Odd Jobs - California Role

"Cousin Skeeter's" Nicole

Is puppeteering an odd career?  I had to think about that one.  Well, to me, an odd career is something you never really considered, yet one day it just fell onto your plate.  Suddenly, you're compelled to try it.  You know, kind of  like sushi.  And boy, once you've tasted it, your life can never be the same.

Although I grew up watching "Sesame Street" and other such shows, I never dreamed that waggling Cookie Monster around could be an actual job.  Well, for one thing, Cookie Monster is REAL, right? Yoda?  Kermit?  Even E.T.?  They're friends...no...
family!  To think of them as lifeless dolls was as repulsive as raw fish. It never occurred to me that well-trained actors gave these little creatures their souls, that working a puppet was like operating a musical instrument.  I didn't really make the connection until right after college.

I'd just completed an Equity Tour, a TV movie, and had moved to L.A. to perform improv comedy at Second City, Santa Monica.  One night I bumped into a group of folks wearing Henson jackets with big, green Kermit heads on them.  I just had to tell them how wonderful their company was, how shows like "Sesame Street" deeply affected my life.  "Jim [Henson] would like to hear that," they said.  "Stop by and say, 'Hello!'"  And into my hand was placed a little Kermie business card.
Julianne's Potato Bug on "The Mr. Potato Head Show"

For days my head reeled.  Oh sure, just waltz in and say "Hello" to THE Jim Henson!  Well, I never got up the nerve.  A few weeks later, Jim died.  It was a terrible loss for everyone.  And of all the people in the world....what an impact he had on me, especially as a young performer.  I would watch those brilliant performers interact with one another, see how they allowed each other to play, blossom and give.  How Jim, through Kermit, tried to pass on the simplest of messages:  to just love each other, no matter what color, what creed, what origin, what age.  I took Kermit more seriously than I did any human being.  And I missed my chance to stop by and say hello.

Monica from "Dinosaurs"
One of the promises I made that day was to never pass up a chance at ANYTHING that came my way... ever again.  A couple of weeks later, Jim's son began looking for comic actors who he was willing to train as puppeteers for a new TV series called "Dinosaurs."  We would learn hand puppeteering;  using puppets like Kermit, where there's one person operating the character and doing the voice, or Cookie Monster (which takes two performers to operate).  We'd also learn about animatronics, where the types of puppets are limitless (rod, motion capture, full suit, radio-control, etc.), there is immense freedom of movement and the number of performers operating one character can range from two to over 30.  Yoda, for example, took a team of performers to bring him to life. Although he was essentially a hand puppet, the movements of his face were run by animatronic controls and took a few people to operate.  I'd never puppeteered in my life but walking into this audition...I don't know, it was like, all of a sudden there was this big ol' plate in front of me and I guess I just grabbed the biggest pair of chopsticks I could find.

I eat sushi a lot, partly because it's always an adventure.  And each new puppet job is a brand new frontier.  There are so many different styles, so many creatures to create:  imagine the Crypt Keeper, the Dinosaurs family, the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, the creature from "Alien," Barney, the Foster Farms Chickens, the apes in "George of the Jungle," the animals in "Babe" - all puppets.  As for me, after over ten television series, a few feature films, a pack of videos, and a couple of Emmys, I guess you could say I'm a puppeteer.  Ain't that somethin'? 

Another promise I made that day was to give back, at least a little, of what had been given.  To get a great group of folks together who care about each other, foster imagination, let that light flow, grow, and touch other people - from the sheer joy of living, loving, and laughing.  It can happen again, can't it?  Just a sec, it's time for my sea urchin.

--Julianne Buescher

 

 
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