Jim Henson's Preserved Pipe Vandalism/Decorations of Early Muppets at NBC Studio

There's a new stop on the NBC studio tour in New York, and it's all about the Muppets' beginnings. On the June 8th edition of the NBC Nightly News, anchor Brian Williams showed Frank Oz something that Oz created years ago while he - and Jim Henson - worked backstage on the Jack Paar show.

Oz and Henson spent their downtime in their closet decorating pipes, forming their first visions of what the Muppets would look like. As Oz reflects in this video, the pipes are from a simpler time and what the Muppets are really about: affectionate anarchy.

While the pipes are a recent addition to the NBC studios tour in New York, this isn't the first time they've been shown on TV. Jim Henson showed then NBC Nightly News anchor Gene Shalit the Muppet pipes way back in April 1980, after the pipes were exposed during studio construction.

Why now add the pipes to the tour? Perhaps because a new Muppets movie is in the works. It is tentatively set to release on Christmas Day 2011. If Walt Disney gives the official green light to the film, Jason Segel will be one of the writers - which only makes sense considering his Muppet opera production in the movie Forgetting Sarah Marshall.




Even though we'll have to wait for the latest Muppet movie, at least we have the pipes and this cool bit of history in the meantime.


Source:
http://entertainment.gather.com/viewArticle.action?articleId=281474978287768

Category:

Entertainment

Tags:

• jim
• henson
• muppets
• early
• history
• pipes
• pipe
• vandalism
• closet
• new
• york

[Nozoki]

Affectionate Anarchy is going to be my band's name.

[MaelFilms]

Check out "Muppet Friday!" on Facebook for a great Jim Henson clips group.

[MaximusNYC]

I took the tour earlier this year, and this was never mentioned! Next time I'm there I'll ask about it.

[wiedep]

were the doors for the room behind 6B removed?

they actually take the tours down that corridor?

there's a standpipe in the fire stairs at the end of that corridor that has a "swastika" a company stamp on it - nothing to do with germany.

i saw it when i worked there.

gene shalit never appeared on NN.

those pipes were always "exposed", much of the vertical piping and cables in the studio building are accessible thru what are called "closets" - open shafts with doors.

[lleitner1]

I took the NBC tour this past October when I visited NY specifically to see this. Only to find out that Fallon's show was filming something there and we weren't going to see the closet. I will have to go back.

[baylorwhite1]

3:50 "ah yeah, that's Jim...Jim loved details" you darn right...and that's why it's all golden

[euniceburns666]

Frank Oz and Brian Williams on a tour of the earliest Muppet art, now preserved for visitors.

[mdr48371]

Jack Paar showed these pipes to David Letterman on Dave's show. v6yLfrMSh6Y