Original air date: January 25, 1979
Wooooo! The Elke Sommer episode! Man, it’s so cool that the Muppets got Elke Sommer to be on their show.!
Wait a minute… Who the heck is Elke Sommer?
How much should our familiarity with a Muppet Show guest star affect our enjoyment of it? There were 120 episodes of The Muppet Show, and each one had a guest star. But not every guest who appeared on the series was a major superstar, and sometimes a performer who is a household name right now is less famous 40 years later. So it’s understandable that, as a Muppet fan watching the show decades later, some guest stars seem more exciting than others.
When I first watched the episodes guest-starring Steve Martin, Elton John, and Julie Andrews, I was excited to see them, because I was familiar with their talents and anticipated seeing them use those talents alongside the Muppets. There was even a variation on that that happened when I first experienced episodes featuring guest stars who are less celebrated now, but are well-remembered for a specific thing. Doug Henning? He’s a magician. He’ll do some magic! Shields and Yarnell? They’re mimes. They’ll do some mimery! Victor Borge? He’s a funny piano player. He’ll play the piano, whilst being funny!
But there are a handful of guest stars who I was completely unfamiliar with before I saw their episode of The Muppet Show, and Elke Sommer was one of those. Before the first time I watched this one, I didn’t know if she was an actress, a singer, or an Olympic high-diver. As it turns out, she’s an actress who made several films in her native Germany before making the leap to Hollywood in the 1960s.
Happily, it also turns out she’s a perfectly game and comedically capable Muppet Show guest star. A highlight of the episode is the segment where Sommer attempts to sing “Animal Crackers in My Soup” in a cutesy Shirley Temple outfit, before Kermit cuts her off — in the middle of the song, right in front of the viewing audience. Doesn’t he know they’re on the air? Despite Sommer’s explanation that she thought it would be a good fit for a show full of cute little piggies and little duckies and little froggies, Kermit tells her it’s no good because The Muppet Show tries to appeal to adults.
Sommer resumes the number, now wearing a fancy dress, singing in a considerably sultrier manner, and supported by tuxedo-clad backup singers. Kermit rudely interrupts his guest again, justifying it because she’s still not singing the song in a way that’s right for The Muppet Show. Sommer returns once more — with her head on a wacky, fuzzy, spindly-limbed Muppet body! It’s extremely silly, but Sommer performs all three versions of the song with equal conviction. She essentially plays three different characters and herself in the span of one musical number.
Later, she plays Cleopatra singing “Row, Row, Row” while her boat sinks, and finds herself on the receiving end of a karate chop after patronizingly snorting at Miss Piggy. She’s funny in those bits too, and she’s completely on board with the Muppets’ skewed version of reality.
So there you have it: Ultimately, a guest star’s level of fame and familiarity to the modern-day viewer doesn’t have anything to do with how entertaining their Muppet Show will be. Or how much fun it will be to watch them interact with cute little piggies and little duckies and little froggies.
First Appearance Of… This episode is not the first appearance of the Bobby Benson puppet. It’s not the first appearance of the hilariously squishy-faced, beady-eyed baby Muppets. But it is the first time they all joined forces to create Bobby Benson’s Baby Band, one of the weirdest and funniest acts on The Muppet Show.
Musical Highlight: Bobby Benson’s Baby Band performing “Pennsylvania 6-5000!” As Benson stands around with a cigarette dangling from his lip, half-heartedly conducting, the babies play the Glenn Miller standard on toy instruments, and frequently attack each other with those instruments. I especially like the loopy sound of the slide whistle.
Most Classic Moment: Well… Bobby Benson’s Baby Band performing “Pennsylvania 6-5000?” This number just makes me laugh. It’s yet another example of the “How did they ever come up with this?” genius of the show. One of the babies keeps hitting the other babies with the neck of his guitar, while another baby plays the piano with one hand because she’s sucking her thumb. And then they all shout “PENNSYLVANIA 6-5000!” in their squeaky baby voices. The Muppet performers must have had a blast doing this number. And it goes over so well that the band returns to play “Tuxedo Junction” for the UK Spot!
Best Joke: Statler is babysitting his infant grandson, who sits in the balcony box throughout the show. When Waldorf asks “Is he a bouncing baby boy?”, Statler says “I don’t know, but we’re high enough up to find out!”
MVM (Most Valuable Muppet): I’ll give it to Beaker. I believe this is the first time Beaker worked as a stagehand, and he has several moments here that allow him to escape the confines of Muppet Labs while still being victimized for our amusement. There’s a piece of physical comedy where he’s “helping” Beauregard hammer a nail, but repeatedly yanks his hand away, that’s especially delightful.
Coolest Puppetry Effect: It’s hard to top Elke Sommer turning into a dancing Muppet with arms and legs that resemble pipe cleaners. But I’m also impressed by the effect in the Muppet Sports sketch that allows a goldfish to seemingly float inside a bowl with no visible sign of a puppeteer.
One More Thing… The “Pigs in Space” sketch in this episode, in which the Swinetrek crew races to see who will be the first pig to set foot on the planet Koozebane, is a two-parter! Why didn’t they do that more often? “Pigs in Space” is a spoof of sci-fi adventure stories, which could really lend itself to ridiculous cliffhangers.
Okay, One More Thing: Dr. Strangepork incorrectly declares there’s no life on Koozebane based on a reading from his “life detection computer pack.” Life detection computer pack! What a wonderfully nonsensical sci-fi contraption.
Click here to wear a cutesy Shirley Temple outfit on the Tough Pigs forum!
by Ryan Roe – Ryan@ToughPigs.com
