Mr. Hooper's first Rube Goldberg plan to launch a rocket
A frog and his Rube Goldberg device
"Number Three Ball Film"
Doc dunks a cookie.
Rube Goldberg chain reactions in the service of the alphabet
A complicated way to count to 20, or turn on a TV
The Ruta-Goldbega Machine
Rube Goldberg (1883-1970) was a prolific cartoonist, from individual print cartoons (most often for New York Evening Mail) to various running comic strip series. A frequent motif in his work was the use of elaborate, overly complicated inventions, relying on chain reactions, combining multiple objects (or animals) in sequence, and often strung together through pulleys and levers. The inventions usually served to perform a function more easily done by hand (such as wiping with a napkin or putting stamps on an envelope). These gadget cartoons first appeared in 1912, eventually coalescing into recurring character Professor Lucifer Gorgonzola Butts who starred in his own strip and later as a supporting character in Boob McNutt.
The phrase "Rube Goldberg machine" (or device) has come to be applied to any similarly overelaborate or cartoony invention with comparable makeup. A revival of the Rube Goldberg Machine Contest (initially held between 1949 and 1956) has led to national annual competitions, creating actual physical devices with similarly mundane functions, on the collegiate level since 1989 and high school since 1996. Rube Goldberg machines have also been built by kinetic artists, such as Joseph Herscher.
References[]
- Mr. Hooper in Episode 0018 presents two different Rube Goldberg-style diagrams for launching a rocket. Both methods are even less practical than Goldberg's (in the first relying on frightening the rocket, while the second requires a cow to jump over the moon with the rocket).
- Kermit the Frog builds his own "What Happens Next?" machine (First: Episode 0089) to turn on his radio. Components include a sandbag, a seesaw, and a balloon. It actually does succeed in turning on the radio, but the balloon floats away with it.
- Herbert Birdsfoot invents a Monster Smart Tester (First: Episode 0132) which is more abbreviated than most Rube Goldberg devices, but uses pulleys and ropes to lift the lid on a plate of cookies, to test Cookie Monster's intelligence (but he bypasses the ropes entirely and breaks the lid).
- The Sesame Street insert "Number Three Ball Film," using an elaborate wire sculpture built by Frank Oz, is a Rube Goldberg-style device. Though not as varied as some, the device still relies on the ball being deposited by timed carts, funnels, or other means into the box which converts it into a new form (powder or three cherries).
- Oscar the Grouch creates an elaborate automatic can-opener to lift his can lid in Episode 0563. A megaphone, a balloon, a sousaphone, and the participation of Slimey the Worm and Frank the Fly are all necessary.
- An animated insert by Jerry Lieberman (First: Episode 1113) uses the Rube Goldberg process to go through the alphabet. The actual purpose of the machine, apart from letter instruction, seems to be to break glass.
- A similar cartoon (First: Episode 1869) uses a Rube Goldberg device to count off numbers 1 to 20, but it also serves to turn on a television.
- Dr. Nobel Price, with the help of pineapples, creates the "Get Linda's Attention When She's in Bob's Apartment" machine in Episode 2189. The purpose, after the usual Rube Goldberg chain reactions, is to light a bulb to give Linda her cue to pull laundry (emblazoned with the sponsors) on a clothesline.
- A Rube Goldberg-esque chain of events occurs in OK Go's music video for the "Muppet Show Theme Song," referencing the band's own Rube Goldberg-themed music video for "This Too Shall Pass."
- Kinetic artist Joseph Herscher talks about Rube Goldberg machines with Murray Monster and Ovejita in a "People in Your Neighborhood" segment. (First: Episode 4319)
- A film insert uses the Rube Goldberg method to shoot a basketball through a hoop, demonstrating the smaller simple machines and devices that help it along. (First: Episode 4321)
- In another film insert, a Rube Goldberg machine uses many L words as its components. (First: Episode 4426)
- Doc makes a Rube Goldberg machine that dunks a cookie into a glass of milk out of trash she found on the beach in the Fraggle Rock: Back to the Rock episode "The Glow".
- During the 2023 Epcot International Food & Wine Festival, a sign in the Brew-Wing Labs (themed around Muppet Labs) featured different ways to eat chicken wings, including a "Ruta-Goldbega Machine."