I always look forward to Halloween. It's the one time of the year when I can exercise the
theatrical side of my personality, without any pressure, and with a guaranteed audience of eager kids! And this year I had my "costume" picked out months in advance: I decided to bring out Wendell, my Muppet, and perform him on my front porch — saying hello to every person and commenting on everyone's costumes.
The night started out big; we had a group of thirty kids right at six o'clock. Jill tended to them, putting one piece of candy in each kid's bag while I made last-moment preparations, which basically meant setting up speakers on the porch and putting a Halloween playlist on my iPod. I filled it with Haunted Mansion music, classics like Stevie Wonder's 'Superstition' and Michael Jackson's 'Thriller', and then I padded it out with more Michael Jackson music. Jason and Mel and baby Elizabeth spent the evening with us, and Jason laughed when he realized that I'd thrown Michael Jackson stuff in there. "It fits, because he's dead!" I said.
And he liked little kids! Jason said.
It was a rough Halloween. It was really humid out. The bugs were out in force, and I got hit by several mosquitoes until I brought out the repellant. But worst of all were the kids! The greedy ones who tried to push Jill's hand out of the way so they could grab more candy. The picky ones who tried to haggle with Jill over which piece to take. The apathetic ones who didn't bother dressing up. And, believe it or not, the kids who — out of the blue — would start hitting or grabbing at Wendell! These were kids old enough to know better, and they would grab at his nose or try to pull his hair, and the parents just stood there watching!
I learned to keep Wendell back a bit, out of reach. And in general he was a hit - the kids were looking directly at him as I performed, which was a good sign that I was pulling it off well. A few kids were scared of the puppet. One teenager asked if he was a character from Avenue Q.
And then it happened.
Crack!The mouth of a Muppet Whatnot is supported, inside the fabric, by a folded-over piece of plastic. It gives the upper and lower mouth some ridigity while being flexible enough to act as a hinge, so that the mouth can open and close. It always was rather stiff, though, and it tires out my hand after a while. But last night, the plastic 'hinge' snapped! It's still embedded inside the felt, but I can feel the jagged edge where it fractured... and as I pulled my hand out of the puppet, it fractured further! The damage isn't outwardly visible, and the good thing is that now it's much easier to open and close his mouth, because the upper-mouth plastic and the lower-mouth plastic are no longer connected — but the bad, really bad, thing is that now when I open and close his mouth it
clicks as the plastic inside bows and flexes!
I was horrified! I was devastated. I came in for a while and immediately
posted about it to the MuppetCentral.com boards, where someone else said the same thing happened to his Whatnot, and it helps a little to know that. But I'm still just torn up about it.
I didn't want to give up on Halloween, and the evening was only half over, so I gathered my composure and switched to a backup plan: I grabbed my black cloak and pulled the hood over my eyes, I grabbed my red lightsaber and held it upright and close to me, and I stood motionless on the front lawn beside the walk, where I was mostly in shadow. The kids at this hour were mostly teenagers. They'd see me, and hesitate.
He's just a statue. ... No, he's real, I saw him moving around! ... And I'd let most of them walk up to the front porch for candy, but then I'd single out one to suddenly menace with my lightsaber — or I'd let them all pass, and if someone was nervous about me then I would slowly start to walk towards them. There were lots of screams. It was great. :)
But, I'm still bothered about my puppet. I don't have a problem with the idea of trying to make repairs on him; after all, Muppets are all about crafting puppets out of whatever's handy; the idea of a factory-made Muppet is a somewhat sad and sterile one. And I've already modified Wendell with new eyes, new clothes, and a haircut. But I have absolutely no sewing skill, and I'm scared of the idea of trying to rip the seams and getting in there to replace the broken plastic (maybe with some thick cardboard or something, or — better idea — I'll just clean up the broken pieces of plastic and re-use them). I wish I knew a good puppetmaker who could do the repairs for me...
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pixiewildflower 
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