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| PERFORMER | Jim Henson |
| DEBUT | 1954 |
Yorick on Sesame Street
Yorick in The Muppets: A Celebration of 30 Years.
Jim Henson and Yorick
Yorick is a character from Sam and Friends, a purple skull with an appetite for everything. He is one of the earliest Muppets Jim Henson created, built in June of 1954,[1] the same month as The Junior Morning Show.
Yorick was made of papier maché, with a tube in his mouth that allowed him to swallow things. He was a precursor to hungry monsters like Cookie Monster. Through the years, Jim Henson experimented with his voice; either making grunting noises, talking in a really gruff voice, or remaining silent.
Duplicate Yorick puppets were constructed to play Yorick's family, visiting the show for the October 3 and 4, 1960 broadcasts. In the former, his equally voracious father and mother come to visit. In the later, his twin brothers arrive and perform "Triplets" (lip-syncing to the recording from The Band Wagon).[2] These duplicates allow the character to appear in multiple exhibits at once, including the Smithsonian Institution and The Jim Henson Exhibition.
In one classic variety show sketch, Kermit wore a blonde wig and lip-synced "I've Grown Accustomed to Your Face" to Yorick, as the hungry monster tried to eat Kermit's foot. The sketch was performed on many different shows, including The Ed Sullivan Show in February, 1967.
In a survey done in Washington, D.C. during the Sam and Friends run, Yorick was voted the most popular character on the show. The Evening Star reported: "The contest to decide the most popular muppet (sic) in which 6,000 votes were cast by mail moved Sam into second place behind Yorick. Mushmellon came in third, followed closely by Kermit."[3] At the height of his popularity, Yorick was also inducted as an honorary member of the UMD chapter of the Alpha Tau Omega fraternity.[4]
A recostumed Yorick appeared as the Palace Guard in Tales of the Tinkerdee. He later made a minor appearance on Sesame Street in an insert used in Episode 0145. Yorick made one comeback appearance in The Muppets: A Celebration of 30 Years in which Kermit asks Sam and Harry the Hipster where Yorick is only to find he's right next to him (eating through a cloth with a face drawn on it, echoing the gag from "I've Grown Accustomed to Your Face"). Likewise for old time's sake, he tries to devour Kermit's hand.
A redesigned Yorick puppet was developed for the Puppet Up! performances of "I've Grown Accustomed to Your Face," featuring a more prominent cleft chin, a pointier nose and red-irised eyes.[5]
Yorick made a visual appearance in the Muppet Babies episode "Summer's Disaster-Piece," where he replaces the head on Thomas Gainsborough's painting The Blue Boy.
Filmography[]
- Sam and Friends (1955-1961)
- Afternoon (1955)
- Tonight! (1956)
- The Steve Allen Show (1956)
- In Our Town (1958)
- Esskay Meats commercials (1959-1963)
- Today (1961, 1962)
- Mad Mad World (1962)
- Tales of the Tinkerdee (1962) (as Palace Guard)
- The Jack Paar Program (1963)
- Fanfare (1965)
- The Mike Douglas Show (1966)
- The Idea Man (1966)
- The Ed Sullivan Show (1967, 1968)
- The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson (1968, 1975)
- Muppet Puppet Plays (1969)
- Sesame Street - Episode 0145 (1970)
- The Dick Cavett Show (1971)
- The Muppets: A Celebration of 30 Years (1986)
Book appearances[]
See also[]
Sources[]
- ↑ The Sunday Star, page 5, March 29, 1959, pictured at Jim's Red Book - 1/27/1975 -'Go to Washington put 1st Bert and Ernie in Smithsonian - dinner with Joe Irwin'
- ↑ Sam and Friends: The Story of Jim Henson's First Television Show, page 466-467
- ↑ "News of DC Studios: Tickled Plumb to Death" by Sheila Gallagher. Washington, D.C. Evening Star, c. 1959.
- ↑ Sam and Friends: The Story of Jim Henson's First Television Show, page 48
- ↑ The Jim Henson Company on Facebook, September 22, 2023