Onky

Onky in an On-Cor Frozen ad
PERFORMER	Jim Henson
DEBUT	1962
DESIGN	Jim Henson

Onky is a blue humanoid Muppet character who appeared in a series of three TV commercials for On-Cor Frozen Foods.

In 1962, Jim Henson created the new Muppet character, Onky, for the On-Cor Frozen Foods ads. Onky is cited as one of Henson's earliest live-hand Muppets.

“The puppet style was a departure from the hand and rod puppets Henson had been using – Onky had “live-hands” meaning the puppeteer put his hand in the puppet’s glove-like hand, enabling the character to easily pick up things (like the product being advertised) and give a more realistic performance. While Onky’s arms were short and almost flipper-like, making for an awkward kind of movement, later in the year, Jim and his new collaborator Don Sahlin created a live-hand puppet that was extremely expressive: Rowlf the Dog.”

The puppet's design later influenced Mack, a character featured in ads for Claussen's Bakery, McGarry's Sausage, C & P Telephone Co. of VA, and Southern Bell Telephone.