Photo: Molly Matalon.
“I wanted her to have eyes that were expressive, that looked real,” said Bonnie Erickson, who designed the first Miss Piggy.
Who doesn’t love Miss Piggy?
In January, the New York Times took a look at the origins of the iconic diva as she put her stamp on the latest Muppets special.
Darryn King wrote, “Nearly 50 years ago, a prima donna pig made her first appearance on The Muppet Show and quickly became its breakout star. Within a few years, she was a sought after Hollywood celebrity, a pinup model and the author of a best-selling book.
“Well, Miss Piggy is ready for her close-up once again. Jennifer Lawrence, Emma Stone and Cole Escola (Oh, Mary!) are currently developing a movie for the character. And a new Muppet Show special will premiere on Disney+ and ABC on Wednesday. Piggy is front and center in that special, making snidely aristocratic remarks in a Regency-era sketch, hijacking Kermit’s duet with Sabrina Carpenter and ‘giving the people what they truly want: Moi.’
“For Eric Jacobson, playing a glamorous pig has been the role of a lifetime. In recent decades, he has become the lead voice and puppeteer behind several instantly recognizable Muppets, among them Bert, Grover and Oscar the Grouch on Sesame Street and Fozzie Bear. But when it comes to aura and cultural significance, he said in a recent phone interview, ‘Miss Piggy’s on another magnitude, as she would tell you herself.’
“It wasn’t always the case. An early version of Piggy appeared as a minor player in one of Jim Henson’s failed Muppet television pilots, which aired in March 1975. The puppet was designed and constructed by Bonnie Erickson, who had fond childhood memories of chasing piglets for her pig farmer uncle. …
“Over a few weeks, Erickson carved the pig out of a 1-foot cube of soft foam using nail scissors, then used a belt sander to smooth the contours and curves. Crucially, by the time The Muppet Show premiered in September 1976, she had infused her creation with something extra: Piggy became the only major Muppet to get eyes with irises. The pupils even have highlights. …
“A sow in opera gloves would have been a decent gag in itself, but it soon became clear that the character was destined for greater things. … A script specified that she deliver a mere slap, but the puppeteer Frank Oz instead had Piggy execute a swift karate chop — preceded by a full-torso windup and accompanied by a ‘Hiii-yah!‘ — that sent Kermit flying. Miss Piggy was born. …
“Oz went on to devise an elaborate back story for the character involving the loss of her father in a tragic tractor accident and a fraught mother-daughter relationship. His voice for Piggy alternated between a dainty coo and a withering growl that recalled Bette Davis in All About Eve.
“Piggy was deeply insecure yet utterly convinced of her own star quality, girlish and refined but occasionally compelled to, say, maul Florence Henderson in a jealous rage. … Balancing those sometimes conflicting impulses could be tricky, according to Jerry Juhl, the head writer for The Muppet Show. Juhl, who died in 2005, said that writing for Miss Piggy hadn’t been easy.
“ ‘You’re walking a fine line with that character,’ Juhl said in an archival interview, as quoted in Jim Henson: The Biography (2013), by Brian Jay Jones. ‘If she isn’t a bitch, she isn’t funny. But you’ve got to feel the other side.’ …
“The new Muppet Show special has Kermit, Miss Piggy and the whole furry, felted company return to the variety show format … with an array of cheerfully bonkers acts, that irresistible theme tune and chaos behind the scenes. …
“The writer Albertina Rizzo said that the writing team had been honored to cook up new outrageous things for one of their comedy heroes to say. ‘Strangely, I think reading Barbra Streisand’s autobiography really helped,’ Rizzo said. Streisand ‘has such a strong sense of self,’ she explained. ‘So if you mix that with a boatload of delusion and some beginner French, you’re kind of on the right track.’
“ ‘The thought process was, What would a reasonable, grounded, normal person say?’ she added. ‘Then write the opposite of that.’ ”
More at the Times, here.
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