Character: Beautiful Day Monster
Hand type: Live hands
Builder credits:
Pattern – Wally Wingert, Alex McGee; Alex In Wonderland
Plastic eye piece fabrication – Kyle Killips; Plastic Depot
Foam head and snout sculpture – Wally Wingert
Frown mechanism – Wally Wingert
Seamstress – Alex McGee; Alex in Wonderland
Fur trimming and styling – Sergio Lopez
Height: 31”
Notes: The frown mechanism is operated by a center ring between the eyes inside the puppet’s head. Because the mouth plate is vertical (unlike the standard horizontal mouth plates) the spring-loaded frown mechanism has to be pulled downwards with the middle finger.
I became interested in the early Jim Henson characters that were fabricated by legendary Muppet builder Don Sahlin. “The Beautiful Day Monster” first showed up trying to ruin a little girl’s ‘beautiful day’ on shows like “The Ed Sullivan Show,” but was then repurposed for several sketches during the early days of “Sesame Street.” After a few seasons the character was retired to make way for the rising celebrity of other monsters like Cookie Monster and Grover. I loved this character as a kid, and was disappointed when he disappeared.
The Beautiful Day Monster as he first appeared in early Henson sketches.
The hand-sculpted foam snout and vertical mouth plate on this character fascinated me, and presented a wonderful challenge. I was able to see the original puppet on display at a Henson exhibit in 2018. In close-up view, you can clearly see the “snip” lines (where the scissors made contact with the foam as it was being carved) in the snout; a detail I never, ever thought I’d get to see in person!
When I was 20 I made a Beaker replica, which utilized the same kind of vertical mouth plate structure. So I relied on that experience when I fabricated “Beautiful Day.”
The look of “The Beautiful Day Monster” changed considerably throughout the years, from his first appearance to how he appears (rarely) today. They softened his image considerably over time. But the target image I chose for my puppet was how he appeared in the early “Sesame Street” sketches.
When “Sesame Street” began airing I was in third grade. I remember my third grade teacher Mrs. Wertish reading to us about it from “The Weekly Reader.” But she mispronounced the word sesame and called it “See-Same Street.”
How The Beautiful Day Monster appeared in “The Muppet Show.”
But it wasn’t until fifth grade that I had completely discovered the show and embraced its humor and color. While other kids were playing kickball at recess, my friend Chris and I had found a small alcove on the playground that we dubbed “The Apartment.” In that alcove we spent our recess reenacting Ernie and Bert bits from the show. He was Ernie and I was Bert. As a side note, my first Voice Acting job on “Family Guy” was as the voice of Bert. So I guess my times spent in “The Apartment” qualified as future job research.
At this point I had begun my collection of Muppet toy puppets from the Sears catalog. I had Ernie, Bert, Cookie Monster, Oscar, Grover, Roosevelt Franklin and Big Bird. This led me to begin doing neighborhood puppet shows using these puppets. I still have Ernie, Bert, Cookie, Oscar, Grover and Roosevelt to this day.
My fifth grade contemporaries mocked my love of “Sesame Street” because in their simplistic, misinformed view it was just a ‘baby show.’ I explained to them that the puppets on the show were very funny, and the writing and bits were very clever. They didn’t get it.