One Way Sesame Street: Muppet Fonzie Jumps the Shark Teeth

 "One Way" is one of my earliest memories of watching Sesame Street as a three year old in 1978.  "One Way" featured a parody of Henry Winkler's "The Fonz" from the TV show "Happy Days" on his motorcycle trying to navigate his way down a one way street.  The song "One Way" was performed by singer and composer Christopher Cerf, who created a great deal of music for Sesame Street.  "One Way" was released on record albums, attributed to Sesame Street's resident rock band, "Little Chrissy and the Alphabeats" (Cerf also performed for these musical Muppets, notably the song "You're Alive").

"One Way" was simply a memory stuck in my head for decades until I finally saw it again on YouTube.

I created Muppet Fonzie, the motorcycle, and the One Way sign using shells, rocks, and other sea junk found on the beaches of Venice, Florida (I used paint and glue, too).

Interestingly, Henry Winkler was speaking at an event for the Tidewell Foundation in nearby Sarasota last month and I unfortunately did not get to go see him.  That would have been cool, like Fonzie.

The Good Sesame Place

How does one get to Sesame Street?  Well, in Florida, you can find Oscar, Ernie, Big Bird, and Bert in a few different locations.

The biggest bird in the Sunshine State isn't a pelican.  It's a yellow Muppet.

 Big Bird is one of the latest sculptures I've made using materials I've found on the beaches near my home in Venice, Florida.  Here in Florida, the Sesame Street Muppets can be found at Busch Gardens in Tampa (Sesame Street Safari of Fun, opened in 2010) and SeaWorld in Orlando (Sesame Street Land, opened in 2019).  While these are relatively new additions, Sesame Street is no stranger to theme parks.
The very first Sesame Street theme park, Sesame Place, opened in Pennsylvania in 1980.  The small play park, operated by Busch, eventually morphed into a (still small) ride and water park.  Eventually, Sesame Place started getting cross promoted in materials for its sister Busch Gardens and SeaWorld Parks, appearing on brochures, shopping bags, and eventually in the form of small "lands" with attractions and shows.

A second Sesame Place is coming to San Diego in 2021 (replacing the existing SeaWorld Aquatica water park.
While Big Bird is no longer considered the main character of Sesame Street, the endearing modern day feathered dinosaur is still the mascot for Sesame Place parks.  For now.

Big Bird's best buddy is Mr. Snuffleupagus.  For many years, quite a few adults on Sesame Street thought that Snuffy was an imaginary friend that Big Bird had made up (because they never saw him).

Snuffleupagus started appearing at the Sesame Place theme park in Pennsylvania fairly recently.  He has also appeared at Busch Gardens Tampa, where he has his own ride called "Snuffy's Elephant Romp" (featuring Muppet Elephant ride vehicles) in Sesame Street Safari of Fun.

Grover is a rather super monster on Sesame Street, and in the world of theme parks.  Grover (and his alter-ego, Super Grover) has his own high-flying roller coasters at Sesame Place, Busch Gardens parks, and SeaWorld parks.

Grover was sort of the original "breakout" Monster character of Sesame Street.  Before a certain ticklish, crimson-colored Muppet took over the spotlight.

Sesame Street airs all over the world, and often features localized characters.  These international Muppets used to be showcased in Sesame Place at a ride called "Grover's World Twirl".  One of these characters was Nimnim (which means "Tiny") from the Egyptian version of Sesame Street called "Alam Simsim".

Nimnim is the colorful Egyptian counterpart to Big Bird.

Boombah the Lion takes on the Big Bird role in Galli Galli Sim Sim, India's version of Sesame Street.

Galli Galli Sim Sim has a very catchy theme song.

In 2014, Sesame Place debuted Cookie's Monster Land.  This area features play components and five rides, including the Disco themed Monster Mix-Up, which replaced Grover's World Twirl.

Me want Cookie!  Me from the beach, so me want Pecan Sandie!

Bath tub loving Ernie is the go-to guy for interactive water play elements at Sesame Place and the Sesame Street lands.  Whether it is a fountain, water slide, or wave pool, Ernie is ready with his rubber duckie.

Of course, the giggling Ernie was first performed by Muppet founder, Jim Henson.

Bert would be happy to know that there are indeed pigeons on some of the beaches in Venice, Florida.

It's kind of crazy that the original performer for Bert (Frank Oz) would later become a director for some wild films like Little Shop of Horrors and What About Bob?

I also made Oscar the Grouch.  He's created using genuine sea trash, like bits of coral and sharkteeth.

Sesame Street's resident bad boy got his own wooden roller coaster, "Oscar's Wacky Taxi"
 at Sesame Place in Pennsylvania in 2018.

Oscar and Big Bird were both performed by puppeteer Carroll Spinney.  Oscar's character was inspired by a taxi driver that Spinney encountered.

OK, that's it.  Now SCRAM!

Fraggle Rock Test McDonald's Happy Meal: Dismissed Doozers

In April 1987, McDonald's Test Marketed a Fraggle Rock Happy Meal in the Charleston-Huntington and Bluefield Beckley areas of West Virginia.  Limited Test Market and Regional Happy Meal toys were a thing in the late Eighties and early Nineties.  I first became aware of this phenomenon reading Tomart's Price Guide to McDonald's Happy Meal Collectibles by Meredith Williams (from 1992).

Jim Henson's Fraggle Rock debuted on HBO in 1983.  The McDonald's Happy Meal is actually tied to the 1987 animated series that premiered on NBC in the Fall of 1987.  FYI, the animated Fraggle Rock was, like Muppet Babies, produced by Marvel Animation.

The Fraggle Rock Test McDonald's Happy Meal is rather fascinating.  There were four toys in the set.  Two are familiar to people who know about the Fraggle Rock McDonald's toys that were released nationally in March of 1988.

Gobo Fraggle was the first character released.  The carrot car in the Test had wobbling wheels.  The wobbling was eliminated on the Gobo and Red cars when the Fraggle Rock Happy Meal went National in 1988.  It should be pointed out that the Fraggles did not, to my knowledge, drive vegetable cars.

The Test Fraggle Rock Happy Meal was half Fraggle toys, half Doozers (the mechanically amazing construction guy creatures from the series).  Bulldoozer and Friends was the second toy in the set.  On the shows, the Doozers appeared to all be identical, until they took off their construction hats, revealing their individual appearances and personalities.

The Doozers are a natural fit for toy vehicles.  However, they did not make it to the National McDonald's Happy Meal.  Why?  Well, I imagine some folks were mighty disappointed that the only Fraggles in the Fraggle Rock Happy Meal were Gobo and Red.  You just know that the McDonald's toy designer folks LOVED the Doozers.

There was a special Doozer McDonald's Happy Meal box designed that did not even make it to the Test.  A prototype of the Doozer box was made, but never produced in large quantities.

The fact that the Doozers were dropped from the Happy Meal toy line is a crime against Muppets.  The Doozers actually freaking walked on the show in 1983.  I also love the fact that the comparatively larger Fraggles EAT the Doozer constructions.  Brilliant!

Cotterpin Doozer and Friends was Set 4.

Cotterpin was the red-haired, rebellious girl Doozer (performed, like Mokey Fraggle, by Kathryn Mullen).

When the Fraggle Rock McDonald's Happy Meal went National in 1988, Mokey and Wembley (with Boober) replaced the two Doozer toys.  Here we can see Cotterpin for a size comparison.  I should point out that the toys pictured are NOT mine.  I've never even seen the Test toys in person and they are extremely expensive.  The Cotterpin toy shown here is actually missing the front piece of the forklift.

As a fan of the Fraggles, I can understand how people were probably disappointed at the lack of all 5 main Fraggles in the Test.  The vegetable cars are pretty cute.  But dang, those Doozer vehicles are pretty Rev (Doozer speak for "cool").

Re-watching Fraggle Rock, the Doozers are my favorite part of the show.  They are actually inspired by bees and termites.  My favorites are Wrench and Turbo from the episode "Doozer Is As Doozer Does."

The Doozers may have had the last laugh.  The hard working, hard-hatted little guys got their own computer animated spin-off show called The Doozers in 2013.

The Muppet Christmas Carol At Taco Bell

Many people have happy memories of collecting fast food toys.  I vividly remember getting this Muppet Christmas Carol ornament at Taco Bell in 1992 and thinking it was pretty sad.

At the time, Taco Bell was not known for having cool toys for kids.  I don't think there were any commercials for this promotion.

At least the artwork (with Kermit as Bob Cratchit, Robin as Tiny Tim, and the penguin carolers) is nicely done.

These ornaments are just two stickers and a blank plastic disc with a piece of string.  You have to put them together yourself.

A better set of fast food toys (finger puppets) for The Muppet Christmas Carol was released at Hardee's in 1993.  You can check them out at The Muppets And Pee-Wee Herman: The Great Big Christmas Caper Adventure.

A more impressive set of Muppet fast food toys that required assembly was Jim Henson's Muppet Workshop At McDonald's.

Jim Henson's Muppet Workshop At McDonald's

In 1995, visitors to McDonald's could get a Jim Henson's Muppet Workshop Happy Meal.

This was much more popular than the Jim Henson's Muppet Sweatshop Happy Meal offered in 1994.

For the Muppet Workshop Happy Meal, kids (or more likely, parents) are put to work to create their toys.

Even the box itself can be turned into a puppet.  In this case, it is a Muppet Dog.

Kermit is always Green, so it is fitting that even the bottom of the box has a use!  That's where you'll find the ears for your dog puppet.

The puppets for the Muppet Workshop Happy Meal consist of hard plastic pieces.  Check out the Kermit the Frog on the Bird's red hat!

The bodies of these puppets are hollow, so feel free to feed your puppet French Fries just like those cute little birds you see eating fries outside your local McDonald's.

Once the head piece is snapped in place, you can add the provided accessories to your hard plastic puppet.

Well, don't you know about the bird?  Everybody knows that the bird is the word!

Is this the Muppet version of Snoopy and Woodstock?

Or perhaps this is Rowlf's niece, Hairy Potter.

It is easy to make your Muppet Dog speak.  Just push the lever at the back of its head.

Your Muppet Dog will be happy if you give it a McDonald's Hamburger patty.

Watch out for the Muppet Monster!

All the puppet pieces in this set are interchangeable, so you can come up with some very colorful characters.

The Muppet Workshop Happy Meal found a very clever way to make mass-marketed, creative fast food toy puppets.

Feed your Muppet Monster some tasty McDonald's Cookies!

A fourth toy (a yellow "What-Not" Muppet) was available, but I was not able to get that one.

The Muppet Workshop McDonald's toys came with coupons for Muppet Workshop Craft toys and kits.  And Cheerios, because I guess the Muppets like to eat Cheerios.

Each McDonald's puppet features an emblem of Kermit on the lever used to operate the Muppet's mouth.

Time to get to work and create some new Muppets!

I'm not sure how popular the Muppet Workshop toys were, but I don't think the brand lasted very long.  Then again, the Muppets have changed hands (as in ownership) a few times since 1995.

Disney and FAO Schwarz opened up the Muppet Whatnot Workshop (here's a link to a story I did about it in 2010), where puppeteers can create their own custom-built Muppets.  You can even order them online.  These days, it looks like there are fewer parts and costumes to choose from, but the puppets are less expensive to create now.

Loo-Kee Here! It's She-Ra and He-Man!

Don't let Loo-Kee fool you.  Most of the time, this colorful woodland creature stayed hidden in the animated TV show "She-Ra" and revealed his hiding place (and the moral of the day's story) at the end of each episode.  However, Loo-Kee was also brave enough to take on Skeletor and Beast Man.  Yep!

By the Power of Grayskull, Loo-Kee matched wits with He-Man's rivals in a cross-over episode of the He-Man spin-off show "She-Ra" in an episode called "Loo-Kee Lends a Hand."

He-Man and Battle Cat (a green tiger) have been fighting off Skeletor since the early 1980s.

When I was a kid, I think my neighbor had every He-Man action figure.  I only had one, and it was Battle Cat (a hard plastic toy with no moving parts, so I guess it was really just an accessory and not an action figure).

Put down those entertaining Mattel products, because it's time to watch He-Man on TV!

Mattel had been toying with the idea of a He-Man show, and turned to animation producer Filmation to create a series in 1983.

Mattel was thrilled with the success of He-Man, since their "Mattel and Mars Bar Quick Energy Chocobot Hour" did not do so well (as noted on an episode of "The Simpsons").

Marvel produced a Star Comics title for "He-Man and the Masters of the Universe."

Here we see He-Man fighting The Price Increase with R2-D2 and C-3PO from the Star Wars "Droids" series.  Notice Spider-Ham (Marvel's own Spider-Man spoof, Peter Porker) is in combat mode here as well.  Seeing one of the Care Bears joining them in the battle is especially hilarious.

Yes, Orko was friends with Snarf from "ThunderCats" and the Transformers, too.

Marvel's Star Comics made many different titles, including "Muppet Babies," "Alf," and "Silverhawks."

It was not unusual to see characters from different studios mingling together in comic book ads.

For publicity photos for Star Comics, Heathcliff defended his turf from Lion-O (from ThunderCats).  An Ewok and a Care Bare fought over who was more cuddly.  The Flintstone Kids were rocking with laughter because He-Man slayed 'em.

She-Ra was introduced in "He-Man and She-Ra In The Secret Of The Sword" in movie theaters in 1985.

This was not a big budget film.  It was like a big episode of the TV show.  Look at Mer-Man!  Lots of fun villains in the He-Man universe.

There were two big things that made She-Ra so popular:  Her personality and her courage.  What did you think I was going to say?

She-Ra also had a big, pink flying unicorn.  Those seem to be really popular these days.  Maybe this post will show up in a lot of Google searches.

Here's a different poster for the He-Man and She-Ra Sword movie.  This one has Hordak and Mantenna, two of She-Ra's foes.  I watched an episode of She-Ra on hulu.com, and it reminded me of Hanna-Barbera's "Space Ghost."  Very limited animation, but nice drawings.

Skeletor is standing next to another cool villain named Leech.

She-Ra also had a toy line.  This is priceless.  Meet Starburst She-Ra and Crystal Swift Wind.  Meet their friends, Sweetbee, Perfuma, Peekablue, Frosta, Flutterina, Mermista, Entrapta and Angella.  Meet their enemy, Scratchin' Sound Catra.

Dolls not shown:  Lipglossia, Nailpolisha, Pillowfightina, Ticklefightina and Tamponica.

Would you like to see the She-Ra origin story?  Here it is.

When there's trouble, you call Luke Skywalker, I mean, He-Man.

When She-Ra isn't a superhero, her name is Adora.

Instead of "By the Power of Grayskull" She-Ra says "By the Honor of Grayskull."  Because she's a classy gal.

Catra clearly idolizes Eartha Kitt.

He-Man saves the day, but interrupts an entertaining catfight.

Spoiler Alert: She-Ra is He-Man's sister from the same mister!

This comic included an ad for a She-Ra Princess of Power Poster.  It looks like one of the characters drove a glittery swan vehicle of some sort.  I don't remember that in the TV show.

She-Ra and He-Man fought all sorts of kooky villains, including King Hiss and the Snake Men.

All the She-Ra and He-Man material here is from issues of Muppet Magazine and Marvel Comics published in the Eighties.

In 1987, Dolph Lundgren (as He-Man) starred in the live action movie, "Masters of the Universe."  The film was directed by Gary Goddard, creator of theme park attractions all over the world, including The Monster Plantation (now called "The Monster Mansion") at Six Flags Over Georgia.

Fans of the TV series "Friends" can see Monica (Courtney Cox) and her Mom (Christina Pickles) along with Skeletor in "Masters of the Universe."

By the Power of Grayswamp, Kermit is He-Frog in a Muppet Magazine parody.

Forget Six Degrees of Kevin Bacon.  Here, Miss Piggy connects Disney, Marvel, Warner Brothers, Six Flags, Hanna-Barbera, Alf, Star Wars, Transformers, Friends, Heathcliff, Courtney Cox, ThunderCats and He-Man and She-Ra.

Loo-Kee enjoys hiding in the forest so he can spy on She-Ra and her muscular friend.

Loo-Kee can get away with lurking in the background because he is a cute little woodland creature.

If you ever see Loo-Kee when you are in the woods, there are a few rules you need to follow.  Don't shine bright light on him and don't feed him after midnight.  But there is one rule that is the most important, and for Grayskull's sake, you'd better not break the rule.  Never, EVER confuse Loo-Kee with "Loki" from "Thor."