Sam on Footlight Theater pictured in Imagination Illustrated: The Jim Henson Journal.
From the Washington D.C. Evening Star, July 01, 1956
Footlight Theater was a local TV show on WRC-TV, the NBC affiliate in Washington, D.C. The Muppets began appearing on the show in 1956 during a hiatus from Sam and Friends (which had been temporarily taken off the schedule months prior).[1]
Host Paul Arnold interacted with the characters at times, and in 1956, several of the troupe were featured as recurring newscasters giving mock news reports. The names used for these included Algernon J. Cumquatt, and Francis X. Bushwah (spoofing silent film star Francis X. Bushman). Their current affairs material included flying saucers, European aid, and Soviet Russia (The Burns and Stalin Show).[2] Another time, Cumquatt joked about the Republicans and indigestion.[3] By August, one of the Muppets (assigned to cover San Francisco, allegedly anyway) was called Gramps and had been "covering these affairs since Lincoln's nomination."[4]
One known routine that survives (in audio form) from June 1956 featured Kermit as Detective Louise Looselid, attempting to solve the mysterious disappearance of Lord Farthingham.[5]
Sources[]
- ↑ Sam and Friends: The Story of Jim Henson's First Television Show, page 55
- ↑ "Some Off-Beat Sages" by Sheila Gallagher. Evening Star. June 17, 1956.
- ↑ "News of D.C. Studios." Evening Star. July 01, 1956.
- ↑ Evening Star. August 1, 1956
- ↑ Sam and Friends: The Story of Jim Henson's First Television Show, page 271