Tom Newby was part of the electro-mechanical team at the New York Muppet Workshop. He was originally hired by Faz Fazakas. Although he built a few characters on his own, Newby was primarily responsible for mechanisms (including radio control) that enhanced the Muppet characters as well as structural and mechanical components of the walk-around characters. He also supervised and designed puppet rigging for various Henson productions.
Newby appeared onscreen in The Jim Henson Hour episode "Secrets of the Muppets."
Muppet/Henson credits[]
- The Great Muppet Caper: Muppet designer and builder
- Fraggle Rock: Muppet special effects
- Rocky Mountain Holiday: Muppet special effects
- The Muppets Take Manhattan: Muppet special effects
- The Tale of the Bunny Picnic: Mechanical design
- Labyrinth: Creature workshop teams: Hoggle, Nipper Sticks
- The Christmas Toy: Mechanical designer; co-built Bleep and Cruiser (both with Norman Tempia)
- Muppet Babies Live!: Builder and animator of heads
- Inner Tube: Muppet mechanical design
- A Muppet Family Christmas: Muppet design group
- The Jim Henson Hour: Muppet special effects
- Dog City: Dog effects and cars
- The Muppet Christmas Carol: Muppet electro mechanical effects; Designer and builder
- Sesame Street (credited on-and-off since Season 26)
- Mr. Willowby's Christmas Tree
- Muppet Treasure Island: On-set technician; Electro-mechanical effects senior designer
- Muppets Tonight
- Muppets from Space: Muppet effects coordinator
- The Adventures of Elmo in Grouchland: Electro-mechanical effects
- Carnival
- Kermit's Swamp Years
- It's a Very Merry Muppet Christmas Movie
- Animal Jam
- The Muppets' Wizard of Oz: Muppet electromechanical supervisor
- Sesame Beginnings
- Pajanimals
- A Muppets Christmas: Letters to Santa
- The Muppets (2011): Puppet mechanical effects
- Muppets Most Wanted: Animatronics supervisor (puppets)
- The Happytime Murders: Los Angeles puppet fabricator and wrangling team
- The Not-Too-Late Show with Elmo
- Fraggle Rock: Back to the Rock: Muppet builder