Photo: Macy's
I have to say, I am so tickled to see our "girly" muppet, Abby Cadabby, looking so gorgeous in this bigger than life version! As I'm fond of joking, I only lasted long enough at Sesame Street to create one muppet, but she's a hell of a muppet! As usual, the Muppet Wiki provides the most in-depth information about the character (including a quote from yours truly) Abby Cadabby - Muppet WikiI think the fact that I was an outsider who did not come up through the Henson shop was an asset in the creation of Abby. Early on, I was spending a day at the studio, hanging back at the puppet table with Jason, the muppet wrangler. Curious, I asked if Henson muppets must always have those signature, "ping pong ball" eyes. He said no, which really got me thinking. I've always felt that the eyes were the main reason the previous female Sesame muppets were less than attractive. The pop eyes are funny on a guy (Cookie!), but not so flattering on a girl. I asked them to try Abby with wide, flat eyes, and prominent eyelashes. The first day the prototype puppet was brought into rehearsal, Fran Brill (the puppeteer who performs both Prairie Dawn and Zoe) took one look at the beautiful new puppet, and groaned "Look at those eyes. Damn you, Liz Nealon!"
Sorry, Fran. I plead guilty as charged - she's a beauty and little girls want to be Abby's friend. Now, let's hope they buy lots of products at Christmas and give Elmo a run for his money!
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