I admitted
to my friend Ingrid last night that I’ve always had a bit of a crush on Rowlf
the Dog from the Muppets. Hey, the heart wants what heart wants. Don't judge me!
Not many people know that Rowlf was the first Muppet
created by Jim Henson for a dog food
commercial in the early 1960s. He even had a weekly spot on 'The Jimmy Dean
Show', gaining national recognition. Like all good entertainers he was a diverse
performer and joined the Muppet Show as the resident pianist.
I said to Ingrid that I loved how the guests on the Muppet Show were absolutely into the idea
that the Muppets were real and treated them as peers.
Ingrid’s response was swift. “What do
you mean 'the idea' that the Muppets 'were' real?...”
The
conversation has sent me down memory lane and I remembered being at an
Edinburgh Fringe Festival Party a few years ago and having a ‘close encounter ‘
with a Muppet. Yes felt up by felt, that’s my life.
Here’s the
email I sent at the time…
It's time to play the music
It's time to light the lights
Because Heather was out partying
With the Muppets Thursday night
I did think of titling this, "I was
felt up by a Muppet" but thought that could be a bit too disturbing.
How did this happen?
Well Thursday night saw the Film
Festival staff invited to the biggest party around, hosted by The List
Magazine. It was a huge party for Festival staff and performers, I arrived
just behind Alan Cummings who is headlining the International Festival
with his play The Bacchae (he arrives on stage, upside down on a wire, attired
in a gold lame mini-dress. The dress is over his head. Let’s just say I saw
more than his Thespian credentials!).
I wasn't particularly interested in
trying to hob nob with Al though as I spotted much more interesting guest...the
Muppets. Okay it wasn't Kermit and Miss Piggy, these were lesser-known
Muppets, performing a show the Henson Workshop has taken around the
world. It’s an 'adult' Muppet' show, they don't use the well-known kids
characters.
So how did a Muppet and I get physical?
I was wearing a sparkly, sequined top with beaded fringes and one
of the Muppets who looks like a green Ernie, suddenly bought out his little
Muppet hand and started playing with the fringes around my chest. Things that
make you go hmmmmm...
It was a fantastic night and the first
of the Festival parties. Our Festival starts in a week and we won't have time
to go to other shows around town so we're all making the most of it now.
Our first night party should be good
though, I convinced our events coordinator to send an invitation to Anthony
Stewart Head, who is in one of the film in the Festival. I just 'happened' to
have his publicist's contact numbers after that time I pretended I was an arts
journalist...Here's hoping he comes and his good friend James Marsters will
come too. My life would be complete.
If not, at least I have the Muppets...
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