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The Muppet Man (Advanced Program) · Spotlight English: Advanced

• 0:03
  Speaker 1: Welcome to Spotlight Advanced. I'm Alice Irizarry.
• 0:08
  Speaker 2: And I'm Patrick Woodward. Spotlight uses a special English method
• 0:13
  Speaker 2: of broadcasting. It is easier for people to understand, no
• 0:17
  Speaker 2: matter where in the world they live.
• 0:26
  Speaker 1: Miss Piggy looked deeply into Kermit the Frog's eyes. She
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  Speaker 1: knew she could never love anyone as much as him.
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  Speaker 1: She would always tell him the truth. She held his
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  Speaker 1: little frog face and said, I love you.
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  Speaker 2: Kermit the Frog looked behind him and then all around.
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  Speaker 2: He looked back at Miss Piggy. He did not understand.
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  Speaker 2: Why would anyone love him, a frog, a small green
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  Speaker 2: animal that jumps? He pointed at himself and asked, You
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  Speaker 2: mean me?
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  Speaker 1: Today's Spotlight looks at Jim Henson, creator of The Muppet Show.
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  Speaker 1: Miss Piggy and Kermit the Frog were two of Henson's
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  Speaker 1: most famous Muppet characters. Kermit was the calm, cute leader
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  Speaker 1: of the Muppets, while Miss Piggy was loud, demanding, funny,
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  Speaker 1: and in love with Kermit.
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  Speaker 2: Miss Piggy and Kermit were puppets. A puppet is a
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  Speaker 2: figure of an animal or human that a person can hold.
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  Speaker 2: The person or puppeteer slides his hand into the puppet
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  Speaker 2: to move its mouth as if it were talking. The
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  Speaker 2: puppeteer speaks as he moves the puppet's mouth with his hand.
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  Speaker 2: He changes his voice to sound like the puppet's character.
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  Speaker 2: The puppeteer hides so that people can only see the puppet.
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  Speaker 1: Sometimes puppeteers control the puppets from above, using wires and strings.
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  Speaker 1: These puppets are called marionettes.
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  Speaker 2: Henson changed puppetry by combining the methods used with puppets
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  Speaker 2: and marionettes. He used one hand to control the puppet's mouth,
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  Speaker 2: while using his other hand to move the puppet's arms
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  Speaker 2: with thin bendable bars. He made his puppets out of
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  Speaker 2: material called foam rubber. Foam rubber bent more easily. Henson
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  Speaker 2: could move his puppets to look more like real people.
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  Speaker 2: Henson made his puppets show more emotions on their faces.
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  Speaker 2: The characters he created looked more realistic. Henson called them
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  Speaker 2: Muppets as a combination of the two words puppets and marionettes.
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  Speaker 1: Henson grew up in the state of Maryland in the
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  Speaker 1: United States. He attended the University of Maryland. There, he
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  Speaker 1: created a puppet show called Sam and Friends for a
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  Speaker 1: local television station. Henson created his most famous puppet character,
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  Speaker 1: Kermit the Frog, for this show. He also met his
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  Speaker 1: future wife, Jane, in college. They were in the same
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  Speaker 1: puppetry class. Together, they had five children.
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  Speaker 2: After he finished college, Henson used his Muppets in local
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  Speaker 2: television commercials. A woman called Joan Cooney saw these television commercials.
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  Speaker 2: She loved Henson's Muppets. Cooney worked for Children's Television Workshop,
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  Speaker 2: a company that educated children through creative television programs. At
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  Speaker 2: that time, the company was developing a new children's television
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  Speaker 2: show called Sesame Street. Children's Television Workshop wanted the show
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  Speaker 2: to teach as well as to make children laugh. Cooney
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  Speaker 2: thought Henson could help them achieve this.
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  Speaker 1: Cooney contacted Henson, and he joined their team. During the
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  Speaker 1: early 1970s, Henson created different Muppets for Sesame Street to
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  Speaker 1: help teach children valuable lessons. He created Big Bird, a
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  Speaker 1: tall yellow bird that taught children it was okay to
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  Speaker 1: ask questions. Henson created Oscar the Grouch, who lived in
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  Speaker 1: a bin and was always in a bad mood. This
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  Speaker 1: helped teach children how to solve conflicts. He created Bert
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  Speaker 1: and Ernie, two characters who were very different from each other.
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  Speaker 1: They lived in the same house. Bert and Ernie helped
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  Speaker 1: teach children more about how to be good friends.
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  Speaker 2: The success of Sesame Street and Henson's Muppet characters won
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  Speaker 2: many fans. In 1976, Henson created his own television program
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  Speaker 2: called The Muppet Show. The show included older characters like
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  Speaker 2: Kermit the Frog and Miss Piggy, but also new characters
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  Speaker 2: that Henson created. For example, he created Fozzie Bear. Fozzie
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  Speaker 2: Bear told jokes and was Kermit's best friend. Fozzie Bear
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  Speaker 2: became one of the most popular Muppets. The Muppet character
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  Speaker 2: Animal played drums for the Muppet music group. Animal had
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  Speaker 2: wild red hair and wore a chain round his neck.
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  Speaker 2: He loved to play his musical drums, eat and sleep.
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  Speaker 2: He shouted when he spoke.
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  Speaker 1: The Muppet show was set in an old theatre. The
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  Speaker 1: Muppets sang songs and acted with famous film and music
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  Speaker 1: performers who joined them each week. The Muppets also talked
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  Speaker 1: with the singers and actors backstage. the area behind the
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  Speaker 1: main curtain, before the next performance.
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  Speaker 2: It was a new and entertaining idea to let viewers
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  Speaker 2: see the Muppets backstage, hurrying to prepare for the next act.
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  Speaker 1: The Muppet Show has become popular around the world. 235
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  Speaker 1: million people watch the show each week. The Muppet Show
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  Speaker 1: was broadcast in over 100 countries. It stayed on the
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  Speaker 1: air for five seasons, from 1976 to 1981. The show
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  Speaker 1: had 120 episodes. It won four Primetime Emmy Awards, the
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  Speaker 1: highest award for a television show.
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  Speaker 2: One of the biggest reasons for the popularity of The
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  Speaker 2: Muppet Show was that it appealed to children and adults.
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  Speaker 2: Henson wanted to make a show that centred on the
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  Speaker 2: whole family so that parents could enjoy it with their children.
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  Speaker 2: Children liked the colourful Muppets with their funny voices and behaviour.
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  Speaker 2: Adults enjoyed seeing the Muppets working jobs like them. The
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  Speaker 2: Muppets had bosses, relationships, responsibilities and concerns like other adults.
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  Speaker 1: The show was so popular that Henson got the chance
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  Speaker 1: to make films with the Muppets. He made his first
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  Speaker 1: Muppet film, The Muppet Movie, in 1979. Two years later,
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  Speaker 1: Henson made another film called The Great Muppet Caper.
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  Speaker 2: These two films were very successful. Eleven more Muppet films
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  Speaker 2: were made over the next 35 years. All the Muppet films,
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  Speaker 2: The Muppet Show and The Muppet Toys and Games made
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  Speaker 2: billions of dollars.
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  Speaker 1: Not only did Henson help make the other Muppet films...
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  Speaker 1: But he also directed two films without his beloved Muppets.
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  Speaker 1: They were called The Dark Crystal and Labyrinth. Neither film
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  Speaker 1: made much money. Film reviewers did not like them. It
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  Speaker 1: seemed the world was not willing to accept anything from
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  Speaker 1: Henson other than the Muppets they already loved.
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  Speaker 2: A few years later, Henson decided to sell his business,
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  Speaker 2: the Jim Henson Company. He was going to sell all
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  Speaker 2: the rights to his Muppets and the Muppet films to
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  Speaker 2: the Walt Disney Company. But Henson died from an infection
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  Speaker 2: before he could complete the sale. He was 53 years old.
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  Speaker 1: Henson's children continued his work by managing his company. Many
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  Speaker 1: years later, they finally sold the legal rights to the
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  Speaker 1: Muppet characters to Disney. But the family did not sell
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  Speaker 1: the legal rights to Henson's films The Dark Crystal and Labyrinth.
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  Speaker 1: They thought one day there would be a new interest
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  Speaker 1: in these films. They were right.
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  Speaker 2: The Dark Crystal and Labyrinth were released again in 1987
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  Speaker 2: and 1988. This time they sold well. Film reviewers took
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  Speaker 2: another look at the two films and praised them. Both
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  Speaker 2: films became popular. People understood that Henson's ideas and puppetry
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  Speaker 2: in the two films were very special. No one had
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  Speaker 2: done anything like them before. They liked his artistry and
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  Speaker 2: the emotions expressed in the films.
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  Speaker 1: Other artists created books, television shows and picture books based
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  Speaker 1: on The Dark Crystal and Labyrinth. Film director Robert Eggers
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  Speaker 1: began making a new film called Labyrinth 2 to continue
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  Speaker 1: the story Henson created. The Dark Crystal and Labyrinth became
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  Speaker 1: the foundation of the Jim Henson Company.
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  Speaker 2: Henson's eldest daughter, Lisa, is the chief executive officer of
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  Speaker 2: the Jim Henson Company.
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  Speaker 3: She said, We are so happy that Dark Crystal and
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  Speaker 3: Labyrinth now have the complete love of the public that
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  Speaker 3: they did not have the first time around. It is
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  Speaker 3: nice to have such a lasting love for these films.
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  Speaker 3: We are excited because we always want to have more generations,
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  Speaker 3: new viewers, families.
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  Speaker 1: Henson was so creative that it usually took the public
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  Speaker 1: many years to understand and enjoy his ideas. He created
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  Speaker 1: Kermit the Frog and other Muppet characters 20 years before
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  Speaker 1: they appeared on The Muppet Show. It took another 20
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  Speaker 1: years for people to like Henson's films The Dark Crystal
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  Speaker 1: and Labyrinth.
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  Speaker 2: Henson turned puppetry into an art form. He told stories
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  Speaker 2: about the importance of loving one another. He used frogs,
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  Speaker 2: birds and pigs to tell the world his message. As
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  Speaker 2: Kermit the Frog sang in his famous song, Rainbow Connection,
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  Speaker 2: Someday we will find it, the rainbow connection, the lovers,
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  Speaker 2: the dreamers and me.
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  Speaker 1: Did you watch these shows when you were a child?
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  Speaker 1: Who is your favourite character on The Muppet Show or
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  Speaker 1: Sesame Street? Why do you think children love the Muppets
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  Speaker 1: characters so much? You can leave a comment on our
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  Speaker 1: website at www.spotlightenglish.com. You can also find us on YouTube, Facebook, TikTok, Instagram,
• 11:36
  Speaker 1: and X. You can also get Spotlight episodes delivered directly
• 11:40
  Speaker 1: to your Android or Apple device through our free official
• 11:44
  Speaker 1: Spotlight English app.
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  Speaker 2: The writer of this episode was Peter Anderson. The producer
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  Speaker 2: was Michio Ozaki. The voices you heard were from the
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  Speaker 2: United States and the United Kingdom. All quotes were adapted
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  Speaker 2: for this episode and voiced by Spotlight. No AI or
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  Speaker 2: artificial intelligence was used in this episode. Spotlight episodes are written,
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  Speaker 2: voiced and produced by real people for real people, no
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  Speaker 2: matter where in the world they live. This episode is
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  Speaker 2: called The Muppet Man.
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  Speaker 1: We hope you can join us again for the next
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  Speaker 1: Spotlight episode.
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  Speaker 3: Goodbye.