From the Heart... The First International Very Special Arts Festival

From the Heart... The First International Very Special Arts Festival is an NBC television special that aired on September 10, 1989. It was taped at the closing gala of the festival which took place at the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C. on June 17, 1989. The event was held by Very Special Arts (now VSA), a nonprofit organization promoting artists with disabilities.

Jim Henson made an appearance to introduce Terry Angus, a puppeteer with cerebral palsy. Henson recounts when Angus auditioned for him with a homemade puppet of Kermit the Frog. This segues to the appearance of a small Kermit-esque frog performed by Angus, who banters with the real Kermit before they sing a duet of "Bein' Green." Henson and Angus appear onstage with their puppets afterwards, and they join the other performers at the finale for a group performance of "Over the Rainbow."

The special was hosted by Michael Douglas, and featured appearances by Lauren Bacall, Crystal Gayle, Melissa Manchester, and Kenny Rogers. Dwight Hemion directed and produced (under Smith-Hemion Productions), writers included Buz Kohan and Marty Farrell, and Larry Grossman contributed special music material. Grossman and Kohan won an Emmy Award in 1990 for "Outstanding Achievement in Music and Lyrics."

Behind-the-Scenes

Terry Angus recalled in a 1998 interview that his frog character (named "Kerm-2" in the script) was originally intended to be his homemade Kermit puppet that he performed during his audition for Fraggle Rock.

“They wanted me to bring my old puppet that I did the audition with. However, that puppet was left down in my mother's basement and, well how do I say this, it met with an untimely demise. Moisture, fabric and foam do not mix. It sort of deteriorated. I had to make a new puppet and pretend it was the old puppet. The problem at that point was my abilities to make one were too good. I had a hard time trying to make it seem like it was a cheap little thing that a kid would throw together. It ended up looking like a light version of Robin the Frog.”

Angus built two replacement puppets for Henson to choose from. Angus had taken one of the puppets and "beat it, smashed it, dragged it through the mud and did everything [he] could to distress it," but Henson chose the cleaner puppet.

External links

• YouTube video