Sweetums

The ironically named Sweetums is a grotesque, hairy ogre who towers above mere humans and his Muppet co-stars. His bulldog-like lower jaw, thick eyebrows, shabby brown shirt and threatening expression belie his genial nature.

The Frog Prince
Sweetums first appeared on the television special The Frog Prince in 1971 as Taminella's ogre. In this fairytale story, Sir Robin the Brave comes across Sweetums in the woods, and enters into battle. Just as the handsome prince is about to defeat the monster, the witch Taminella appears, and turns him into Robin the Frog. The ogre coos over the "cute froggy-frog", and Taminella tells her darling "Sweetums" that he can have the frog... for breakfast.

Robin escapes and makes his way to the King's castle, where he befriends Princess Melora. Taminella, who's insinuated herself into the King's confidence, captures the frog and brings him to the dungeon. She puts him in the care of Sweetums, who plans to eat the frog. Robin and Kermit trick the simple-minded ogre by singing him a lullaby, "Sleep, Sweetums", which easily puts him to sleep. While Sweetums is asleep, Kermit pretends to be Taminella, and tells Sweetums to open the cage and let the frog go.

Once Robin is free, Sweetums wakes up and realizes that he's been tricked. "It's yummy-yummy time!" he bellows, as he tries to catch the terrified frogs. The ogre sings war song, "Sweetums", as he swings his massive club around the dungeon. Robin and Kermit hop just out of his reach. Furious, Sweetums smashes at a stone pillar, which crumbles -- and knocks another pillar down on his head. The monster collapses, unconscious, and the frogs get away.

Sweetums reappears at the conclusion of the story, in the crowd of Peasants singing the praises of the new queen.

The Muppet Show
Sweetums returned to the Muppet cast in 1975, singing a duet of "That Old Black Magic" with Cher on her variety show.

In 1976, Sweetums joined the cast of The Muppet Show. The shaggy beast appeared at the beginning of each show from season 2 onwards, during the opening bars of "The Muppet Show Theme".

Sweetums was not featured often on the show, but made some memorable appearances. He sang "Can't Take My Eyes Off of You" with Ruth Buzzi in episode 104, and "They Can't Take That Away From Me" with Nancy Walker in episode 206. In episode 223, he performed a few bars of Wagnerian opera as the Muppets tried to force John Cleese to sing "The Impossible Dream". (Sweetums is cut off, but he grumbles, "You would've loved my cadenza.")

He appeared again with Robin in episode 223, singing "Two Lost Souls". The huge monster and the tiny frog make an amusing contrast, and have occasionally appeared together in merchandise, including a PVC figure from Walt Disney World and the 1982 book Two for the Show.

The Muppet Movie
Sweetums had a featured part in The Muppet Movie; his quest to reach Hollywood parallels the Muppets' journey. When Kermit and his friends first meet Sweetums, he's working as a jack (the job, not the name) for Mad Man Mooney, a shady used car dealer who treats the ogre badly. Sweetums takes a shine to the Muppets and helps them swindle the swindler, swatting a fly over a price tag and changing the price from $1195 to $11.95.

Grateful, Kermit asks Sweetums if he wants to join them on the trip to Hollywood. Sweetums runs off, and Kermit thinks that he's not interested -- but, in fact, he's gone to get his carpet bag, and he's disappointed to find that the Muppets have driven off without him. He follows Kermit's trail for the rest of the movie, at one point tracking them through the Bogen County Fair. He finally catches up with them at the end of the movie, bursting through the screen and joining his friends in Hollywood.

Later appearances
Following The Muppet Movie, Sweetums made a brief appearance in The Great Muppet Caper, popping out of a manhole in the opening "Hey a Movie!" production number. He also made brief cameos in The Muppets: A Celebration of 30 Years and episode 107 of The Jim Henson Hour.

Sweetums' last major role was in the theme park attraction Muppet*Vision 3D, which opened in 1990 and is still running at Walt Disney World and Disneyland. In this show, Sweetums helps to look for the missing Bean Bunny, running off the screen and into the theater (with the help of a theme park employee dressed in a Sweetums costume). Sweetums is the only Muppet to appear "live" in the show; the other Muppets in the theater are animatronics. At the Disney parks, Sweetums has joined the walk-around Kermit and Miss Piggy in parades, including the 2001 Disney's Stars and Motor Cars Parade.

Outside the park, Sweetums has been a recurring background character in many productions. He was one of Long John Silver's pirate crew in Muppet Treasure Island, and eagerly switches sides to join the "good guys" in the climactic battle. He has also appeared in the 1993 Royal Variety Performance, joined the Muppets on Family Feud and at Muppetfest in 2001, and made appearances in Muppets From Space and It's a Very Merry Muppet Christmas Movie.

Sweetums' latest film role was as a member of the Wicked Witch's Flying Monkeys in the 2005 TV-movie The Muppets' Wizard of Oz. He also appeared in an episode of the webshow Statler and Waldorf: From the Balcony in late 2005.

Performing Sweetums
Jerry Nelson performed Sweetums for his first appearance in The Frog Prince, with the character's voice dubbed by Carl Banas.

After that, Richard Hunt made the character his own. Hunt gave life to Sweetums throughout the run of The Muppet Show and in the first two theatrical Muppet films. Beginning around 1987, John Henson began to take on the puppeteering duties of Sweetums with the dialog being looped by Richard Hunt. After Hunt's death in 1992, Henson became the full-time performer of the character appearing at tributes and other events in the 1990s. In 1996 Henson had his first full-fledged screen credit in the role for his work in Muppet Treasure Island. Henson remains the main perform of the character.

Sweetums' performer uses his right arm to either operate the mouth or the right arm. When the right arm moves, the mouth can't move on its own, and vice versa. Usually, whenever Sweetums moves his mouth, his right arm is pinned to his body or stuffed and hung to just swing freely. The eyes and eyebrows move by remote control.

Muppet-Vision 3-D combines the work of more than 3 performers to bring Sweetums to life in the show. Richard Hunt voiced the character in the production, while John Henson performed the puppet in the on-screen footage. Additionally a trained Disney Park cast member is needed to perform the character (to Hunt's pre-recorded audio) in each show as Sweetums comes out into the theater. Jim Henson: The Works commented on the work involved in filming Sweetums' 3-D paddleball trick explaining that: "for the 3-D illusion to work, the paddleball had to hit precisely the right spot during shooting. John Henson had practiced hitting the ball correctly for days. But when he got into the Sweetums costume, which almost totally restricted his vision, he was completely unable to see the spot! Luckily, he hit it on the first take."

The performer can only see out by looking through the puppet's mouth.

Casting History

 * Richard Hunt - from The Muppet Show (1976) to Muppet*Vision 3D (1991)
 * John Henson - from Muppet Treasure Island (1996) to present
 * Jerry Nelson - The Frog Prince (1971 - puppeteer only)
 * Carl Banas - The Frog Prince (1971 - voice only)
 * David Rudman - The Cosby Show
 * Victor Yerrid - Family Feud (2001), Barnes & Noble promotion (2003), Statler and Waldorf: From the Balcony Episode 13
 * Ed Christie - filling in for John Henson on a few occasions

Filmography

 * The Frog Prince
 * The Muppet Show
 * Episode 104: Ruth Buzzi
 * Episode 105: Rita Moreno
 * Episode 107: Florence Henderson
 * Episode 108: Paul Williams
 * Episode 114: Sandy Duncan
 * Episode 115: Candice Bergen
 * Episode 116: Avery Schreiber
 * Episode 119: Vincent Price
 * Episode 204: Rich Little
 * Episode 206: Nancy Walker
 * Episode 212: Bernadette Peters
 * Episode 217: Julie Andrews
 * Episode 222: Teresa Brewer
 * Episode 223: John Cleese
 * Episode 224: Cloris Leachman
 * Episode 307: Alice Cooper
 * Episode 308: Loretta Lynn
 * Episode 314: Harry Belafonte
 * Episode 318: Leslie Uggams
 * Episode 323: Lynn Redgrave
 * Episode 324: Cheryl Ladd
 * Episode 411: Lola Falana
 * Episode 507: Glenda Jackson
 * Episode 518: Marty Feldman
 * The Muppets Go Hollywood
 * The Muppet Movie
 * The Great Muppet Caper
 * The Muppets: A Celebration of 30 Years
 * The Jim Henson Hour
 * Episode 107: Health and Fitness
 * The Cosby Show
 * "Cliff's Nightmare"
 * Muppet*Vision 3D
 * Muppet Treasure Island
 * Muppets Tonight
 * Episode 206: Paula Abdul
 * Muppets From Space
 * Family Feud
 * The Muppet Show Live
 * The Muppets' Wizard of Oz
 * Statler and Waldorf: From the Balcony

Video Game Appearances

 * Muppet Race Mania
 * Muppet Party Cruise

Book Appearances

 * The Muppet Show Book
 * It's The Muppet Show!
 * The Comic Muppet Book
 * Two for the Show
 * Bo Saves the Show
 * Robin Hood
 * Muppet Manners
 * Muppets at Sea