Sergei Obraztsov with Kermit the Frog and Jim Henson in Moscow, Russia in 1984.
Sergei Obraztsov (1901-1992) was a Russian puppeteer who was featured in an episode of Jim Henson Presents The World of Puppetry.
Of the show's guests, the Henson Archivist points out that Jim Henson placed a special importance on meeting Obraztsov: "As a teenager learning to make puppets, Jim checked out some books from the public library for instruction – one was Obrtazov’s 1950 book, My Profession."[1]
The home video release of the episode describes Obraztsov’s ensemble as consisting of "more than 300 actors, musicians, puppet makers, and technicians [who perform] excerpts from three of his productions before a live audience in Moscow."