Magic for 44, Please! ABD Backstage Magic DIS-Style

[Circusgirl]

Thank you for the link your trip report. After hearing about the recent trip it made me think of the great time we had and reading over your account with all the amazing pictures brought back a lot of memories. Thank you for ALL your hard work and I look forward to future updates and all the cute pictures of me that you post! Ha Ha Ha!

Hey Matthew! I'm finally back with another entry, about one of my favorite bits of the tour, the Jim Henson Company. So glad you're enjoying the report! More cute pictures to come...

 

[brianatwcc]

enjoyed this. thanks

 

[Circusgirl]

Muppets Make Me Happy


One of the reasons for my impatience with the extended bus ride through long gone Hollywood was that the Jim Henson Company was at the end of this road and traffic was busy and I didn’t want to miss a minute of muppet time.

We finally pulled up in front of a long low row of vaguely Elizabethan half-timbered style and started piling out of the bus. Our guides had to remind us not to run out in the street to take pictures of the Kermit the Frog statue in his Charlie Chaplin outfit that presides over the gate. We milled around, trying to get the best shot without getting run over. When I do this trip again (next February!) I will know to suck it up and carry more than my walk around telephoto lens with me. My wide angle lens should have been part of my every day equipment.

Charlie Chaplin was here before Jim Henson!

While Michael passed out our lunch tickets, Jaime went inside and soon the gates rolled open and we walked into a sunny, quiet courtyard. The physical place is beautiful - clusters of many small low buildings, each with an individual style and name, with garden plantings and props decorating the courtyards and walkways. It was gorgeously tranquil and it was immediately easy to forget the traffic and bustle of Hollywood just outside the gate.

The studios were built by Charlie Chaplin and then later were owned by A&M Records. Soul Train, anyone? I didn’t know this historical piece, and was thrilled to be walking where an amazing genius creative person brought to life some of the most special characters and movies there have ever been.

We were called to a group photo, and the giant pile o’ cameras again appeared on the ground in front of our guides and the group of uniformly incredibly cute and buff puppeteers/Henson employees who had come out to start our tour. The puppeteers pitched in and it was a very funny scene with our big crowd being photographed by a smaller crowd.

We were divided up into two groups, then went into the soundstage building for an introductory talk and movie about the history of the studios and Jim Henson Company. Our guide was Grant Baciocco (http://www.mrgrant.com/) who produces the Jim Henson Company Podcasts (http://www.henson.com/podcast.php) and he was delightful, charming and very funny.

Charlie Chaplin and his brother built the studios, and I was bowled over by being where so many unforgettable movies had been made. There was great footage of a footman locking up the little tramp’s shoes behind a big vault door, later to be where A&M kept their masters. We were in the room where Soul Train was filmed, basically a big black box with stacks of equipment around the edges. Above us there was a second level with windowed control rooms looking over the scene.

We saw cool footage about Jim Henson, and then got a peek at the present. A new wave of puppetry and technology for the Henson Company is Sid the Science Kid, a show made with digital puppetry. Their creature workshop, once filled with puppets, is now dedicated to the mapping suit work for the digital show. The fuzzy appeal of the characters is applied by computers programmed by digital animators, while puppeteers create the templates for the action while wearing electronic suits.

We then were taken to a part of the room where two puppets and a video camera and monitor were waiting. Grant showed us puppeteering, Henson-style, using a Blue Footed Bubi puppet. (Note: This is not the spelling most of us are used to for this bird, but the lurking internet censors took out the name that is more familiar.) Then he asked for a volunteer to try it. I looked around for a bare second, seeing if there was anyone who wanted to do it even more than me, but when nobody responded, my arm shot in the air and I started acting like an obnoxious fifth grader with the answer, “Me, me, oh me!!” I was completely terrible at it, and Grant made it hilarious. My puppet was a purple and yellow bear, while Grant piloted the Bubi. I forgot to move the puppet’s mouth when I talked, leading Grant’s puppet to say, “You’re talking without moving your mouth! You’re freakin’ me out!” to my puppet. It was some of the most fun I’d ever had, and a highlight of the trip even with all the great things still to come. It also gave me even more respect than I already held for the skill and creativity of the puppeteers - it’s freakin’ complicated and hard physically, and then you have to be creative and funny, too!!! When someone told Grant that he wished he had Grant’s job, my response was that I wished I had Grant’s talent.

After moving back out to the courtyard area, we ritually locked our cameras away in a big box in the courtyard for our tour of the Creature Workshop. They had a couple of demonstration stations for their digital puppetry glove (the “Waldo” glove) which allows a puppeteer to control a digital puppet on a screen. There were also many puppets and props from previous productions.

There was a final movie in a tiny little theater. Even our half group filled all the seats, then overflowed onto the floor, into surprisingly comfortable bean bag chairs. I resisted leaving when the movie was over, since it meant giving up my comfy bed of a chair.

We retrieved our cameras and took another group photo, this time for our portion of the tour group. One of my favorite funny things of the whole tour was when Kevin shouted out just before this photo was taken, “Heather’s hand smells like puppet!”

Then it was time for lunch. My shrimp pasta came with a whole ocean of big, fresh shrimp. The salad was fine, but the main course was terrific. Other people reported not very good results from the other choices - burgers, salads and veggie burgers. Apparently the food sat out from our arrival through the tour. Ew.

My excellent lunch:

While we finished eating, Grant and the bear puppet put in another appearance and kindly posed for photos with all of us. Here are a very few of my favorite pictures:

"You look so familiar!"

We worked very well together.

 

[Circusgirl]

enjoyed this. thanks

Thanks for reading, and welcome!

 

[Disneygrl36]

Great update. Henson Studios is amazing. I love the cute bear puppet---we had Sweetheart who was quite a hoot, but your bear is so cuddly looking!

 

[Circusgirl]

Great update. Henson Studios is amazing. I love the cute bear puppet---we had Sweetheart who was quite a hoot, but your bear is so cuddly looking!

It's great that they change things a little bit from tour to tour! I would love to see some of the other puppets!

My puppet and I developed quite an affinity for one another. He was featured in a short film on a Henson Podcast, "Copy Security". I really think he's quite talented!

 

[Circusgirl]

I apologize for the long delay between postings! I had a long, luxurious stay at the World in September during which I was profoundly lazy, marshaling my energy for trip reporting, only to get hideously sick when I got home. I am still coughing, sniffling and super annoyed about being sick, but am slowly getting up and running. I have reached the point where I am thankful I wasn’t sick during my trip, and think I’ll be all better in a few days. I had reunions with many friends from Backstage Magic and the DIS on this trip, sharing Segway riding, MNSSHP, park time, fabulous food, Lunch with an Imagineer and a leisurely stroll around World Showcase. You all were the highlights of my trip!


Back at the Jim Henson studios, we had just finished lunch and puppet posing. We were invited to visit the reception area for the studios, which is a mini-museum of props, pictures and puppets, and also features a huge wall case filled with awards of all kinds. There were great photos of the Chaplin era. We all took turns posing with an Emmy and a much bigger than life Kermit. The cute receptionist was very sweet about us swarming all around his zone, posing and taking pictures.

The very beginning of the studios:

Genius at work:

Then it was time to bid farewell to the magical enclave and head off for a different flavor of magic. We re-boarded the bus and drove off toward Griffith Park, where the train guys awaited us at Walt’s Carolwood Barn. Ah, the trains. Train guys are special. My grandfather was a train guy. He had an H-O gauge railroad set up in his basement recreation room, wore the engineer’s hat, the whole thing. I wish he could have been there for the trains. These particular train guys are called the Carolwood Pacific Historical Society and give tours of the barn to the public one Sunday a month.

The Carolwood Barn is a potential but not advertised or guaranteed stop on the BM tour. The facility is staffed by volunteers, so they aren’t always there on a given day. We were lucky and the train guys were marvelously there and eager to share the trains and their knowledge of the objects in the barn.

The barn is from the Disney family’s former backyard on Carolwood Drive in the Holmby Hills neighborhood, where Walt had his famous backyard trains. The family saved the barn when the rest of the estate was slated for demolition, and it was disassembled and later rebuilt in Griffith Park. It is filled with train related memorabilia from Walt’s life as well as objects from the train guys of Walt’s world, Ward Kimball, Roger Broggie and Ollie Johnston, animators and Imagineers who also had the train bug. Set up around the barn is a miniature railroad which runs through weathered sets and over trestle bridges.

As we wound up the hill toward the Barn, Michael told us that Griffith Park is home to the carousel that Walt Disney would bring his daughters to of a Saturday. We didn’t go see it but we all gazed off in that direction, grateful that Walt ensured that we weren’t stuck sitting around a single carousel staring at one another.


We disembarked at the parking lot for the Carolwood Railroad and were admitted by a happy train volunteer.

We gathered in the center of the little park, by the barn. Michael and Jaime and our host gave an introduction to the afternoon, and our guides set out our snack tray. The bus is not only stocked with water, but with treats. Here is the snack tray, which would make regular appearances as we made our way around Hollywood and Glendale. The snack tray would be a welcome sight during our long touring day tomorrow.

We divided into groups to rotate among the three activities: riding the trains, shopping the merchandise and getting a docent lead tour of the barn. I was in the riding group, and was as excited as a kid to circle the train yard aboard the train, seeing the weathered set pieces and other trains and buildings.

Shopping was next. There were pins, shirts, books and posters. Some of the products were specifically to raise money for the acquisition of a particular railroad car for the collection, including one of the pins I purchased.

The barn was terrific. The docent was extremely knowledgeable about the objects and had great stories to tell. Ward Kimball, one of the nine old men and the trombone player for the Firehouse Five Plus Two had a whole museum full of train memorabilia himself and I loved seeing the many objects from his collection in the barn, especially a hat he wore while riding in the Tournament of Roses Parade with the Firehouse Five.

 

[Circusgirl]

Then it was farewell to the trains and back on the bus to go back to the hotel. The production folks at Jimmy Kimmel had provided a dozen tickets to tonight’s show for our guides to distribute among our group. Michael put our lunch tickets into a hat and drew names. Some people were super excited to be chosen, and some weren’t interested in going. The drawing went on until we were down to a single ticket. They kept drawing names of half of a couple out of the hat and after a number of people declined to ditch their partners, Michael switched strategies and just asked if any single wanted to go. I raised my hand again, greedy for more special experiences. I had been thinking about seeing Alice in Wonderland at the El Capitan, but Alice I could get at home, and Jimmy was a promise of the here and now. We pulled in at the hotel, receiving today's pin as we got off the bus. It featured Daisy as a Hollywood glamour-duck and the saying of the day, “Lights, Camera, Adventure!”

I had just a few minutes to get myself together to go and meet everyone across the street. I was a little sad about not having time for dinner, but figured I would try to pick up a snack along the way. I stopped for some fresh baked Toll House cookies from a snack stand that were gooey and satisfying if not nutritionally complete.

I was on my way to the Soda Fountain to see if I could get a quick snack when I saw some of my fellow adventurers. We waited while Michael, Jaime and the rest of our group gradually arrived.

We were guided to the bag check/camera holding station, then into the lobby. We waited in a clump in the lobby area while the rest of the crowd was let in behind us. An energetic young Jimmy Kimmel audience producer/manager then delivered a pep talk on how to be an audience for a live taping, including having us practice our enthusiasm. It is true that the audience has a part in the feel of the show, and they spent committed time and energy to being sure that we knew our part. We were also told that during the show there is NO GETTING UP AND LEAVING as the leaver would block cameras on the way out. We were given a last and then a very last bathroom break opportunity before the show started.

The doors to the theater opened and we were taken in a bunch to our seats. The theater is way smaller than you would guess from seeing it on TV. There was a high energy warm-up comic and a live band. The band featured a father and son team on saxophones and was great. It was interesting to watch all the the pieces of the show come together. The guests were Alyssa Milano, promoting her new TV series, and the producer Jerry Weintraub, promoting his new book. Jerry had fantastic stories about his early days in the business, including one about producing an Elvis Presley concert. He told us about the day the Oceans Eleven gang put their footprints and handprints outside Grauman’s Chinese. The other cast members went out and got extra large shoes for everyone but George Clooney, whose normal size feet therefore look tiny compared to everyone else’s.

At the end of the show, the musical act was filmed on a mini stage in an area just off the lobby. I listened from the line at the camera retrieval, figuring it would make the getting out at the end faster.

The group hatched a plan to go to In-N-Out Burgers after the show. Although I was tired and sort of longed to just have a bath and turn in, the collection of yet another experience, and a chance to hang with the group, won out. We walked together from Jimmy Kimmel to the In-N-Out. Along the was we found a way to make Anna as tall as Bill.

There is a whole mythology of In-N-Out with which I was not familiar. Lynne and Karen had studied the vocabulary and lingo and were ready to order special things that weren’t even listed on the menu. The posted menu was what you would expect from a burger place, but people in the know can get other choices. They stopped me from taking pictures after this one, not sure why. Apparently there is something super secret about the burger making taking place in plain view.

It took a few minutes for the food to be ready, so we found some adjacent tables and watched the activity swirl around us. When I did get my food, I didn’t take any pictures of it, apparently taking the “no photos” request a quite seriously. I had a classic cheeseburger and fries with a milkshake. They were fine, although I’m not sure I would go out of my way to repeat the experience. The crowds that fluxed through the brightly lit space were a disparate lot, unified by their burger quest.

As a fun cap to the day I discovered that our Henson Studios tour guide Grant found our thread on the DIS, signed up (screen name Toasterboy) and posted a message thanking us for coming! It turns out he was once a Jungle Skipper at Disneyland. We thought he was super cool already, and that made him exponentially cooler.

We walked back, passing the lighted extravaganza of the El Capitan marquee one last time.

There was a final stop for dessert at a place Karen had discovered in the mall surrounding our hotel. I ended up leaving the group as my tiredness trumped my desire for sweets. I packed and settled into bed with great anticipation of the morning. As I said to Alissa, “Everything about today was totally great, but we’re still in Hollywood, and the mother ship is calling. It’s time to go home!” DIsneyland awaited, and we couldn’t wait to get to Imagineering, Disney Studios and then the park.