Oscar the Grouch puppet

Object Details

Children's Television Workshop

designer

Henson, Jim

performer

Jacobson, Eric

Muppets, Inc.

Henson, Jim

Sahlin, Don

Description (Brief)

Oscar the Grouch puppet made by Muppets, Inc. for the Children's Television Workshop for use in the production of the television series Sesame Street, ca. 1970-1980. Oscar is a green furry monster who lives in a trash can on Sesame Street and frequently argues with the other Muppet and human characters. Despite his grouchiness, Oscar is a valued friend to the other characters on Sesame Street, demonstrating the importance of understanding, tolerance, and diversity.

Oscar the Grouch was originally performed by Caroll Spinney, who said that he based the character's voice on a cranky New York taxi driver. Jim Henson’s inspiration for the character was a rude waiter at a restaurant named Oscar's Salt of the Sea. In his original concept drawings for Oscar the Grouch, Henson imagined a spiky, grumpy-looking magenta monster. Due to the limitations of early color television, however, Oscar was redesigned with orange fur for his premiere on the first season of Sesame Street in 1969, and only changed to green for the second season. Oscar explained that this change was due to his vacation at Swamp Mushy Muddy where it was so damp that he became covered in slime and mold.

Oscar the Grouch is a live-hand puppet, which means that one of the performer’s hands is in the puppet’s head while the other is in one of the puppet’s arms, which has gloves for hands. Another puppeteer is usually needed to operate the other arm, which is known as right-handing. This particular Oscar the Grouch puppet was built in the 1970s. It was also used to perform the character Grandpa Grouch at some point in the show's run.

Credit Line

Gift of Muppets, Inc.

1970s

ID Number

1989.0540.01

accession number

1989.0540

catalog number

1989.0540.01

Object Name

puppet

Physical Description

fabric (overall material)

plastic (overall material)

Measurements

overall: 36 in x 24 in x 12 in; 91.44 cm x 60.96 cm x 30.48 cm

place made

United States: New York, New York City

See more items in

Culture and the Arts: Entertainment

Popular Entertainment

Family & Social Life

Puppets

Highlights from the Culture and the Arts Collection

Jim Henson

Exhibition

Entertainment Nation

Exhibition Location

National Museum of American History

National Museum of American History

subject

Puppetry

Radio and television broadcasting

Television broadcasts

Children's television programs

Television

Record ID

nmah_1182904

Metadata Usage (text)

CC0

GUID (Link to Original Record)

http://n2t.net/ark:/65665/ng49ca746ac-5282-704b-e053-15f76fa0b4fa