Of the myriad of celebrities I’ve had the pleasure of meeting in recent days, one of the greatest thrills was getting to meet Carroll Spinney. You might know him better as the puppeteer and voice of one of the most endearing residents of Sesame Street, Big Bird. Although the costume was originally created by Jim Henson and his puppeteers, it was Spinney who stepped up in the plate and operated Big Bird from within and developed his voice and character. In addition, Carroll Spinney also voiced and operated Oscar the Grouch from within the trashcan – all the way back to his earliest days, when he used to be orange rather than green.
Growing up with Sesame Street as one of my staples, I have long wanted to acquire an autograph of Carroll Spinney. In fact, over ten years ago I had a couple 8 x 10 glossy photos from the video cover of Sesame Street Presents Follow That Bird, in hopes of sending them off to get signed. At some point I lost the address for him that I had and never sent them off.
So when I heard that Carroll Spinney would be making an appearance at the Chicago Hollywood Collectors Show in addition to the Brady Bunch kids, it was the clincher that I needed to put my butt on the road to Chicago. And it was no surprise to find that Mr. Spinney was absolutely delightful.
I purpose wore my Oscar the Grouch shirt to the show, overshadowing even my Brady shirt. This was the catalyst for a conversation about the lack of Sesame Street clothing available nowadays and a friend of his who had attempted to open a retail store selling that particular commodity.
The wonderful way that he signed his photo, employing three different pens for the signatures of all three ‘characters’ and his generosity in allowing both Heidi and me to take photos with him was only the tip of the iceberg. Since March 21, 2009, happened to be Ashleigh’s 19th birthday, I asked him if he would be willing to wish her a Happy Birthday using the voice of Big Bird. He agreed and left her a cute message on her phone, employing both the voices of Big Bird and Oscar the Grouch.
Class act, legend, nice guy, fascinating person, amazing artist, and man who has made millions of kids (and adults such as me) happy for the last forty years. Any of these terms might be used to describe Carroll Spinney.
Celebrities at the Chicago collectors show will continue…
I grew up, as you did, watching Sesame Street. It was such a thrill to be able to meet the man behind ‘Big Bird’ and ‘Oscar the Grouch’. He and his lovely wife are two of the nicest people I have had the pleasure to meet. They are both very personable, kind and full of wonderful stories. It is obvious that they are very passionate about Sesame Street and the legacy they have helped create.
Carroll is a wonderful artist, as well. I watched in awe as he drew a sketch of Big Bird inside the cover of one of his books. I wanted to purchase one, but I felt I was holding up the line of people forming behind me as I obtained the seven autographed photos from him. He told me several anecdotes about his time as a puppeteer on the program while he carefully signed each photo. I told them how I could remember when Oscar was orange (Season 1 only) and that our PBS station would run older repeat episodes along side of the new episodes when I was young…so that Oscar would be green in one hour and orange in the next. I told them I used to think there were two different Grouches living in those trashcans. They were surprised that anyone my age would remember that! Now, I have another wonderful memory from Sesame Street…a show that meant a great deal to me as a kid. It is not often one can meet so many childhood heroes in a single day!
Dave Chasteen
April 29th, 2009
The celebrity I didn’t care about at all…until I met him. He really is fabulous.
Heidi
May 25th, 2009