資料來源:http://chinapost.com.tw/guidepost/topics/default.asp?sub=14

 

The world's most famous and beloved puppets get their own New York gallery


For over 50 years, the Muppets have been entertaining people of all ages across the entire world. From the soft-spoken yet witty Kermit the Frog to the mean-spirited and self-obsessed Miss Piggy, these characters have brought joy to millions and inspired numerous TV shows and movies.

Now these beloved characters and many others created by Jim Henson are getting their own gallery at a museum in New York.

Kermit, Cookie Monster, Bert and Ernie from "Sesame Street," the stars of "Fraggle Rock" and other puppets, costumes and items from throughout Henson's career have been donated to the Museum of the Moving Image, which is building a new gallery to house them.

Encompassing almost 400 items ranging from original puppets to behind-the-scenes footage, the gift is a huge bonus for the 25-year-old museum, which saw attendances jump in 2011 and 2012 during a temporary exhibit of Henson's work.

And it fulfills a goal of Henson's widow, Jane Henson, who died in April at the age of 78. "She loved the Muppet characters as though they were part of her own family," and the actual puppets themselves were special to her, one of the couple's daughters, Cheryl Henson, said. "It was her dream for these dear friends to find a good home where they could be seen, and where new audiences could learn about the many aspects of my father's work."

The exhibit is expected to open next year at the museum, which is in the Long Island City neighborhood, across the river from midtown Manhattan. New York City is chipping in US$2.75 million (approximately NT$82 million) toward the US$5 million (approximately NT$149 million) cost of the project in the hope that it will encourage more tourists to travel beyond Manhattan.

"The only major item that I know will not be included is the Muppet that they made of me," New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg said at the news conference to announce the new project, where he chatted with Miss Piggy about when they worked together in the 2008 TV show "A Muppets Christmas: Letters to Santa," which featured Bloomberg as himself.

"You were wonderful — almost lifelike," Miss Piggy joked. (For the record, Bloomberg is very fond of his personal Muppet and it currently sits in a reading room in the mayor's Manhattan house.)

A puppeteer, screenwriter and producer, Henson introduced a lot of beloved characters during a career that spanned from the 1950s until his death in 1990 at the age of 53. "Jim Henson created memorable characters that live with us throughout a variety of media," said Carl Goodman, executive director of the Museum of the Moving Image. Henson's career showed "that you can walk your own path and still succeed in this world," Goodman said.

This is not the first time that the characters have been recognized for their contributions to modern American culture. Ten Henson puppets from the 1950s TV show "Sam and Friends," including the original version of Kermit the Frog, were donated to the Smithsonian's National Museum of American History in 2010.

 

資料來源:http://chinapost.com.tw/guidepost/topics/default.asp?sub=14

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