Beautiful Day Monster

Beautiful Day Monster is a blue Muppet monster best remembered from his appearance on The Ed Sullivan Show in 1969, ruining a girl's beautiful day. Three years before, he began life as The Crown-Grabber in an unaired commercial for Wheels, Crowns and Flutes. He has made several appearances in the early years of Sesame Street, on The Muppet Show, and several other Muppet projects. Wherever the Beautiful Day Monster goes, destruction and mayhem soon follows.

Although the monster was known as "Beautiful Day Monster" behind the scenes, he has had many names on Sesame Street, such as "Fred," (in an early Sesame Street skit) "Harold," "Snookie," "Lulu," and "Windy." He was also a contestant on a 1969 Sesame Street game show, "The Mr. and Mrs. Game," where he was named "Ralph" and had a wife, also a contestant. For a few scenes, the monster was turned into a female character with a dark black wig, a necklace and a pink ribbon. After the first season, Beautiful Day Monster and most of the other early Sesame monsters were replaced by friendlier looking monsters with brighter colors.

A small Beautiful Day Monster (used in the original Ed Sullivan sketch when the monster has shrunk) was used alongside the regular-sized monster to demonstrate the difference between 'little' and 'big', where he was known as "Frank."

For The Muppet Show, the Beautiful Day Monster puppet was reconstructed and his teeth removed to give him a less frightening appearance. In one memorable sketch in episode 108, he asked a travel agent (Paul Williams) about the cost of a trip to Pittsburgh. No matter what the travel agent offered, Beautiful Day Monster asked "You got anything cheaper?" until the agent dropped a weight on him, flattening him enough to send him by mail. This was his only major appearance in a Muppet Show sketch, although he appeared several times behind Gonzo during the final moment of "The Muppet Show Theme." The flattened version of the puppet would appear in the At the Dance sketch in the next episode, wearing a wig and dancing with Rowlf.

Filmography

 * The Ed Sullivan Show ("Happy Girl Meets a Monster," voiced by Jim Henson)
 * Sesame Street Pitch Reel
 * The Muppets on Puppets
 * Sesame Street (Frank Oz, Jim Henson, Caroll Spinney)
 * Pure Goldie
 * Herb Alpert & the Tijuana Brass (voiced by Jerry Nelson and puppeteered by Frank Oz)
 * The Muppet Show: Sex and Violence
 * The Muppet Show
 * "The Muppet Show Theme" (Seasons 2-5)
 * Episode 103: Joel Grey ("Comedy Tonight")
 * Episode 108: Paul Williams (Travel Agency sketch, performed by Richard Hunt)
 * Episode 109: Charles Aznavour ("I Feel Pretty", At the Dance)
 * Episode 113: Bruce Forsyth (At the Dance)
 * Episode 114: Sandy Duncan ("A Nice Girl Like Me")
 * Episode 116: Avery Schreiber (Gonzo's Opening Gong only)
 * Episode 119: Vincent Price (At the Dance, Audience)
 * Episode 121: Twiggy (Gonzo's Opening Gong only)
 * Episode 122: Ethel Merman
 * Episode 201: Don Knotts (Audience)
 * Episode 202: Zero Mostel (UK Spot, with Kermit and Sam in the Prop Room)
 * Episode 203: Milton Berle
 * Episode 204: Rich Little
 * Episode 208: Steve Martin
 * Episode 211: Dom DeLuise
 * Episode 214: Elton John (Audience)
 * Episode 219: Peter Sellers (Gonzo's Opening Horn only)
 * Episode 222: Teresa Brewer ("Cheesecake")
 * Episode 303: Roy Clark (Audience)
 * Episode 317: Spike Milligan (Gonzo's Opening Horn only)
 * Episode 320: Sylvester Stallone (Gonzo's Opening Horn only)
 * Episode 424: Diana Ross (Audience)
 * The Muppet Movie ("Rainbow Connection" Finale)
 * The Muppets: A Celebration of 30 Years
 * Muppet Meeting Films
 * The Jim Henson Hour
 * Episode 103: Monster Telethon (performed by Dan Redican)
 * The Cosby Show
 * "Cliff's Nightmare" (performed by Kevin Clash)
 * The Muppet Show Theme Music Video
 * The Muppets

Book appearances

 * The Muppet Show Book
 * The Muppet Show Comic Book issue #3 - Gonzo's Story (Cover A)
 * Muppet Snow White