The Birth Of The Muppets

 

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In advance of the opening of 'The Muppets' on Nov. 23, Collectors Weekly published an article on the Muppets before they were the Muppets. Their forebears were known as 'Sam and Friends,' which aired on WRC-TV in Washington, D.C. from 1955 to 1961. Sam and Friends was a TV show that created by Jim Henson and his future wife Jane Nebel.

The star of 'Sam and Friends' was an olive-drab, lizard-like creature named Kermit, who was sewn from one of Henson's mother's cast-off wool coats. The original Kermit had rounded feet instead of flippers, lacked Kermit's classic crenellated collar, and viewed the world through a ping-pong ball that had been sliced in half and painted. Smithsonian curator of Entertainment History Collections Dwight Blocker Bowers helps us tell the story.