You'll Believe A Frog Can Bike
Tuesday, May 12, 2015 at 4:30PM Travel back in time with me to the late 70s. Superman (1978) birthed the modern superhero film with the instantly classic visual-effects spotlighting tagline "You'll believe a man can fly." If the internet had been around back then, it surely would have become a meme and been parodied ad infinitum. (Maybe it did in whatever form memes used to take?). The very next year The Muppet Movie (1979 - our year of the month!) could have used the tagline
You'll believe a frog can bike.
My movie memories are super spotty until the 1980s but I have a handful from the late 70s and this is one of them. My eyes going wide and little jaw dropping at the sight of Kermit the Frog on a bicycle. I must have been aware that my beloved Kermy -- stand down, Miss Piggy! -- was a puppet since being a puppeteer was the childhood career goal. So how was this possible; puppets don't have legs because people's hands go up their butts!
Happy National Bike to Work Week!
The Muppet Wiki tells us how this was accomplished and the Muppets are on the brain since they'll be revived for primetime next season. Does this trailer sell you on a contemporary version? (On a scale of Yes No or Maybe So... I regret to inform that I'm not fully in the first column.)
P.S. This trailer reminds us that Kermit is kind of an awful husband/boyfriend. Miss Piggy is the faithful one. He's the commitment-phobe. And yet she's always painted as the shallow one. Hmmm.
Reader Comments (4)
I was OBSESSED with Muppet Show reruns when I was wee. I would bring a piece of paper and a pencil to write down the host's name, and when it was over I'd consult it to ask my dad if he's heard of Cleo Laine or Dyan Cannon or Twiggy or whomever. The start of a lot of different obsessions for me (lists, actresses, standards, and of course, muppets.)
i, too, became obsessed with hands up butts from an early age. thanks, muppets
par - LOL
Par--LOL there are woesw obsessions,