Mad About Science: Muppets and puppets

By Brenden Bobby
Reader Columnist

“As children, we all live in a world of imagination, of fantasy, and for some of us that world of make-believe continues into adulthood.”

— Jim Henson

Puppetry is an ancient art form, dating back perhaps at least 4,000 years. While puppets have evolved considerably in the past 50 years, their role in conveying storytelling hasn’t changed since those distant origins.

The earliest puppets we’ve unearthed have been found in Egyptian tombs, with some made of wood and others fashioned from ivory and metal wire. There is historical record dating back several thousand years to the use of puppets for entertainment and ceremony in Africa, Southeast Asia and Greece.

There were a number of benefits to puppetry in ancient societies that still translate to the modern day. Early puppets were used to convey stories, both dramatic and comedic. It was considerably easier to build a dramatic set for small puppets than it was to engineer the same setting at a human scale. Puppetry fulfilled a role similar to CGI in current cinema, bringing fantastical people and creatures to life to tell an incredible story. Many of these stories were allegorical — meant to convey a lesson about morality to the audience.

Puppet shows of early society served as more than a vehicle for entertainment. Many were tied to religious ceremonies that have been preserved for millennia, including a number of healing and hunting ceremonies that take place in parts of Africa. The Japanese art of bunraku evolved from a mixture of Shinto rituals and kabuki theater, and remains a nationally protected cultural art form to this day.

Though you may not interact regularly with puppets, everyone is familiar with two puppet powerhouses that have bridged generations for more than half a century: Sesame Street and The Muppets. 

The Muppets were created 68 years ago by Jim Henson, beginning with Kermit the Frog in 1955 (he was joined by Rowlf the Dog in 1962 and most of the rest of the core gang followed in the ’70s). Their initial inception skewed toward entertaining adults, hearkening back to burlesque performances and sketch comedy shows that were popular at that time.

Henson’s muppets changed the landscape of puppetry forever. Traditional puppetry and marionettes were often controlled by wires suspended from either above and behind the façade of the theater, or from below a framing box that would conceal the performers. Instead, Henson and his crew would control the muppets just directly off-screen of the cameras, using the limited frame of the screen to their advantage. This would become a pivotal mechanism for acting when Henson joined forces with the crew of Sesame Street in 1969.

Even though the technology behind filming Sesame Street has advanced considerably, the methods in which the cast operate and act as the muppets on screen has remained virtually unchanged. In the event that you don’t want your childhood ruined with a peek behind the curtain, you might want to turn the page.

Most of the muppets on Sesame Street are rod puppets. Elmo is a great example of a rod puppet, where the puppeteer puts their left hand up and through the puppet to control its mouth with their thumb, while using their fingers to manipulate two wooden dowels behind the puppet’s eyes to make it look different directions. Elmo’s arms are controlled by two metal rods that are manipulated by the puppeteer’s right hand. In some cases, when Elmo needs to perform fairly complex tasks on screen, a right-hand assistant that is often working as an understudy to the main performer will take control of the rod that manipulates Elmo’s right hand. Elmo’s ability to pick up items is performed by affixing magnets to the inside of his hand. Elmo’s puppeteer is sitting on the floor, just out of view of the camera, and delivering all of the voice lines in real-time. The puppeteer isn’t able to see how the puppet is acting from their vantage point, so they watch their performance through a monitor that is also out of view of the camera.

Big Bird is a more mechanically complex puppet than Elmo. Bird Bird is essentially a mechanical costume that is placed over the body of the actor, whose left arm goes up through the puppet’s neck to control the mouth and eyes. Unlike Elmo, Big Bird can blink, which is controlled by a wire rigging inside the puppet’s head. The arms are linked mechanically inside, so that when the puppeteer moves their right arm, the left arm will move in an organic fashion. 

Big Bird’s actor isn’t able to watch their performance due to the costume, though it’s likely they can be fed cues as needed through an earpiece similar to any other actor that would be reading a teleprompter.

Becoming a puppeteer for Sesame Street, like many culturally important puppet theaters around the world, requires years of training and study beneath experienced actors. In this regard, it’s very closely related to traditional stage theater, but with more scooting across the floor and watching your own performance in real-time.

If you fancy yourself an amateur puppeteer and would like to channel your inner Elmo for your kids, the children’s area at the Sandpoint Library just received a host of new puppets for use in Karen’s Room, the glass room in the children’s area. These are free to use in the room any time a program isn’t going on.

If you’d prefer to watch rather than perform, you’re welcome to check out any of the library storytime events. Storytime builds great habits for kids, while imparting wonderful storytelling skills to parents who participate. This helps foster a love for reading and a closer bond between parent and child. Check out the library’s events page for a list of storytimes. You can even filter events by title, making it a breeze to find exactly what you’re looking for.

Stay curious, 7B.