Video : Drive-By Muppets

It’s one of those rare days at Encino’s Balboa Park when the boardwalk isn’t packed with a quarter-mile crowd of people. So, from a distance, a lone cyclist doesn’t seem that unusual. Upon closer examination, it is a bit of a surprise to find a frog sitting cutely atop the miniature two-wheeler.

But it’s not just any soft, green frog--that’s the most famous frog of all, Miss Piggy’s paramour, Kermit.

Jim Henson’s video production company was in the Valley recently to simultaneously film two Muppet videos, one on things that fly and another called “Muppets on Wheels,” the latter of which will be released this week as part of “Jim Henson’s Preschool Collection.”

Other locations for the freewheeling “Muppet on Wheels” included the Saugus Speedway, Griffith Park’s Travel Town and Valencia’s Six Flags’ Magic Mountain, where the rollicking Colossus roller coaster offers its ups and downs to Kermit and his new and curious redheaded friend Lindy. Lindy has enlisted Kermit to explain “how things go.”

Producers say the video is designed to capture preschoolers’ fascination with cars, trains and “just about anything with wheels.”

Puppeteers have been crammed into tight spaces under cars that are easy for Muppets to sit atop--but not so easy for the adult-sized puppeteers.

“It’s been tricky to hide the performers,” says “Muppets on Wheels” director David Gumpel, who watches the action from a video monitor to see how it translates to the small screen. Gumpel adds that videos don’t share the same luxuries with the Muppet movies, which have bigger budgets and more time to make specially designed sets and vehicles.

“There’s a lot of rigging going on,” says Julie Zobel, from the Balboa Park set as puppeteers and crew struggle to get the scene right. “Since they’re not really human, you can’t really tell them what to do,” she says of the Muppets.

A few days later on a dark Sunset-Gower Studios sound stage, three handsome long-haired young men stand before a video camera. Sweat glimmers on their brows below their headbands as they energetically sing in front of a backdrop. It’s got all the makings of a rock video, but the camera isn’t focusing on the men’s faces, rather what’s on top of their uplifted arms: brightly colored Muppets.

The headbands actually hold microphones that dangle down near their mouths so dialogue and song are captured. The puppeteers use their left hands to control the rods and strings, which create movement in the Muppets.

The backdrop is actually a “blue screen.” When seen on the many small monitors that line tables behind the cameras, an entire set is magically captured. While most of “Wheels” was shot on location, some pickups and special shots are done like this, in a studio.

Gumpel and his production crew must shift their attention between both the monitors and the live-action. In fact, much of the time the puppeteers’ eyes are glued to their own personal monitors, near their knees. It becomes quite a balancing act for the people who are puppeteers, actors and singers and must block their own movements.

The puppeteers, points out Gumpel, “create characters as they go.” Together, “We come up with a voice and how that Muppet will act and move and then just figure out how it’s going to be seen on screen.”

A New York crew does PBS’ “Sesame Street,” but a specialized group of puppeteers are culled throughout the country for the Muppet videos and movies. Steve Whitmire--whom the Disney people don’t like to identify, lest it “spoil the magic”--always does Kermit, and Frank Oz always voices Miss Piggy (she’s not in “Muppets on Wheels, though). But, in general, various preferred puppeteers each do several characters.

“Muppets on Wheels” introduces several new characters. Others are selected from the giant Henson “Big Character Books,” which document, through pictures and credits, where each of the more obscure puppets have appeared. Some recognizable Muppets in “Wheels” may be the dogs from “Dog City” and others from the band in “The Jim Henson Hour.”

Gumpel acknowledges that while Muppeteering is “male-dominated ... it’s not a sexist thing. It’s more a nerdy puppeteer thing, a tremendous, stressful amount of work. They get stronger as they go. When I’ve blocked scenes for them, I’m exhausted [holding and working the Muppet] in five minutes.” Four female characters in “On Wheels” are done by Julianne Buescher.

Bruce Lanoil, a puppeteer for 15 years, who brings to life Lindy, among others, says: “Basically, you have to get yourself into the place where you can free yourself up to perform. We set ourselves in a pretzel position, so we focus on the scene and the character takes on a life.”

In this case, they also take on wheels.

“Muppets on Wheels” (Jim Henson Video and distributed by Buena Vista Home Video, 30 minutes) is available in stores on Friday and sells for $13.