{"id":12651,"date":"2022-01-31T09:23:19","date_gmt":"2022-01-31T17:23:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.wallyontheweb.com\/home\/?page_id=12651"},"modified":"2022-02-17T18:01:31","modified_gmt":"2022-02-18T02:01:31","slug":"mrr-08-beautiful-day-monster","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/www.wallyontheweb.com\/home\/mrr-08-beautiful-day-monster\/","title":{"rendered":"Muppet Replica Resource – 08 Beautiful Day Monster"},"content":{"rendered":"

MUPPETS MAIN MENU<\/a> | KERMIT<\/a> | ANIMAL<\/a> | GONZO<\/a> | MAHNA MAHNA<\/a> | ROWLF<\/a> | OSCAR<\/a> | ROBIN<\/a>
BEAUTIFUL DAY<\/a> | GLEEP<\/a> | PRAIRIE DAWN<\/a> | BABY JAVA<\/a> | COOKIE MONSTER<\/a> | ROOSEVELT FRANKLIN<\/a>
GROVER<\/a> | SUPER GROVER<\/a> | THE COUNT<\/a> | NATE ATEZ<\/a> | BACKSTAGE BONUS<\/a> | MUPPETS IN ACTION!<\/a>\r\n<\/h4><\/div><\/div>
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Character: Beautiful Day Monster<\/p>\n

Hand type: Live hands<\/p>\n

Builder credits:<\/p>\n

Pattern \u2013 Wally Wingert, Alex McGee; Alex In Wonderland<\/p>\n

Plastic eye piece fabrication \u2013 Kyle Killips; Plastic Depot<\/p>\n

Foam head and snout sculpture \u2013 Wally Wingert<\/p>\n

Frown mechanism \u2013 Wally Wingert<\/p>\n

Seamstress \u2013 Alex McGee; Alex in Wonderland<\/p>\n

Fur trimming and styling \u2013 Sergio Lopez<\/p>\n

Height: 31\u201d<\/p>\n

Notes: The frown mechanism is operated by a center ring between the eyes inside the puppet\u2019s 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.<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div>

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I became interested in the early Jim Henson characters that were fabricated by legendary Muppet builder Don Sahlin. \u201cThe Beautiful Day Monster\u201d first showed up trying to ruin a little girl\u2019s ‘beautiful day’ on shows like \u201cThe Ed Sullivan Show,\u201d but was then repurposed for several sketches during the early days of \u201cSesame Street.\u201d 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.<\/p>\n

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The Beautiful Day Monster as he first appeared in early Henson sketches.<\/p><\/div>\n

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 \u201csnip\u201d lines (where the scissors made contact with the foam as it was being carved) in the snout; a detail I never, ever thought I\u2019d get to see in person!<\/p>\n

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 \u201cBeautiful Day.\u201d<\/p>\n

The look of \u201cThe Beautiful Day Monster\u201d 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 \u201cSesame Street\u201d sketches.<\/p>\n

When \u201cSesame Street\u201d began airing I was in third grade. I remember my third grade teacher Mrs. Wertish reading to us about it from \u201cThe Weekly Reader.\u201d But she mispronounced the word sesame and called it \u201cSee-Same Street.\u201d<\/p>\n

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How The Beautiful Day Monster appeared in “The Muppet Show.”<\/p><\/div>\n

But it wasn\u2019t 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 \u201cThe Apartment.\u201d 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 \u201cFamily Guy\u201d was as the voice of Bert. So I guess my times spent in \u201cThe Apartment\u201d qualified as future job research.<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

My fifth grade contemporaries mocked my love of \u201cSesame Street\u201d because in their simplistic, misinformed view it was just a \u2018baby show.\u2019 I explained to them that the puppets on the show were very funny, and the writing and bits were very clever. They didn\u2019t get it.<\/p>\n<\/div>

More Muppets…<\/span><\/a><\/div>

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QUESTIONS AND QUERIES? COMMENTS OR COMMANDS?
\r\nE-mail Wally!\r\n
wallywingertmail@gmail.com<\/a><\/p><\/div><\/div>

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