry, he looked kind of ugly during the first season of the Muppet show.

[Fozzie Bear]

Yeah, but you didn't see wrinkles in his head!

:)

[MIKEB97]

Nope. He never had wrinkles and He'll always be funny!

[Fozzie Bear]

:D

I just KNEW you'd see it my way! :)

FOZ

[MIKEB97]

Thanks, man! Fozzie's cool! I just hope Frank will make his comeback as him!

[Fozzie Bear]

Unfortunately, I don't forsee Frank Oz coming back as Fozzie Bear again. :(

I think he pretty much has retired himself from it all, hence the replacement performers for his characters.

I think it says alot about a guy, too, when it takes 3 or 4 performers to do your job, you know? Frank Oz was the best; too bad he had to let it go.

I'm going to go curl up in a corner and cry now.

foz:(

[MIKEB97]

I couldn't agree more. I'll miss Frank's Fozzie and his Animal and Piggy. At least he still does Cookie in a few "Letter of the Day" segments and he did Grover in one too.

[Fozzie Bear]

He did?

That's nice to know. Maybe he will be available for some Piggy/Fozzie/Animal stuff in the future then.

I kind of saw him appearing as a director or something for a film, but was about to doubt he'd do any other performing with the Muppets.

That kind of gives me a slight hope, then.

However, those other performers do a swinging job; at least on Piggy, I've seen her lately.

Later,
FOZ

[MIKEB97]

Yup. it was Frank performing our beloved furry blue friends, grover and Cookie in "letter of the day". What's Piggy's voice like? I've read posts on other groups that frank's voice was was looped a couple of times. What does looping voices mean and why did Frank loop some of his voices in recent years?

[Fozzie Bear]

Muppets from Space is a good example of Looping.

They have stand-in performers who do the "voices" and puppetry for a character, then, somewhere else, Oz would record the lines.

In editing, they will replace the "non-Oz" Piggy voice with his recorded lines.

I think that's how it works.

FOZ

[MIKEB97]

Wow. I read that Oz just did Cookie's voice in Elmo in Grouchland. Was it looped?

[frogboy4]

I am sad to see him is quazi-retirement. He did such a wonderful job. But if you think about it, would you like to have the same job from the time you were a teenager. Sure, it was a labor of love in a way, but it's still a whole lot of work and after Jim died his characters just didn't seem to have the same chemistry.

Eric Jacobson and David Rudman are doing a spectacular job. An even more seamless transition than Steve's Kermit. It would be great if Oz would come back, but since they have replaced his characters I hope they will maintain the continuity of voice and performance and stick with David and Eric. I see Frank dropping in here and there to be distracting to the audience. At least as far as Muppet Show characters are concerned. I don't mind as much with Sesame Street because they mix in classc sketches that will have Frank's voice anyway.

Just my 2 cents. I know it sounds like heresy, but he's already given us so much joy. After seeing the amazing new chemistry between Kermit and Piggy, I am glad to see the characters are in good hands!:)

[Fozzie Bear]

"In good hands!!!" HAA!

Wish I could think of funny jokes like that one. Where's Gags Beasely when you need him??

FOZ

[GeeBee]

Cool. I've been very interested in the evolution of all the Sesame Street muppets and the reasons behind the changes. I wonder how often they changed the actual muppet and how often they just changed the facial parts. I think the muppets kind of "wear out" after a while and have to be replaced. For that matter, I wonder how many muppets share their heads and bodies with others. Probably more than we realize. If anyone has this information, I would appreciate it.



:p :( :grouchy: :)

[Fozzie Bear]

I think "Fat Blue" is used extensively, with different facial features added to the body. The Anything Muppets are the ones who likely appear more often than not.

I used to think Count and Mumford were the same puppet; and I still wonder if Prairie Dawn isn't used for different characters, too, just remove the dress, wig, and eyes...

[Buck-Beaver]

I think this happens alot. Guy Smiley and Don Music were the same puppet, for example.

[Fozzie Bear]

One step further where those two were the same puppet pattern, Guy Smiley sometimes was used as Prince Charming, wasn't he?

[Buck-Beaver]

I think so - he looks exactly the same. I think generally the puppets are reused and recycled alot more than we imagine.

[Fozzie Bear]

I've been reused and recycled, which bothers me because I don't necessarily believe in reincarnation. Hmm...

;)

[D'Snowth]

Check out my avatar! The original Ernie Muppet! (I believe)

[Pino]

I´ve read somewhere that also Ernies Shirt looked different. In the test episodes he had pink and orange stripes. they changed it in the pilot episode!
Did his shirt changed any other time. :p