In 1969, Carroll Spinney performed at a Puppeteers of
America festival in Salt Lake City. He’d put together an ambitious show,
combining live actors, puppets and animated backgrounds. The show was ruined by
an errant spotlight that washed out the backgrounds. It was a miserable failure and
the show just fell apart. Afterwards, Jim Henson came up to Carroll and said, “I
liked what you were trying to do.” Jim wanted Carroll to come to New York with
him, to play a large yellow bird that was part puppet, part costume. Carroll
played both Big Bird and Oscar the Grouch in Sesame Street for over 50 years:
4,400 episodes. Carroll Spinney always said it was his own good fortune to play
the two very best Muppets. And he got the chance because somehow, Jim Henson
saw something he liked in a show that failed miserably.
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