The Art of Big Bird: A Puppeteer's Alternative Career Path

(Nov. 5) -- They're two of the most recognized and beloved characters in American culture -- Big Bird and Oscar the Grouch. But did you know that before they made Sesame Street the most well-known neighborhood in the land, they served in the military?

In fact, after the two felt superstars were discharged, they almost worked for Walt Disney as animators and illustrators. Of course, Jim Henson would have had a major problem with this -- so he hired them first. The rest is history.

Well, in a manner of speaking anyway. It wasn't the puppets that served our country and almost worked for Disney, it was the man behind them.

Caroll Spinney, the voice and puppeteer of both Oscar and Bird, has had a fascinating career, bringing to life two mainstays of just about everyone's childhood. But he also had an entirely separate career path -- that of an illustrator and artist.


That's the story behind "The Art of Caroll Spinney," an exhibit opening this weekend at ToonSeum, a cartoon museum in Pittsburgh. The exhibit contains works that span Spinney's life, from his childhood cartoons to the comic strip he drew while in the Air Force and his books illustrating Big Bird and Oscar the Grouch.

"I started drawing when I was about 6 years old," Spinney told AOL News. "I was in love with the funnies [comic strips]. Back then, Bugs Bunny, Mickey Mouse and Donald Duck had their own strips, and you could see them every week in full color. I loved it so much, I drew my own comics."

Art runs in the Spinney family. His mother was a painter, and two of his children are illustrators. Even his granddaughter, age 10, draws.

"The things she produces ... it's like they're from an adult," Spinney said with a chuckle. "Better than mine, even."

Spinney started his professional cartooning career at the young age of 12, penning a comic strip for an American magazine published in China. He got the gig through a friend's mother, and when he realized he could get paid actual money to draw a cartoon strip, Spinney couldn't say no.

"It was Chinese, so I couldn't draw it left-to-right. I drew it vertical, to match their print. I never understood why until much later," he said.

Drawing comics wasn't just a hobby that paid for Spinney, however. He claims it was providence.

"When I enlisted, a friend told me to bring my cartoons and art with me. 'It might open doors,' he said. Boy, did it," Spinney said.

Instead of shipping off to fight on the front lines of the Korean War, Spinney became an illustrator and painter for the Air Force, drawing and designing campaign posters. He also drew "Harvey," a cartoon for the military paper, which landed him an interview with Walt Disney when he was discharged.

"It didn't pay much," he quipped. "But I did get to meet Walt. It was such an honor. He came into the office where I was interviewing."

However, the extremely low pay pushed him away from Disney and toward a Boston television production agency that animated title sequences for commercials and shows.

"I needed a hobby," Spinney said. "So I got into puppetry."

Through his contacts at the production company, Spinney became Mr. Lion on the "Bozo the Clown" show, a stint that lasted nine years and brought him to the annual Puppeteers of America festival in Salt Lake City in 1969 -- a fateful visit where he met Jim Henson.

"Jim was in the audience during a performance I was giving. Immediately after, he introduced himself and offered me a job on this new show he was just asked to do, 'Sesame Street,' " Spinney said.

Henson needed a puppeteer who was willing to do a daily gig for a child-oriented show. At the time, Henson was performing on variety shows such as "The Tonight Show With Johnny Carson," doing adult-oriented humor.

"The thought of doing a children's show wasn't something he thought he'd be very good at," Spinney said.

Henson asked Spinney to help him create, puppeteer and voice characters, starting with a friendly -- if incredibly big -- yellow bird and a green grouch based on a grumpy garbage collector in Henson's neighborhood.

That's where he met ToonSeum board member and friend Jim Martin.

"I was literally Oscar the Grouch's right hand," Martin explained with a laugh. "When [Spinney] ran Oscar, his right hand was in Oscar's mouth and his left hand was Oscar's left hand. So I was his right."

Together, Martin and Spinney brought to life many of the characters on "Sesame Street." As the years passed, Martin became a fan of Spinney's "other" art, illustration.

"He's quite gifted," Martin told AOL News. "He's not just a celebrity who draws or paints. He's an illustrator, animator, puppeteer. ... An artist through and through."

For years, Martin thought there was an entirely other side to the man who brought us Big Bird and Oscar the Grouch -- a side that people needed to see. So he conceptualized "The Art of Caroll Spinney" for ToonSeum.

"We are honored to present the works of Caroll Spinney," ToonSeum executive director Joe Wos said. "It is truly as if we are viewing a wonderful alternate cartoon universe where one of the world's greatest puppeteers shows off his talents as a cartoonist."

The exhibit, which runs from Saturday through Jan. 30, features original paintings, sketches and more. Spinney will be in Pittsburgh on the opening night for ToonSeum's annual fundraiser, "Ka-Blam! The Return of Saturday Mornings."

Martin explained that the goal of the exhibit was not only to showcase the artistry of one of the world's most beloved puppeteers, but also to show children, young and old, that they can do anything they open their hearts to.

"You never know where your life path will take you," Martin said. "Here's a man on the career path of an illustrator, and he became Big Bird, one of the most beloved characters in history."