Here Come the Puppets!

Here Come the Puppets was a special taped for PBS documenting the Union Internationale de la Marionette (UNIMA)-USA Festival in 1980, held at the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts. The special was co-hosted by Kermit the Frog and Lamb Chop and featured performances by Burr Tillstrom, Shari Lewis, Bil Baird and the Muppets. Other performers included Sergei Obraztsov, Manteo's Sicillian Marionettes (from NYC), Albrecht Roser, Bruce Schwartz, Martin Stevens, and Frank Ballard's (at the time, Puppet Arts head at University of Connecticut) "Ring of the Nibbelung."

It was also in 1980, that Jim Henson began awarding outstanding productions with a UNIMA-USA Citation of Excellence; the equivallent of an Academy Award in the puppetry community. These awards continue to be presented.