Picking My Brain

Since no trip to DC is complete without at least one visit to one of the Smithsonian museums, we decided to hit the Air and Space Museum. I wanted to go to the National Museum of American History, however it’s been closed since 2006 for renovations. The Air and Space Museum was doing a small exhibit of some of the most popular items from the American History Museum, and we had heard that Stephen’s Colbert’s portrait was on display there.

After standing in line, which thankfully went pretty quickly, we got to see some neat things. First was Kermit the Frog. Kermit was one of puppeteer Jim Henson’s most famous and beloved creations, first introduced in 1955. Kermit was performed by Henson until his death in 1990. An early version of Kermit appeared in 1955, in a 5-minute puppet show for WRC-TV’s Sam and Friends. The prototype Kermit was created from a green ladies’ coat that Henson’s mother had thrown into a refuse bin, and two ping pong balls for eyes. Kermit has never been at a loss for work, appearing in many movies and guest spots in TV shows, commercials and even music videos. Some interesting facts about Kermit:

• Although it has been said and discussed many times, Kermit’s birthday was known to be May 9, but since it was Jim’s first and well-known creation, they had stated that he was born September 24, the same as Jim Henson, only 1955. (Hey Liesle, did you know you share a birthday with Kermit?!)

• Kermit the Frog is left-handed, as are most Muppets.
  
  
• It has been said by those who have worked with Kermit that he is never seen ‘unoperated’ and is brought into and out of a set under a black cloth, his operator will only talk as Kermit while performing and never use his own voice - all instructions or comments must be addressed to Kermit - and that his operator will never imitate Kermit’s voice when not operating him. (source)

Next we saw the ruby slippers worn by Judy Garland while filming “The Wizard of Oz” along with the Scarecrow costume. I had seen the ruby slippers years ago during a visit to the museum. Maybe it was because I was a lot younger then, but the slippers seems much duller to me this time.

At least seven pairs were made and five pairs have been accounted for today. This pair do not match (the right bow is lower than left, noticeable in the photo), fueling speculation that more of the slippers may exist. The others pairs are owned by private collectors.The four pairs of shoes used in the film were originally white silk pumps. At the time, many movie studios used plain white silk shoes because they were inexpensive and easily dyed.The shoes used for Dorothy’s slippers were dyed red; then burgundy sequined organza overlays were attached to each shoe’s upper and heel. The film’s early 3-strip Technicolor process required the sequins to be darker than most red sequins found today; bright red sequins would have appeared orange on screen. (source)

I had never seen the Scarecrow costume before and after listening to the curator who was on hand, this was pretty much a once-in-a-lifetime chance to see it. The costume is the property of the museum, but it is usually kept in storage. It was only on display in the temporary exhibit, which was actually closing the next week. The costume was going to be placed back in storage after the exhibit.

Also on display were the actual C-3PO and R2D2 used in filming the original Star Wars movies. For filming, C-3PO was “puppeteered” and his puppeteer was later removed digitally. C-3PO is the first character to speak in A New Hope (”Did you hear that? They’ve shut down the main reactor. We’ll be destroyed for sure!”) and the last character to speak in Revenge of the Sith (”What? Oh, no.”), giving C-3PO the honor of having the first and last words in the Star Wars movie saga (taking the films in the order they were made). (source)

There were a total of 15 R2-D2s on the set of Attack of the Clones. Eight were radio-controlled; two were worn by Baker; the remainder were stunt models that could be moved by puppet strings or towed by wires. The sound effects for R2-D2’s “voice” were created by sound designer Ben Burtt, using an ARP 2600 analog music synthesizer, as well as his own vocalizations processed through other effects. The name R2D2 originated from Walter Murch, the cutter of Lucas’ second movie American Graffiti. When cutting the movie together with Lucas, Walter Murch asked for “R2, D2″ –meaning “Reel 2, Dialog 2″. (source)

We got to see George Washington’s actual uniform. Judging by the uniform, he was a lot smaller than today’s average man. It’s amazing to think that this uniform has survived for so many years in such great condition.

One of Mr. Roger’s famous sweaters was also part of the exhibit. Mr. Rogers was created and played by Fred McFeely Rogers. Those of you who watched the show might remember the mailman, Mr. McFeely; I guessing his name came from the McFeely in Mr. Rogers’ name. Rogers was born in Latrobe, Pennsylvania and spent many years as an only child. He spent much of his free time as a child with his grandfather, Fred McFeely, and had an interest in puppetry and music. He would often sing along as his mother would play the piano. He was red-green colorblind. His parents also acted as foster parents to an African American teenager named George, whose mother had died. Rogers eventually came to consider George his older brother. George later became an instructor for the Tuskegee Airmen of World War II and also taught Rogers to fly.

Rogers first began wearing his famous sneakers when he found them to be quieter than his work shoes when he moved about behind the set. He was also the voices behind King Friday XIII and Queen Sara Saturday (named after his wife), rulers of the neighborhood, as well as X the Owl, Henrietta Pussycat, Daniel the Striped Tiger, Lady Elaine Fairchild (named for Fred’s sister, Elaine) and Donkey Hodie. The sweaters he wore on the show were hand knit by his mother.

Rogers wrote all of the music preformed on his show.  Rogers was also an ordained Presbyterian minister. (source)

The signpost from the show M*A*S*H was also on display.  If the quality is good, I’d like to enlarge this photo to poster size and hang it up.  I think it would be awesome to have a life-size photo of it on a wall somewhere.

And finally we came to the Stephen Colbert portrait.  For those of you who may not know who he is, he used to be a “reporter” on the Daily Show with Jon Stewart.  He then got his own show following the Daily Show on Comedy Central in which he plays a right-wing, conservative political pundit.  His character is incredibly full of himself and his ego is huge.   He mocks the conservative Republican right by over-mimicking real pundits such as Bill O’Reilly.  Colbert points out the absurdity of the political arena by being over-enthusiastic about the issues.

The portrait is in the exhibit due to an elaborate stunt by Colbert.  On each season of his show, he has a new portrait of himself done to hang above the fireplace on his set.  During his first season, the portrait was a picture of himself standing in front of the fireplace, with a portrait of himself hanging over it.  So he was in his own portrait twice.  Each succeeding portrait has added another Colbert standing in front of the fireplace with his old portrait still hanging there.  (Confusing, I know, but look at the photo to see what I mean.)

When he was forced by Viacom to come back on the air during the writer’s strike, he filled time by taking his portrait to DC to have it added to the National Portrait Gallery.  They refused, but due to Colbert’s insistence, they compromised by hanging his portrait for a brief time outside of the Portrait Gallery…between the men’s and women’s restrooms and above the drinking fountains.  The portrait was on display there until April 1, 2009.  I am not sure how he convinced the Smithsonian to display his portrait, or what will happen to it now that the exhibit has closed.  It is unclear if the portrait will remain a part of the Smithsonian collection.  A sign placed in the case with the portrait asked visitors if they though it should remain, but offered no way to respond.

Interesting to note, the portrait is actually an enlarged digital photograph, not an actual painting.