Jan 15, 2003
Famed puppets Lamp Chop, Grover
and Fozzie Bear attend Carnegie conference
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette -- Jan 13, 2003
by Johanna A. Pro
reprinted entirely without permission
For nearly 50 years now, Lamp Chop has charmed audiences on and off-camera with
her own self-confident spirit. Yesterday was no different.
"I am an icon," she said, while standing amid the dinosaurs and stuffed birds outside the lecture hall at the Carnegie Museums of Pittsburgh, not sounding vain at all, simply stating the obvious.
And still, for Lamb Chop, who made her first television appearance on Captain Kangaroo in 1957, it was "an honor to be working with Grover, and Fozzie Bear."
In fact, it was -- well, titillating. "They're so cute," she confided, batting her eyelashes. "Actually, I've got the hots for Fozzie Bear."
Lamb Chop, Grover of Sesame Street, Fozzie Bear of the Muppets, and the very dignified Mr. Leonard Spencer Shelby of The Magic Woods, a new puppet with an old soul, all were gathered at the lecture hall for the all-day taping of Puppet Conference.
The 30-minute video features each of them, along with cameo appearances by the Sock Puppet and Elmo. It was conceived by German artist Christian Jankowski and will be screening in the Carnegie Museum of Art's forum gallery from Jan 25 through April 27.
"The video brings these legendary puppet characters together and allows
them to also speak about the history and philosophy of puppeteering," said
Elizabeth Thomas, assistant curator of contemporary art.
The light-hearted script, complete with the silliness the puppets are known for, nevertheless touches on such serious topics as nature, commercialism, education, the mass media as art, and racism. Grover says at one point: "Deep down inside, no matter where we are from, and no matter if we have skin, or fur, or feathers, we are all one great big family."
Although it was shot piecemeal with each puppet giving separate interviews to the moderator, Art Cart, the museum's puppet, the finished video will make it appear as if all were attending a symposium as a group.
Lamb Chop and the other well-known puppets brought their experiences as
long-standing celebrities to the discussion, while the very British and very
proper Mr Shelby, star of the educational television show The Magic Woods,
shot here in Pittsburgh, was invited because he is new to the industry. "I'm
very young as an actor, but as a being, I'm 150 years old," said Mr Shelby,
a tortoise who sees his role as giving a voice to creatures who can't speak for
themselves.
Mallory Lewis, Lamb Chop's sidekick, said that for her, taking part in the video was a great opportunity to talk to others in her business because she works solo. What's more, the video was an interesting way to combine two different art forms -- media and puppetry. [ TP Note: That sentence makes absolutely no sense, even for a Pittsburgh newspaper. ]
"Art is a way of looking at things differently," said Lewis, who became the voice of Lamb Chop after the death of her mother, Shari, in 1998. "It's a special way of looking at puppetry."
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