Exclusive Interview - Trinitas Hospital

HEALTHYEDGE EXCLUSIVE
Beyond Feathers and Fur
CAROLL SPINNEY BRINGS HUMANITY
TO BIG BIRD AND OSCAR THE GROUCH by Judith Trojan
Master puppeteer Caroll Spinney has been the spirit and spine of Big Bird and
Oscar the Grouch since Sesame Street‘s premiere episode on November 10, 1969.
But it is as Big Bird that Spinney has encouraged four generations of children to be
patient and kind from the vantage point of a fellow six-year-old, and also taught
them the alphabet, their numbers and what it means to be a friend.
Compassionate and gracious, not unlike the Bird he cohabits, Spinney has
also loved working “off the Street.” Big Bird has traded quips on 146 episodes
of Hollywood Squares; hit the road to China with Bob Hope; danced with the
Rockettes and prima ballerina Cynthia Gregory; and conducted 70 symphony
orchestras throughout the U.S., Canada and Australia. En route, Big Bird has been
fêted with a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame and celebrated with his likeness
on a U.S. postage stamp.
Spinney’s prized mantelpiece, once owned by President Franklin D. Roosevelt,
is also chockablock with awards of all shapes and sizes. As Big Bird, Spinney was
named a “Living Legend” in 2000 by the Library of Congress and takes great
pride in his 2006 Lifetime Achievement Emmy Award, his five other Emmys, two
Gold Records and two Grammy Honors. He’s the 2003 recipient of the “Legacy
for Children Award” and the 2004 James Keller Award, the latter from The
Christophers for his lifelong contributions to the craft and spirit of children’s
television and puppetry.
Interviewed by phone from his country home in Connecticut, Spinney at times
choked with emotion as he recounted his passion for puppetry that began at age
five and continued throughout his innovative work with Muppet visionary Jim
Henson on Sesame Street and beyond.
A year after the debut of Sesame
Street, Big Bird visited the White
House and met then First Lady
Pat Nixon.
“I’m certain that being
a bird has made me a
better person.”
Source: NARA
INTERVIEW
— Caroll Spinney
Big Bird debuted on the very first
installment of Sesame Street. How
have you fine-tuned his character
over the years
CS: Big Bird is a child who never
grows up, which is a delightful character
to play. But he didn’t start out that
way; originally, he was a country yokel
and not very bright. That was Jim
Henson’s original concept. Big Bird
even looked terrible. He hardly had any
feathers above his eyes.
The scripts led me to feel that Big
Bird would be more useful if he were a
surrogate child, not a big goofy guy
hanging around the kids. This way he
could learn the alphabet along with
the kids at home. I thought, ‘I won’t
do it overnight, but I’m going to
lighten up his voice.’ It just got higher
and higher.
He also couldn’t read or write at
first, so I figured he’s four or four-anda-half.
Within two years, Big Bird was
quoting a little four-line poem,
‘A Poem by Big Bird.’ At that point,
I decided he was six years old because
he could read pretty well.
Big Bird’s compassion has endeared
him to audiences of all ages. Didn’t
your encounter with an old man
one snowy night during Christmas
season inspire that trait
CS: Yes. Around 78th Street, I
passed an elderly man shuffling his feet
at the edge of the sidewalk, taking tiny
Continued on page 4
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