Watching JHH at the Museum of TV and Radio

[Chilly Down]

Here's what I love about living in LA.

In the past, if I needed a Muppet fix, and I didn't have anything new on tape, I'd have to watch something I'd seen 100 times anyway.

Today, on the other hand, I went to the Museum of TV and Radio in Beverly Hills. I typed in "Jim Henson" and got 189 references.

I watched an episode of The Jim Henson Hour that I'd never seen before, and got new appreciation for the show. Unfortunately, the library closed before I got to watch The Storyteller. But I can always go back.

Folks, they have Tales of the Tinkerdee there. They have a NBC Bob Hope special from 1983 with the Muppets in it. They have 30+ episodes of TMS, and 5 episodes of JHH. (For that series, 5 episodes is a HUGE representation!) They have Storyteller and The Greek Myths and Fraggle Rock and Ghost of Faffner Hall and Jim Henson Presents The World of Puppetry and...

I could go on. If you can get over there at all, people, do it. It's well worth your time. :sing: It's free, but they do ask for donations. Parking is free for the first 2 hours.

I love this town. :excited:

[WiGgY]

There is a museum of television and radio in new york too. I've gone there many times but not recently. I always looked up the Muppets but never thought to look for the Jim Henson Hour in the list. I should go back and look it up too. It's a great place! I was able to watch the sex and violence piolet and when you don't like what your watching you can punch in random numbers to see what comes up. :) It's also a great place to watch the Fraggles now that they're gone. If you like watching TV but you're getting soft in the belly it's a good idea to walk there watch tv for awhile and walk back home and watch more TV. :D

[Cantus Rock]

Oh Chilly one, I cannot say enough about the greatness of that place.

I posted about it in one of my very first posts, as I had registered on here only days before my family went on a vacation in California, when I was able to go to the museum. It is PHENOMINAL.

I watched The Cube, and several collections of Jim's early works, including many Sam and Friends episodes, and a lot of commercials. Stupidly, I didn't select watching Youth '68.

Luckily I have a great deal of Henson stuff on tape (including most of what Sir Chilly mentioned), but still, I don't have it all. I wanted to just move to the museum and never leave. I think I actually have a paper on which I was plotting how I was going to rob the museum's vault that I made for laughs on the planeride home.

Be thankful for your fortunate proximity to the palace of TV immortality, Chills. When your there next, I suggest sampling other things they have on tape, besides JH stuff. They have some GREAT Marx Brothers rarities from what my mom told me. Be careful when selecting a Eureeka's Castle episode though, as it didn't load up properly for me. :(

I wish I could be there right now...

-Matt

[Jeffrey Gray]

A Bob Hope special with the Muppets?! I guess that's something to go see when I go back...I saw a ton of Henson stuff there (I spent FOUR DAYS watching almost nothing but Henson/Muppet stuff)

[Chilly Down]

Sam & Friends? That's awesome, Cantus. I didn't even see that listed. Do you have to type in Sam & Friends directly, or it was under some other name (like a Jim Henson compilation)?

[Cantus Rock]

I found it when I typed in 'Jim Henson'. I believe, though, that it was part of what was listed as "Jim Henson's Early Works". If you see that or something similar appear next time your there, try that.

I loved seeing the old S&F episodes, more than because they're awesome, but also because you see many clips of skits in documentories, compilation shows, etc, but you never see the full skits themselves. At the museum, I got to see the full versions of most of those that are shown in the mentioned shows, like Sam and Kermit singing "Old Black Magic" and "Visualizing Your Thoughts", among others. I also got to see some great ones that weren't shown in clips. So, so great.

-Matt

[Chilly Down]

Dude...I am *so* there again soon. :)

[Luke]

Guys, sounds great, next time anyone else goes there could someone type 'ALF' into the search engine and see if they have any appearances or anything. I'd love to know if he's represented there.

I wish we had a museum like this in the UK !

[scarecroe]

At some point I would imagine that the MTv&R will use their database to construct a series of servers containing all of this material available on the Internet in an instantly accessible stream for viewers all over the world to enjoy. Heck, I'd pay a membership fee for such artifacts to feast my eyes upon. A few years later, I'll expect to be able to plug a USB cable into the back of my neck and feed it directly into my brain :cool:

[Cantus Rock]

Originally posted by scarecroe
At some point I would imagine that the MTv&R will use their database to construct a series of servers containing all of this material available on the Internet in an instantly accessible stream for viewers all over the world to enjoy.
Though that would be extremely excellent, I doubt that will happen any time soon. That's kind of like saying the MET is going to digitally photograph all of their artwork and put it online for everyone to see. Unless, in my teenage ignorance, this has already happened and full museums have become cyber-museums already, I personally don't see anything like it happening for a good deal fo time. Of course, I TOTALLY hope I am wrong, and everything in the museum database becomes available online (of course, it'd probably help if I got off this freakin' 56K connection!! :mad: , hehe).

-Matt

[Chilly Down]

"A few years later, I'll expect to be able to plug a USB cable into the back of my neck and feed it directly into my brain"

At that point, you would look exactly like Digit. ;)

[scarecroe]

Originally posted by Cantus Rock
That's kind of like saying the MET is going to digitally photograph all of their artwork and put it online for everyone to see.
Museums like the MET haven't done that because you can already view all the paintings online or in books outside of their museums anyway. People going to museums go to see the original artwork even if they've viewed copies of it elsewhere thousands of times, or heck, even if they own copies themselves. In the "content now" age we live in, I expect we'll be seeing something like what I imagine at some point in our lifetimes, but I can't pretend to predict when.

And I'm not kidding about plugging cables directly into our bodies either. You'd be amazed at what types of things are being developed even today that will eventually lead to things in only 50 years that no one could dream of today.

[Luke]

They should at least get their database online so people can work out what they want to watch before going there.

[Chilly Down]

True dat, Luke--they should list their catalog online so you don't waste a trip. I went there to do research for writing a Smallville spec script by watching episodes. They had no Smallville episodes there. I'm glad I got to indulge in some Muppety goodness, but I didn't accomplish what I set out to do.

[The Flying Sheep]

yeah, i know. They have a slightly confusing catolouge. That's why I rairly go there with any particular program in mind, just a general idea. Still, I go there at least once a week. And let me tell you something: If you go into the "Archives" they have Even MORE JH Material, like the not-aired eps. of JHH which features The "Three Ravens" eps. of "TS". In one way or another, they have EVERY EPISODE OF THE STORYTELLER ON TAPE THIER! If you want to watch it, they have The special "Dog City", but you have to ask the attendant to maneuly load it.

[Chilly Down]

Even MORE stuff? Oh, man. I may never leave! :)

That's awesome that they have every episode of The Storyteller. Looking back at the list, I saw there were even more episodes of JHH than I realized. The only one I didn't see was Dog City. But you said it's there, so that means EVERY EPISODE of JHH is at the museum. Which is insane, but awesome at the same time.

Now let's see...I just need some food and water, and a sleeping bag... ;)

[Joggy]

When I was in New York I went to the museum twice. You can buy a ticket for $10 ($8 if you're a student - if you're young-looking like me they just believe you're a student when you say so), for which you can watch up to four shows during two hours in a private booth.

I got to watch the following:

- Jim Henson's Early Years compilation. This is a one hour block of Sam and Friends episodes, commercials, and guest appearances. I believe transcripts of the commercials are over at TP. The rest of it had:

SAM AND FRIENDS
- That Old Black Magic (what was Sam's wardrobe sponsored by again?) - ends with an Eskay commercial!
- Two cowboys try and get off their horses (Kermit and Theodore - lipsynch)
- Visual Thinking (Kermit & Harry)
- Poison to Poison (lipsynch - Harry and Theodore)
- Punsmoke (cowboy sketch with Theodore, Kermit, Harry (Harriette!) and Yorick)
- Hungry At Night (Yorick eating - lipsynch)
- Under My Skin (Kermit and choir - lipsynch)
- Kermit talks to Huntley and Brinkley
(in one of the commercials compilations, there was another one with Harry showing Kermit the weather he sold)

GUEST APPEARANCES
Jimmy Dean: Rowlf as a violinist / Rowlf and Lassie / Rowlf for President / Rowlf caught a cold
Jack Paar: "Inchworm" sketch
Fanfare with Al Hirt: "Java" sketch / Two Headed Creature sings "You're Just In Love" with Al

----
Commercials Compilations - they have like three of them, and I really wonder why they're not making ONE compilation of those. They're so short and yet they fill up your whole watching schedule.
----
Steve Allen guest appearances. "I've Grown Accustomed To Your Face" and "Yellow Rose Of Texas" (Kermit is a country singer and a little glove puppet drummer upstages him)
---
Tales of the Tinkerdee (it's on TP!)
---
Fraggle Rock: Mokey and the Minstrels. Any Minstrels fan should have seen this episode.
---
Julie on Sesame Street. This is a highly unusual special from the early 70's, and clearly made for adults - like a Muppet Show starring the Sesame characters.

It opens with Julie performing a dancing number with trashcans with grouch's legs, while trying to find her way to Sesame Street. There she meets Oscar ("May I give you one piece of advice? NEVER TALK TO PEOPLE IN TRASHCANS!!") Big Bird, Bert and Ernie (who have no idea who she is), and Kermit, who is asked to sing Being Green to Julie. He doesn't make it through the first verse because he has laryngitis, and Julie has to sing it for him.
When the song's over Kermit gives Julie some flowers, which Cookie Monster eats. For the diehards: see the parallel with the Flowereating Monster?

Then the second guest, Perry Como, arrives to sing a love song. Julie does some dance with counting dancers, and then they both sing a "Sing A Song" medley, which is technically 15 minutes of trying to come up with songs that have the word SING in it. Can you imagine? FIF TEEN minutes?! I was like: "I bet the song's over now - no wait, another song - no, another song - and another one... where are the Muppets? Another one..." This is like, the big boring part of the special, even though the singers are great.

Then things get incredibly good when Bert, Ernie and Biff suggest that Julie should perform on Broadway with them. After a sweet a capella "Give My Regards To Broadway", the Sesame Muppets and Julie appear in a medley of great Muppet Show-like renditions of Broadway musicals. My fave is the opening "Doin' What Comes Naturally" from "Annie Get Your Gun", which Julie sings with the cast as cowboys. Here we also see the first version of the Muppet Show sketch "I Feel Pretty" - and in "Shall We Dance" from "The King And I", a very scary Bert with no hair...

The special ends with Julie and Perry singing "Picture A World" with Ernie, Bert, Grover, Cookie, Kermit, Biff and Big Bird. They all say goodbye (Biff: "Perry, come on. Tell me once and for all: was I outta line?!"), Cookie gives Julie a flower which Julie eats immediately, then she sings "What Do I Do When I'm Alone?" and that's the special.
---

Woulda loved to see more, but that's for next time...

[Chilly Down]

Wow. Thanks for all that info, Joggy! I saw all that stuff listed there. I think I know what I'm checking out the next time I'm there. :D

[The Flying Sheep]

In LA, they Have SOme SERIOUS Muppet Show Action there. And I"VE WATCHED EM ALLLLLL! MWHAHAHAHAHA! :D. Go into the archeves for Bonus stuff. Chilly, maybe we could meet there someday for a muppet-watching kinda-thing?

Ya know what's great? You can become a member for like 35 bucks or something, and you get three hours of watching time! 3 hours!

[Cantus Rock]

Originally posted by Joggy
SAM AND FRIENDS
- That Old Black Magic (what was Sam's wardrobe sponsored by again?) - ends with an Eskay commercial!
- Two cowboys try and get off their horses (Kermit and Theodore - lipsynch)
- Visual Thinking (Kermit & Harry)
- Poison to Poison (lipsynch - Harry and Theodore)
- Punsmoke (cowboy sketch with Theodore, Kermit, Harry (Harriette!) and Yorick)
- Hungry At Night (Yorick eating - lipsynch)
- Under My Skin (Kermit and choir - lipsynch)
- Kermit talks to Huntley and Brinkley
(in one of the commercials compilations, there was another one with Harry showing Kermit the weather he sold)
-------
Commercials Compilations - they have like three of them, and I really wonder why they're not making ONE compilation of those. They're so short and yet they fill up your whole watching schedule.


I actually still have some notes I took on the early stuff (I saw the same set as you Jog).

Sam's Wardrobe appears courtesy f Hialeah Racetrack (which, interestingly enough, has to be somewhere in Florida, unless the is more than one city called Hialeah in the US...eh, I'm sure there is..).

The Two Cowboys is probably one of my favorite Henson works ever. I don't know why exactly, but I fell in love with it. I guess I've come to find that I'm REALLY into the early Henson works.

Who did the recording for the Poison to Poison record? I know its a "Person to Person" spoof, but I don't think it was Jim or anyone on the team doing the voicing for the sync. Any ideas?

I think Hungry at night was the scetch that secured Yorick as one of my all-time favorite Muppets. I love him so much. And gosh darn it, I do get so HUNGRY! :D

Huntley and Brinkley has to be one of the funniest things I've ever seen. I nearly fell out of my chair! SO funny!

I COULD NOT AGREE MORE about those compilations! I sat there getting ready for clip after clip, and I got like 8 max. Grrr...But, I got to see my hero. My all time classic favorite. He is, the one, the only, the amazing La Choy Dragon! Dragon fire...that is forever.

Thanks to all of you museum patrons who are helping me remember these amazing things I saw in LA (besides two people talking to eachother on cell phones while walking right next to eachother...that I'll never get foggy on...)

-Matt

[Joggy]

Originally posted by Cantus Rock

Huntley and Brinkley has to be one of the funniest things I've ever seen. I nearly fell out of my chair! SO funny!


I KNOW!! Using those soundtracks of Huntley and Brinkley was soooo brilliant! My favorite quote:

Kermit: "So who's your favorite character from our show? Sam, Harry, Yorick, me..."
Huntley: "York."
Kermit: "Yorick's your favorite? He'll like that. I'll pass it on to him."

And the Punsmoke skit, with "The showdown will take place when the first stage coach arrives!" "Hi! Did someone call me? I coach actors!" "So that makes you a... STAGE COACH!"

My favorite commercial was the one with the dancing cow! You've seen that? That was such cool puppetry! And the jazzy "shave and a haircut" one with Kermit and Harry: "*bumm bumm ba-dumm bumm* Hot-Shots! *bumm bumm ba-dumm bumm* Yum-Yum! *bumm bumm ba-dumm bumm* Es-Kay!" Makes me wanna record a song like that!

[Chilly Down]

Chef/Beaker Fan: Sure, we could possibly meet there the next time I plan to go. I'll let you know what my plans are. Anyone else want to get in on this?

As for viewing for free, I was able to watch for free for two hours without being a member. I think I could have watched even longer than that, but the museum was closing, and I didn't want to run over my two-hours-free parking either.

Matt: I'm almost positive the "Poison to Poison" bit is from a Stan Freberg record. Freberg was the Weird Al of his day, doing skits and funny songs. Daws Butler (voice of Yogi Bear and Huckleberry Hound, among many others) and June Foray (Rocky the Flying Squirrel and Nathasa; nearly all of the female WB characters) were frequent performers on his albums. The voice of the announcer sounds like one of the other actors from "Rocky and Bullwinkle" (can't remember his name right now), who also performed on Freberg's records, which is why I think it's a Freberg bit. I read and/or heard somewhere that Jim was a big fan of Stan Freberg (maybe at MuppetFest).

Regarding cellphones: yes, the one annoying thing about the museum is that people have complete disregard for the people sitting at other booths. People were laughing loudly and carrying on conversations with each other. Laughter will (should) occasionally happen when you're watching something funny, but this was so loud and so often as to be distracting. As for carrying on conversation, people seemed to think they were watching TV at home, not in a library/museum! :mad: