Zebadiah? Or... who is this Muppeteer?

I'm not sure who this Muppeteer is, maybe someone else knows. Heck, maybe he's lurking on this board. In some of these characters he sounds like it could be Jerry Nelson, but the voices are squeakier and in any case, Jerry's in the same scene. I wonder if it isn't John Lovelady.

Characters using this voice:
Squeaky, the Elf: In Kermit's News Flash segment of "The Shoemaker and the Elves". Jerry is Sneaky and Richard is Leaky. This was on one the Unpaveds from 1979, which is probably when this performer was, if not earlier.

Zebadiah: A green Anything Muppet with a white beard who prepares food for Lumberjack Grover and some Canadian mounties. (I wonder if "Zebadiah" was a name that Frank Oz decided to give the cook.)

One of the Rhymies, from when the Rhymies go camping.

Am I making complete nonsense, folks?

Splurge said:

Zebadiah: A green Anything Muppet with a white beard who prepares food for Lumberjack Grover and some Canadian mounties. (I wonder if "Zebadiah" was a name that Frank Oz decided to give the cook.)

One of the Rhymies, from when the Rhymies go camping.

Am I making complete nonsense, folks?

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I was just about to ask that here! LOL! I'm guessing it was Brian Meuhl, but John Lovelady is another possible choiced (although he wasn't left handed, and both the Rhymies girl and Zebidiah are only moving their right hand. Brian Meuhl used both hands, but usually his right. I remember him using his left on Telly a few times.

Ryan said:

I was just about to ask that here! LOL! I'm guessing it was Brian Meuhl, but John Lovelady is another possible choiced (although he wasn't left handed, and both the Rhymies girl and Zebidiah are only moving their right hand. Brian Meuhl used both hands, but usually his right. I remember him using his left on Telly a few times.

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To continue on this thought, another character this Muppeteer played was in a Super Grover sketch. He* played a little girl AM who used SG's box to take her groceries home after the bag tore. Again, the right hand was the only hand moving. (This sketch was described in the Unpaved book.)

This is quite a puzzler!

*He -- all this time I say he, but for all I know it could be a female Muppeteer. It just sounds more like a male falsetto.

It could be someone named Olga Flechermacher. I've seen her name in a few Muppeteer credits, and I'm listing her because she's the only female Muppeteer I've never heard of. It's just an inkling.

She's not the only female Muppeteer. What about Fran Brill, Camille Bonora, Jennifer Barnhardt, Camille Bonora, Lisa Buckley, Julianne Buescher, Alice Dinnean, Louise Gold, Jane Henson, Carmen Osbahr, Karen Prell, Judy Sladky, on Sesame Street alone.

Check http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Sesame_Street_puppeteers, it might help you all out some.

True, but of those listed, only Fran Brill and Karen Prell are the only other two female performers I can think of that were on the Street in the early eighties, and both of them are right-handed. Louise Gold is left-handed, but her voice is pretty distinctive and easy to identify compared to the "mysterious Muppeteer".

From that website:

John Lovelady, one of the Rhymies

There's your answer.

I'm still not sure, Zebediah and Mary Rhymie don't sound like John Lovelady at all.

Mary actually does, very much so.

MuppetDude said:

True, but of those listed, only Fran Brill and Karen Prell are the only other two female performers I can think of that were on the Street in the early eighties, and both of them are right-handed. Louise Gold is left-handed, but her voice is pretty distinctive and easy to identify compared to the "mysterious Muppeteer".

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Well sometimes Louise Gold's voice is easily recogniseable. But there have also been occassions (her performance on 'I Could've Counted All Night' on the album 'The Count's Count Down' being one example) where if I didn't know from the sleeve notes it was her, even those fans who think they know her voical abilities well wouldn't recognise her voice!