Character: Oscar the Grouch
Hand type: Live hands
Builder credits:
Pattern – Wally Wingert, Alex McGee, and Shelley Johnson
Plastic eye piece fabrication – Kyle Killips; Plastic Depot
Foam head and tongue sculpture – Wally Wingert
Mouth plate fabrication – Wally Wingert
Frown mechanism – Wally Wingert
Head and neck seamstress – Alex McGee; Alex in Wonderland
Body seamstress – Shelley Johnson
Fur trimming and styling – Sergio Lopez
Special thanks – Jim Ojala; Ojala FX
Height: 37”
Notes: A center ring between the eyeballs inside the puppet’s head allows the puppeteer’s middle finger to manipulate the eyebrow with simple “counterbalance.” When the middle finger is down Oscar is wide-eyed. When the middle finger goes up, Oscar frowns. This is why Carroll Spinner was once quoted as saying, “When Oscar frowned, I was flipping off the world.”
Building an Oscar replica had been on my radar since December of 2016. I had won an auction which allowed a guest and I to tour the Henson Creature Shop in Burbank, CA. My friend Paul Dini and I enjoyed seeing touring the facility immensely, but the payoff came at the end when we were ushered into the conference room. There in the corner was a retired, screen-used Oscar puppet on display in his trash can. Paul and I both became 9 years old again! Creating a display similar to this would be on my to-do list for over 3 years.
This is the retired Oscar that sits in the meeting room of the Henson Creature Shop.
By Christmas Eve of 2019 I had now begun the tradition of a “Creative Christmas;” involving myself in some creative project while staying up all night listening to my favorite Christmas radio show and ushering in Christmas morning.
After two frustrating attempts at building a suitable head structure and frown mechanism, I went back to the basics. I realized I was overthinking the mechanism’s construction. I had intended to use a spring-loaded mechanism (like the one in Animal’s head) to replicate Oscar’s famous frown. Until I realized something.
What would Oscar’s builders have done back in 1969, the year “Sesame Street” came on the air? Would they have used high-tech gizmos, or would they have used the most simplistic solution available? Once I wrapped my head around that, the answer was clear. (For more information about this build visit the page on my site dedicated to creating my Oscar the Grouch replica.)
Oscar’s look has changed VERY dramatically over the years (he was even orange and had eyes that moved from side to side in his infancy) but I set my sights on how Oscar looked in the early 70’s.
Not the cheery, clean lime-green color he is today, in the 70’s he was mossy green, ratty, matted and filthy. That’s MY Oscar! My effects guy Jim Ojala even created a wonderful trash can home for Oscar to be displayed in. Oscar leers at visitors to Planet Wallywood from a corner of the living room.
I made an Oscar when I was 19 with accompanying bottomless trash can within which I could operate him. Unfortunately I no longer have my first Oscar or his bottomless can.
The old “bottomless trash can” trick
My daughter Lacey gives “five” to Oscar.
Performing for a Christmas charity with Santa
I had an Oscar puppet toy as a kid