Big Bird

Performer:

Caroll Spinney • (1969 - present)

Matt Vogel • (ca. 1998 - present, understudy)

Design Team:

Jim Henson • (designer)

Kermit Love and Don Sahlin • (builders)

Jim Henson's original design for Big Bird.

Big Bird is an 8-foot, 2-inch yellow bird who lives onSesame Street. Since Sesame Street premiered in 1969, Big Bird has entertained millions of pre-school children and their parents with his wide-eyed wondering at the world. Big Bird is also a bird who makes friends easily.

The world-famous bird has been a central character onSesame Street for the program's run, premiering in the first episode. The big yellow bird can roller skate, ice skate, dance, sing, write poetry, draw, and even ride a unicycle — pretty talented for a character described in the TV show's writer's guide as a 6-year-old. But despite this wide array of talents, he's prone to frequent misunderstandings, like thinking that the alphabet is one long word.

Big Bird lives in a large nest behind 123 Sesame Streetand next to Oscar's trash can, and he has a teddy bearnamed Radar.

Big Bird helps children feel all right about not knowing everything because he himself does not know everything, and encourages them to inquire: a common Big Bird phrase in recent years has been "Asking questions is a good way of finding things out!" He also teaches other life, alphabet, and numerical lessons: "I guess it's better to be who you are. Turns out people like you best that way, anyway." ^[1]

For many years his best friend Mr. Snuffleupagus (who Big Bird calls Snuffy) was deemed as imaginary by the adults on Sesame Street. Every time Snuffy would visit, he would coincidentally leave just before the adults arrived. Despite not being believed by the adults, Big Bird continued to assert that Snuffy was real. In the early 1980s, a string of high-profile child sexual abuse cases caused Sesame Workshop (then Children's Television Workshop) to eliminate this running gag, fearing that children would take to heart the message that, if adults don't believe something out of the ordinary even when they are telling the truth, they'd be just as well off to remain silent.

Big Bird took center stage on Sesame Street in the early 1980s, when the show dealt with the death of storekeeperMr. Hooper (necessitated by the death of Will Lee, the actor who played the role). Big Bird got confused when he tried to go into Hooper's Store to give Mr. Hooper his drawing Big Bird made of and for him. The adults, including Maria, David, Bob, Susan, Gordon, and Luis tell Big Bird that Mr. Hooper is not coming back because he's dead and when people die, they don't come back. ("Ever?" "No, never") Big Bird's realization that Mr. Hooper wasn't just gone temporarily, and Big Bird's acceptance of Mr. Hooper's death, have been hailed as a milestone in children's programming.

Big Bird starred on the big screen in the 1985 film Follow That Bird, in which he is sent by Miss Finch, a bird social worker, to live with a foster family of Dodos. He soon runs away from his new home to get back to Sesame Street and he is kidnapped and dyed baby blue by two ratty circus-owners. He also had a role in the feature film The Adventures of Elmo in Grouchland and starred in the feature-length specials Big Bird in China and Big Bird in Japan.

Big Bird also appeared in cameo roles in the films The Muppet Movie and The Muppets Take Manhattan and the television special A Muppet Family Christmas, and as a guest on The Muppet Show episode 318, plus a variety of outside TV appearances.

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Big Bird's speciesEdit

Big Bird's precise species is unknown, and over the years, there have been varying explanations for his unusual size and appearance:

During a 1976 appearance on Hollywood Squares, host Peter Marshall asked, "What kind of a bird are you, by the way?" Big Bird's responds: "I'm a lark."^[2]

When Big Bird is missing in the 1978 specialChristmas Eve on Sesame Street, Oscar the Grouch reassures Maria, jokingly reminding her that Big Bird is "part homing pigeon."

In a 1981 episode of Mister Rogers' Neighborhood, King Friday XIII asked Big Bird if he's related to the cassowary. Big Bird replied "actually, I'm a golden condor." ^[3]

In the 1987 special A Muppet Family Christmas, Ma Bear refers to Big Bird as "the giant canary"; The Swedish Chef, seeing him as an upgrade from the Christmas Turkey, calls him "gobbla gobbla humungo."

The 1998 book Sesame Street Unpaved says that Big Bird's scientific name is "Bigus canarius". ^[4]

In the 2004 direct-to-video special A Celebration of Me, Grover, Big Bird says, "I wish I could fly likeSuper Grover. But my Grandpa was an emu bird. They can't fly. But they can run! Every fall, Grandpa ran south for the winter." Also Big Bird always says he can't fly, but because he's only 6 could be a reason why he can't fly.

Oscar the Grouch sometimes refers to Big Bird as a "turkey" -- an insult rather than a reflection of Big Bird's species. However, this does help Big Bird hitch a ride on a turkey truck in the 1985 film Follow That Bird; he talks his way onto the truck by claiming that "my friend Oscar always says that I'm a big turkey!" In a 2009 interview with TV Guide, Big Bird said that Oscar is "a little grouchy. He calls me a turkey. I'm not a turkey; I'm a lark." ^[5]

In the Sesame Street Live production Everyone Makes Music, after Big Bird sings Rockin' Robin, Baby Bearremarks that Big Bird is one rockin' robin, and Big Bird remarks, "Actually I'm a canary."
In a 2009 appearance on Jimmy Kimmel Live when host Jimmy Kimmel asks him if he has ever "googled" Big Bird replies: "Uh, no but I have an Uncle turkey who gobbles".

Big Bird's familyEdit

Nani Bird, Granny Bird, and Baby Big Bird

Big Bird and his best friend, Mr. Snuffleupagus

Big Bird lives alone on Sesame Street, essentially adopted by the general neighborhood, with Susan andGordon often acting as stand-in parents. In Sesame Street Home Video Visits the Hospital, when the hospital receptionist asks if Maria is Big Bird's mother, she replied, ""Not exactly... Kind of... Yes." As a baby, Big Bird was raised by his Granny Bird and his aunt, Nani Bird. As he became more self-reliant, Big Bird moved out on his own, to his nest on Sesame Street.

Granny Bird remains a part of his life; he's visited her in various books. ^[6] When Big Bird's nest was destroyed in a hurricane in 2001, Big Bird called Granny for advice about building a new nest. ^[7]

There is also scattered evidence of other relations. In a 1971 episode, Big Bird receives a coat from his mommyin the mail, and he babysits for his sister's egg in a 1972 episode. He also mentions a mother, father, and sister in the song "Tall Enough". It's unclear why Big Bird was raised apart from his nuclear family.

Other relatives include the following:

Uncle Slim, a cowbird from Wyoming, seen in a 1981 episode

Herman Bird, an identical cousin from the country, who visits in a 1975 episode

Monroe, a cousin mentioned in a 1972 episode

Bartholomew Bird, a poor cousin pictured in The Sesame Street Dictionary

Uncle Ned, Big Bird sees a chicken mask that he says looks a little like his uncle.^[8]

Cousins Bunscombe Bird (a baker), Bertha Bird (a police officer), Bagshot Bird (a fire chief), andBathsheba Bird (a doctor), all pictured in the story "Big Bird Visits His Cousin" in The Sesame Street Library Volume 3

Cousin Bubba, according to the Elmo's Worldepisode "Penguins," lives at the South Pole. A scarf his Granny Bird knitted for Bubba is shown draped on a penguin.

Big Bird's Grandfather; an emu bird, mentioned in A Celebration of Me, Grover

Big Bird's uncle; a turkey, mentioned on his appearance on Jimmy Kimmel Live. When he was shown the Google Doodle of his legs and was asked if he ever "googles", he replies "No, but I have an uncle turkey who gobbles."

Big Bird's cousin Robin, mentioned and seen in the song Spring is Here

Additionally, the birds from several international co-productions have been designated as cousins of Big Bird:

Abelardo -- Plaza Sésamo, Mexico

Da Niao -- Zhima Jie, China

Garibaldo -- Vila Sésamo, Brazil

Minik Kuş -- Susam Sokağı, Turkey

Pino -- Sesamstraat, the Netherlands

Poupas -- Rua Sésamo, Portugal

Although Big Bird does know his family, in the book Big Bird's Bedtime Story, Luis tells Big Bird's back story, stating that a large egg was delivered to Hooper's Store one day, and the various residents of Sesame Street chose to build a nest for it and took care of it until it hatched. However, the story is probably not considered canon because it features a few characters who were not around when the series began (such as David and Luis).

Big Bird's ageEdit

The character was originally conceived as a kind of a yokel, it took most of the show's first season, but the writers and performers soon came to see Big Bird not as the "village idiot," but as a curious child. Spinney described him as "He was the too-big kid, much as I had been the too-little kid when I was his age. I suggested that we think of him as a child first learning to read and learning the alphabet, like our audience. That made him about 4½."^[9]

As Sesame Street's core audience has gotten younger, Big Bird has aged. "He's about 6," Spinney says, "arrested at 6."^[9]

For years Big Bird's age has been frozen at a particular point -- he's six years old in the 1985 film Follow That Bird, and still six in the 1989 special Sesame Street: 20 and Still Counting. Big Bird celebrated his sixth birthday (again) in the 1991 PBS pledge drive special Big Bird's Birthday or Let Me Eat Cake.

They realized that Big Bird isn't the village idiot - he a child, with a wide-eyed view of the world. For a long time we played him at age 4. Now we see him as 6½ - and there he stays.

-Caroll Spinney^[10]

Big Bird's birthday is March 20th.

Performing Big BirdEdit

As Caroll Spinney has aged, the show has gradually started to train new performers to play Big Bird. These apprentices include both Rick Lyon in the opening theme song of the show's 20th, 25th, and 33rd seasons^[11] andMatt Vogel in the show's Journey to Ernie segment. Sometimes, Matt Vogel performs in the Big Bird puppet, with Caroll Spinney dubbing all his lines in later, though Vogel has also performed the voice on occasion.

Caroll Spinney was sick during the taping of a few first season episodes, so Daniel Seagren performed Big Bird in those episodes.^[12] He also performed Big Bird when he appeared on The Ed Sullivan Show in 1969, and in a number of Sesame Street Cast Tours in 1970. Jim Henson, who designed Big Bird, proved to be a possible candidate to perform the bird, as he was slender and over six feet tall. But Kermit Love, who built the costume, didn't think that he walked like a bird is supposed to walk.^[13] Henson then offered the part to Frank Oz, but since Oz hated performing full-body characters, he turned down the job.^[14]

The Big Bird performer is completely enclosed within the costume and extends his right hand over his head to operate the head and neck of the puppet. The Muppeteer's left hand serves as the Bird's left hand, while the right hand is stuffed and hangs loosely from a fishing line that runs through a loop under the neck and attaches to the wrist of the left hand. For some of the "Journey to Ernie" segments, a second puppeteer (usually Jim Martin) controls Big Bird's right hand.

When Spinney is performing on-location and cannot get a video feed on his television monitor, a hole is made in the bird suit to give Spinney the ability to see out in front of him. In these occasions, Big Bird wears a neck tie at all times to hide the hole. Don't Eat the Pictures, Big Bird in China and Big Bird in Japan are all examples of this.

For years, Caroll Spinney had a policy of refusing to pose for photographs in half of the bird suit. He later explained why in an interview for The New Yorker:

Look magazine had an article on us in 1970. Big Bird was built a little differently then: He was strapped on me, and you couldn’t easily get out without an assistant reaching underneath and unbuckling things—now it slips right off, it’s much better. So I couldn’t get out. But you had to breathe after a while, so I was able to stick my head out between the body and the head, and they had a photo of me sticking my head out. And Jim Henson said, “Don’t let that ever happen again. You’re either bird or you, but no in between.^[15]

TriviaEdit

Big Bird's feathers are white turkey feathers, dyed yellow. There are approximately 4,000 feathers on the puppet.^[16] (According to the Count, he has over 5,961 feathers--he counted them himself.)^[17]
Jim Henson had originally planned on having the performer inside Big Bird perform the character by wearing the suit backwards, so that Big Bird can bend his knees backwards like a real bird.^[18]

Big Bird sang Bein' Green in honor of Jim Henson (and Kermit) during Jim Henson's Memorial Service. During the song, he was close to tears. At the song's end, he looked up to the heavens and said, voice breaking, "Thank you, Kermit." ^[19]

Big Bird made a special guest appearance on an episode of Deal or No Deal, to help contestant Lamar Wilson overcome his childhood fear of the bird.

Sesame Workshop included a "Muppetbook" section of Muppet bios in the digital press kit for40th season of Sesame Street (posted onSesameworkshop.org. On his profile, Big Bird listed chicken soup as one of his pet peeves.

According to Muppet wrangler Michelle Hickey, Big Bird's feathers are "hand-glued and backed with a ribbon that is hand-stitched on." His feathers are also rated from A to D, with only A and B rated feathers making up the puppet. Occasionally C rated feathers are used towards the bottom of the puppet. Hickey also states that the feathers are replaced every two weeks, or after the Muppet has been to an event. ^[20]