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Count Your Blessing and Remember Muppeteer Jerry Nelson-R.I.P.
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| Sesame Street’s Count Von Count & Puppeteer Jerry Nelson |
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Jerry Nelson, the voice of many Muppets for 40 years including Count Von Count, died at the age of 78. Nelson also voiced characters like Herry the Monster, Mr. Snuffeulupagus, and Sherlock Holmes. Nelson retired from physical puppeteering in 2004, but continued to voice character like the Count up until his death.
Nelson was one of Jim Henson’s early muppeteers, joining the troupe in 1965. Nelson started on Sesame Street during the long running childrens’ educational show in its second season. On “The Muppet Show”, Nelson played Sgt. Floyd Pepper, the bassist for the house band “Electric Mayhem” and Lew Zealand, the boomerang fish thrower.
To give a better picture of the man behind the characters, here is a video of Nelson in 2002 making a cameo appearance as an ice cream vendor on Sesame Street.
But we must count our blessings of experiencing the magical Muppeteering of Jerry Nelson in our lives, despite feeling sad, by reprising his role Count Von Count.
We the Peoples’ Puppets
Now that Congress is on its Summer Recess, it is the right time to consider who are the people’s favorite puppets.
The Cloture Club did a pictoral study which compared a score of Muppets to supposed Congressional counterparts.
Here is the best of the bunch:
Maybe House Majority Leader Eric Cantor (R-VA 7th) should choose snappier suits if he wants to be a Muppet double.
Fish markets in the Bronx had better look out for Representative Jose Serrano (D-NY 16th).
Well, Rizzo and Representative Henry Waxman (D-CA 30th) are both tenacious.
If you want to see the rest, I commend checking out the piece in the Cloture Club.
Until Congress reconvenes in early September, perhaps we can be sustained by patriotic presentations by Sam the AMERICAN Eagle.
Salaam Pakistani Sesame Street
The U.S. Agency for International Development has allocated $20 Million to bring an Urdu edition of Sesame Street to Pakistan. It is hoped that Sesame Street’s fun style of learning basic words and numbers can counteract the marked decline of Pakistan’s educational system, which pushes many Urdu urchins into extremist Wahabbist madrassas. As Faizaan Peerazza, the local producer who won the grant in conjunction with the Sesame Workshop, put it “The idea is to prepare and inspire a child to go on the path of learning, and inspire the parents of the child to think that the child must be educated.”
The Pakistani edition of Sesame Street will not transplant 123 Sesame Street to South Asia with Urdu subtitles. The set will depict a lively Pakistan village with a dhaba, with simple homes and residents hanging out on the balconies. The show’s star will not be a Cookie Monster or a Big Bird but a muppet of a six year old girl with flowers in her pigtailed hair and a curiosity of the world. The Pakistani production will introduce seven new characters but there will be appearances by two popular American muppets. Alas, the transplants will be Children’s Television Workshop inspired muppets. The Muppet Show’s Miss Piggy certainly would have made her mark on the show. It’s too bad that it won’t be Bert and Ernie, but instead Tickle Me Elmo.
District of Calamity 