What is a Muppet?

The term Muppet was invented by Jim Henson at the beginning of his career to describe his puppet act. It is sometimes claimed, and refuted, that Henson created the term as a combination of the words marionette and puppet. Henson used the Muppet name to define the characters in his productions, and to distinguish his act from those of other puppeteers.
Following the development of various projects over the years, and ownership changes for some characters, the term has seen a shift in the way it has been used by official parties, and its perception in popular culture.
==Early history==
The earliest documented use of the word Muppet comes from the labeling used for studio soundtracks recorded for Circle 4 Ranch on November 10, 1954.Jim Henson: The Biography by Brian Jay Jones, ebook location 756 The term appeared in print as early as the spring of 1955 in an advertisement for Afternoon. Henson's appearances on variety shows such as The Ed Sullivan Show were billed as "The Muppets" and, as on Saturday Night Live, "Jim Henson's Muppets."
In a 1983 interview, Henson commented on when he first coined the term: "I think we did the term Muppets before we got the show Sam and Friends - a few months after I started working."
When The Jim Henson Company sold the Muppets to The Walt Disney Company in 2004, Jane Henson sent a letter to The Walt Disney Company, stating that the copyright on the early Muppet characters went to Jane Henson as well as Jim Henson, though Jim Henson was the sole author and creator of the early characters.
File:Afternoonwithinga.jpeg|Afternoon, 1955
File:Jimmy Dean Rowlf Credit.jpg|The Jimmy Dean Show, 1963-1966
File:SNLcredit.jpg|Saturday Night Live, 1975
==Sesame Street==
During the development of Sesame Street, when it was decided that the show would add a fantasy element, Jim Henson's Muppets were singled out as the only puppet act that would be worth approaching. After Henson became involved, a cast of new Muppet characters were created for the show. They have become known as The Sesame Street Muppets or The Muppets of Sesame Street.
Sesame Workshop retains the Muppets name in its credits and products for Sesame Street, continuing to call its characters "Jim Henson's Sesame Street Muppets" and the puppeteers "Muppet Performers" or "Muppeteers." However Sesame Workshop does note that "Muppets™ is a trademark of The Muppets Studio." From 1990-1991, the credits for Sesame Street and related productions referred to its Muppets as "Sesame Street Puppet Characters."
File:Sesame-1969credits-muppets.jpg|1969 credits
File:Sesame-1970credits-PuppetsByJimHensonsMuppets.png|1970 credits
File:Sesame-1977creditsJimHensonsMuppets.jpg|1977 credits
File:Rocknrollcredits-sesamepuppets.jpg|credits from Rock & Roll!
File:Sesame-1992credits-MuppetPerformers.jpg|1992 credits
File:Get Healthy Now Show - The Muppets.jpg|The Get Healthy Now Show credits (2007)
File:Sesame-2008credits-muppets.jpg|2008 credits
==The Muppet Show==
When The Muppet Show became an international hit, the word Muppet became more closely associated with characters from that show. Productions and merchandise started to become branded from The Muppet Show’s cast of characters.
Although, the phrase, "Muppet Performers" appeared during The Muppet Show closing credits, early episodes of the first season referred to its Muppets as "The Muppet Puppeteers" or "The Muppet People."
Television specials and theatrical films created throughout the 1980s strengthened this branding, as the group of characters established in The Muppet Movie and The Muppet Show continued to receive significant focus. This family of characters continued on into the MuppeTelevision portions of The Jim Henson Hour and Muppets Tonight.
The franchise was further solidified as being separate from other "Jim Henson's Muppets" projects when The Walt Disney Company purchased the Muppets characters from The Jim Henson Company in 2004. Disney went one step further to separate their property, by designating this group and their endeavors as The Muppets Studio.
 	 	
1970s and 80s logo 	(variation) 	1990s logo
 	 	
The Muppets (Disney) 	The Muppets (Disney) 	Muppet Studios
 	 	
The Muppets Studio 	The Muppets 	Disney The Muppets
 	 	
Disney The Muppets 	The Muppets film set chair logo	...and The Muppets
 	 	
Pepe as a member of The Muppet Show family of characters	 	
==Other productions==
Even so, the word Muppet continued to be used to describe characters from productions featuring mostly original characters, such as in Fraggle Rock where the credits read "with Jim Henson's Muppets," even though none of The Muppet Show characters were used.
In the late-1980s/1990s, the word Muppet would start being associated with new productions less often than it had been (unless that production featured characters from The Muppet Show, such as Muppets Tonight and the Muppet movies). The phrases "Muppet Performers" or "Jim Henson's Muppets" still appeared in the credits to such shows as Dog City and Big Bag.
Since selling the Muppets to The Walt Disney Company in 2004, the Jim Henson Company has stopped using the Muppets name for characters in newer productions. They stopped including the Muppets name on new Fraggle Rock products (the first five Fraggle Rock DVDs, except for "Doin' Things That Doozers Do", actually cut the "With Jim Henson's Muppets" credit in the opening, though it's been included in the opening for later DVDs). This is to create a distinction between the Muppet Show -brand characters (Disney owned) and other Henson Company puppets.
Outside Sesame Street, Sesame Workshop used the word Muppet in association with the characters and performers of their series Panwapa.
File:Title.fragglerock.jpg
File:Meetingtitle.jpg
File:Muppetsofpanwapa.jpg
The Jim Henson Company seldom described creations from the Creature Shop as Muppets. Rare examples of Muppets created from the Creature Shop include the casts of The Ghost of Faffner Hall and Mother Goose Stories, as well as the ghosts from The Muppet Christmas Carol. See Muppet vs Creature for more on this distinction.
==Alternate meanings==
===Dictionary definitions===
The Oxford English Dictionary gives the following meanings:
A proprietary name for: any of a number of humorously grotesque glove or rod puppets and marionettes, chiefly representing animals, first popularized by the children's television programme Sesame Street (1969-) and more recently in The Muppet Show (1976-80). Also: a toy made to resemble one of these.
:1970 Globe & Mail (Toronto) 26 Sept. 24/3 The muppet puppets..are among the most engaging of Sesame Street's characters. 1977 Private Eye 13 May 11/4 As we open the door we can imagine Freud himself sitting behind the desk with a Muppet on his knee. 1978 Time 25 Dec. 71/1 Henson..says that ‘muppet’ was simply a word that sounded good to him. The sound combination of puppet and marionette is merely an explanation that happens to sound logical. 1990 Toronto Star (Nexis) 8 May E2 Miss Piggy is dumping Kermit. The loquacious Muppet has decided to end her 14-year romance with the friendly frog. 2000 USA Today 14 Nov. 8D, At www.sesamestreet.com, each Muppet now has a link to its own home page..and Big Bird has an e-mail account.
Angling. A lure made to resemble a young squid, used in sea fishing.
:1983 Sea Angler Oct. 33/3 There are a number of other manufacturers making mainly small 2in to 3in ‘muppets’ in every colour imaginable. 1990 Compl. Anglers Guide Spring 67/3 Baits will often take fish while the jigs and muppets remain fishless. 1997 Irish Times (Nexis) 20 June 13 Six massive muppets (each costing Pounds 50) were now skimming across the water as we cruised at a steady seven knots.
Brit. Prison slang (derogatory). A prisoner with psychiatric problems; a vulnerable inmate liable to be bullied or harassed by others.
:1988 in U. Padel & P. Stevenson Insiders (BNC) 82 If some of the girls knew you were from C1 [sc. the psychiatric unit] they'd call you muppet. 1998 Independent 18 May I. 10/1 Their favourite targets are the fraggles, the nonces and the muppets. But anyone showing tell-tale signs of fear is a target..for Britain's jail bullies. 2001 Independent (Nexis) 22 Feb. 3 Held in an anti-bullying unit, he holds little sympathy for the ‘muppets’ whom he forced to pay £4 per cigarette. 
slang. An incompetent or ineffectual person; an idiot. Also (with less derogatory force): someone enthusiastic but inept; a person prone to mishaps through naivety.
:1989 Guardian 7 Dec. 38/4 I'm a muppet. In fact, I'm definitely a muppet. I couldn't find the entrance to the restaurant that night for a start. 1992 Baltimore Jewish Times (Nexis) 25 Dec. 42 Michael Johnson..condemned leaders of groups such as the NAACP and BLEWS as ‘muppets’. 1995 C. HIGSON Full Whack (1996) ii. 10 Last thing I need right now is for you two muppets to drag me back into the shit. 2001 Scotsman (Nexis) 2 Mar. 10 Samantha Mumba comes on. Having previously dismissed her as another Irish teen pop muppet..I gladly stand corrected.
The earliest known usage of definitions 2–4 all date from after the original run of The Muppet Show, and the etymology of definitions 3 and 4 appears to derive directly from the show; the implication being that a "muppet" is silly person or someone who cannot act without being animated or controlled by another. Definition 3, as British prison slang, actually postdates and spun from the use of "Fraggles" (as in fragile) to note prisoners in psychiatric unit. The British insult entered wider usage, as shown, but "fraggles" remained as a term only used in prison and crime contexts. On Muppet Wiki, tracking usage of either in British productions or by British (or Irish or Scottish) characters is generally limited to contexts where it explicitly involves a reference to the Muppets themselves (via character names, show titles, or other indicators) or to being used as a puppet. Instances are appraised by administrators as to whether it's deliberate or otherwise notable in itself to be worth including, often based on emphasis and if characters draw attention to the word itself, as opposed to casual usage.
File:BritishT-shirt.jpg|British T-shirt
Hibernian Aviva muppet ad.jpg|Hibernian Aviva billboard in Ireland
File:UKposter-muppetproud.jpg|Licensed poster embracing the slang term
File:How-to-be-a-Complete-Muppet.jpg|How to Be a Complete Muppet
==="muppet-style"===
Among puppeteers and puppet builders, the term "muppet-style" is used widely to describe puppets that are similar in appearance and/or construction to Muppets, especially foam-based mouth puppets.
==Other definitions and uses==
When asked "what's a Muppet?," Homer Simpson said: "Well, it's not quite a mop and it's not quite a puppet... but man [laughs]. So to answer your question, I don't know." 
When Gonzo botches a magic act on An Audience with...Joe Pasquale, Pasquale says, "you muppet!"
In a promotional video for The Muppets, Fozzie Bear attempted to tell a joke starting "a Muppet is what you get when you cross a mop and a... no, no that's not it. A Muppet is what you get when you cross a guppy..."
A promotional video for The Muppets asks the question "who are the Muppets?" , while the movie contains a song in which Gary and Walter ask themselves if they are a "Man or Muppet."
A December 2013 screening of The Great Muppet Caper at the Brooklyn Academy of Music featured an introduction by Cheryl Henson, Peter Linz, and Walter. Walter explains to the audience that in England, instead of "idiot" they say "muppet". 
Gordon Ramsay, a Brit, says "Get out of here, you Muppets" to Walter and Kermit in the "Food Fight" Muppisode. Walter says he loves it when people call him that, but Kermit, picking up on the derogatory nature of Ramsay's put-down, shelters Walter away from any further conversation.
In 2014, Disney officially started using the term as a verb. The phrase "Muppet Your Devices" appeared on the official Muppets Most Wanted website as a link to a section for downloads to be used on mobile devices.
The term was co-opted by at least one puppeteer, early on, in a case of genericization. In a 1961 article about Captain Jim's Popeye Club on Pittsburgh channel WIIC, broadcaster Bob Ford introduces his new puppet characters as "muppets." The newspaper explains that "A muppet, by the way, is a hand puppet without arms. Shari Lewis employs the same type of little friends on her Saturday morning show..."Win Fanning, "A Muppet Mutiny for Capt. Jim," Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, 26 March 1961, pages 7 and 11.
==See also==
* Muppet Characters
* Muppet vs Creature
* Does "Muppet" mean "Marionette and puppet"?
==Sources==
__NOWYSIWYG__
Category:Behind the Scenes