The Jim Henson Exhibition - Imagination Unlimited / Muppets & MORE in Los Angeles
A visit to the Skirball Center in Los Angeles for the Jim Henson Exhibition . Imagination Unlimited has lots of information , interactive exhibits and puppets from the Muppets , Labyrinth , Dark Crystal and more .
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Transcript
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today's adventure brings us to Los
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Angeles California to the Skirball
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cultural center for a special exhibit
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was taking place
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welcome everyone Adam Wu here Jim Henson
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imagination unlimited the exhibition is
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running through September 2nd of this
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year I want to check this out and if you
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look closely there is someone hiding
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behind that pole right there sir can I
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help you yes can you tell me where the
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Jim Henson exit is
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the Jim Henson exit
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Oh yep that's all folks join me and my
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father who's tucked behind the pole now
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shaly me first walk in you're greeted
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with a very large portrait of the man
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himself with the Muppets
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just to give a perspective of a size see
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everyone walking underneath them beside
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it
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I thinks you just like 13 feet tall
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clearly not the only ones with the same
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idea a pretty lengthy line and if you
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zoom in at the end of the line down
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there you can see the destination tucked
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away and that go out there's a lot of
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lint in the air it's like some magic
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floating around there and the in the air
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as we make our way down to that
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staircase we're standing next to a
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display case that has some animals right
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in there they're also waiting in line
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you could say and here's a information
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placard on
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the detail of exactly what they blue
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ducks name is squawky
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the cow which i think is down here
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putting out the vibe is cal bella and
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that's a horse and the horse's name
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what's the horse's name
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sweetpea the horse's name is sweet big
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reading this information it says a very
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special thanks to Cheryl Henson and the
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George Lucas Family Foundation for their
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generous support that's interesting
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George Lucas had something to do with us
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starting with the quotes as children we
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all live in a world of imagination of
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fantasy and for some of us that world of
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make-believe continues into adulthood
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there's something I originally knew but
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had forgotten that he was born in
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Mississippi and raised in Leland
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Mississippi
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I myself was born in Tupelo so where we
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share the same birth state here's
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someone who needs no introduction Kermit
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the Frog circa 1978 you see all the
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information written down there probably
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the most if not one of the most the most
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famous frog anywhere in the world he's
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so friendly is always smiling and waving
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good old Kermie as piggy referred to him
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as in fact you can scroll through some
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of the pages from his sketchbook on this
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interactive
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computer just take your finger and swipe
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it across and you can see some of the
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ideas and drawings that he pinned all
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through his career not all cartoons and
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not all puppets like this is a
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newscaster this puppet was built in 1966
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for an unaired commercial for General
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Mills and it was modified a little bit
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and was used in 1976 for the Muppet Show
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that a guy 45 record here on the left
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that had the recording of a song by the
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name of I've grown accustomed to your
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face the fascinating thing is that this
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little cloth face cloth puppet from 1967
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was designed by Jim himself and stuck
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his hand up in there and and operated it
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and brought it to life Wow look at that
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that's like an old school Kermit on the
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left and there's the cloth puppet on the
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right on the Steve Allen show I'm gonna
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dabble into a little puppetry now
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there's a camera we're looking at
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there's a screen
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o-positive Amish shoes just they see
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bones people look at she likes at photo
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opportunity come on little guy play it
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up for the camera how can you not be
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happy with looking they're looking at
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these puppets it's amazing amazing thing
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he looks terrified as sullivan looks
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terrified surrounded and there's puppet
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hats look at the look on his face he's
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like get me out a billion sue were
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created in 1962 a public service
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announcement for the National Council of
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Churches where there were some
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mischievous characters or a character
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named snuggle who tried to leave them
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astray and I know I do not know that
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from memory I'm reading it because there
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are informative little placards in front
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of each display so that's it's a good
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way to learn as you look at the history
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of a marathon gasoline commercial that
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never aired use these two guys which are
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gas pumps and a set of puppeteers they
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use singers to operate these they were
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had singing voices coming out of where
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the gas nozzle would be they would be
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illuminating some beautiful songs
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there's mr. Henson holding the puppet
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and a cup built in 1962 for a kareena
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dog chow commercial
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I know that guy I think we all know that
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character fast forward a year there he
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is in his New York City apartment with
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the puppet and they recreated it right
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here in this toy you can see he can get
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a close-up there he also did a few
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experimental films one called timepiece
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which is shown there and another one
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called the cube developing a concept for
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a multimedia nightclub called Celia the
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promotional brochure for the proposed
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nightclub described it as pure theater
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in a revolutionary way and this is an
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example of what he had in mind do not
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stare too attentively into it you will
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either become hypnotized and or nauseous
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this is very trippy
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just look deep into its eyes I don't
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know what's going on even know what's
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being flagged looks like a a packet of
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red gooey goodness circling around
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flashes of light I'm officially confused
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prototype of the wall in his office you
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can see there are numbers placed and
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drawn on each section he could see
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without the lights on how bizarre and
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unusual it is so that's it oh now
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there's images of people yelling and
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screaming on it stepping now into the
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world of Sesame Street can you tell me
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how to get to can you tell me how to get
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how to get to Sesame Street
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there's Richard Hunt and Frank Oz as
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well in that picture
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using these guys an Ernie he's got his
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rubber ducky can't take a bath without a
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rubber ducky nostalgia overload is
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happening my childhood is flashing back
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quickly before my eyes
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1 2 3 circus set and worm puppets from
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some Oscar the Grouch sketches slimey
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the worm and his wormy friends all under
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the big top what letters have legs and
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feet why big birds basic walking letter
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set that's what letters you start them
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at the top of this little plateau and
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they meander their way down teaching you
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teaching you how to read do more than
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watch Sesame Street you can play with it
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thanks to the Muppet character book
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which you can it can also slide through
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slide through the book they have
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displayed here and see some silhouettes
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and drawings
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oh there's the Cookie Monster guy after
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my own heart
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Grover snuffleupagus Grover was also
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created for the Ed Sullivan Show in 67
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and went on to live in infamy
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everyone knows Grover well I would
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assume everyone knows good Grover us as
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I continued on
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there's beaker and the doc oh man I
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always loved beaker he couldn't really
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understand what he was saying he kind of
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just made odd noises but nonetheless he
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kind of exude it what he was going for
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you kind of got it
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he kind of understood the emotion coming
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out of coming out of beakers mouth and
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his of course his crazy hair and his
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eyes help display what he was thinking
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these are examples of live hand puppets
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such puppets require two puppeteers one
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for the mouth and left hand and the
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other for the right hand the finished
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product of scooter can be seen here but
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it started off as a concept which is
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displayed in this frame you can see the
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artwork some of the ideas before it came
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to fruition and there is Richard Hunt
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performing scooter in the late 70s oh
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wow
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here's a detailed pencil drawing of what
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would eventually become bigger you can
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see he's got his head compressed and
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smushed down there in the middle and
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over here he's about to lose his top
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he's thinking too much is getting a
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little hot-headed and the steam coming
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out of his noggin these are known as
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rundown cards and they were used for
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episode 502 of the Muppet Show but I'm
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noticing miss Carol Burnett she's
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written on there she must have been the
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host
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of that particular episode sections from
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a folder for Muppets show ideas you got
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some of the inscriptions and writings
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just thoughts he was speaking out loud
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to paper of what would eventually become
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episodes of the Muppet Show there's a
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script here you got all the different
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characters and their dialogue oh look at
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this one the words they kind of drip
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down the page how do you even get a
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typewriter to work in that fashion
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created for the Perry Como winter show
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that is a portrait puppet of Jim Henson
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and then we got Frank Oz in the middle
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and that is Jerry Nelson and they were
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performing as a musical trio and it also
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later appeared on the Dick Cavett show
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and The Muppet Show every episode from
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76 to 80 one is being displayed on this
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screen there's a heck of a lot of
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entertainment happening in all these box
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lots of familiar faces up there yes sir
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lots of oh wait the most the most
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familiar face I know your face better
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than all of these two wait than winners
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johnathan wit booze it's really
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difficult to pick a favorite film would
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it be the Muppet movie would it be the
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great Muppet Caper what color are their
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hands what color are their hands now
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they call them red handed and they just
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wanted to know what color their hands
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were now or the Muppets Take Manhattan
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in one of those movies The Muppets Take
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Manhattan there was a dream sequence
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showing them as very youthful well
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babies which eventually led to the
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series Muppet Babies but this is the
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incarnation of that Saturday morning
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cartoon Miss Piggy and Fozzie as little
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Muppet Babies here's some test footage
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they originally did looks like I'm not
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the only one that talks to cats I'm
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heading now into immersive worlds and if
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this is what I think it is oh yes it is
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we're heading into the world of the Dark
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Crystal early concept art from that
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production I must admit I genuinely love
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this film so much it's so dark so
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different than what you would know from
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like the Muppets a little bit darker a
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little bit creepier and the creepiest
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was the Skeksis and look how many
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puppeteers it took to operate one of
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those vultures looking scary monsters
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there's one scene in particular that
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always haunts me even as an adult it's
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when they disrobe one of these guys the
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other ones they basically push him into
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a corner and they strip his clothes off
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of thee
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they shred off all of his clothes and
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it's it still haunts me to this day the
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disrobing of the Skeksis
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the detail of this I mean thank goodness
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that there is a piece of glass in front
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of me protecting me because gosh these
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things these things live on and the
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scary portion of my brain don't look
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deep in its eyes don't make eye contact
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for some reason I was thinking it was
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early 90s but it was the early 80s 1982
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is when the Dark Crystal came out I'm
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getting older by the day by the minute
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I'm definitely just dated myself by by
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stating that I remember this movie
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vividly as a child lighten up the mood a
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little bit after that little creepy
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section by staring at some Fraggles down
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a Fraggle Rock down a Fraggle Rock I
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always loved the Fraggles if only we
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could all take out our eye and hold it
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and look around the room it's a talent
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that she had that not many possess seek
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her left eye there he/she couldnt remove
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it and use it to see by holding it in
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one of her hands
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definitely not something that we all
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possess we cannot dismember our eye
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socket and then continue to see from our
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palm drops that the Mystics use oh yeah
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remember these the mixing the mystics
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use these to hold they had some like you
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know like a hammer and they would eat
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out of these little bowls and they would
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play music on that little banjo look at
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that couple of scream used costumes from
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the dance sequence and labyrinth and
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they are on a revolving display case so
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they just turn around almost as if the
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costumes are dancing just like the
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characters were got to wait for it a
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very patient but takes two to tango they
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say I don't know if they're doing a
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tango but they are definitely simulating
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a dance some technology is required to
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take puppetry a step further this one on
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the left is Waldo a puppet controlled
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mechanism and this on the right you can
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see where you could place your hands and
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there's a place for each finger to grip
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it to make the puppet work so not only
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do you have your hand up the puppets
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torso but you're also gripping on to
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these mechanism these almost electronic
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mechanisms I'm also noticing there's a
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port there that a cable goes into as
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well as down below there's another court
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for another cable design your own
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character
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get a place whichever facial features
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you want on it starting with the eyes
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all right we got the eyes going we
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already got the mouth the mouth has
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already already provided for
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gone with the nose with the nose nice
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we're gonna go with we're gonna go with
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hair or head we're gonna go with head
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where we're gonna which one could I pick
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the Hat I'm gonna go with this hat can
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we go with the minute I'm gonna put this
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there we go
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he's got the stylish farmer cast green
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test how's he look there he is pump his
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moustache is crooked his moustache is a
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little slanted it's growing I've never
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seen a stache grow in that fash before
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again forget what I said did you get
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what I I did there yes a little
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alliteration there I'm ready for my
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close-up mr. DeMille
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what would he sound like along by name's
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Bob I like that okay you talk loudly and
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I'll narrator
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hello my mouth won't move mine Bob nice
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to meet you Bob yeah how are you good
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nice to meet your equip you left your
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tie nice to meet you but I got fit
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upon exit heading not through the gift
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shop but into the gift shop and there
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has some books of Elmo and the Muppets
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and I got Cookie Monster up there Oh
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some fancy fancy shades very nice and
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some books explaining who Jim Henson was
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remember the year when these were all
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the rage for Christmas you couldn't even
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keep him on the shelves a price on this
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$15 for a couple pins but not too bad
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this pamphlet shows everything that is
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in the exhibit maybe the some of the
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stuff I missed starting of course with
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Sesame Street and then Grover Ernie and
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Bert which debuted in 69 Kermit the Frog
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in 55 The Muppet Show was 76 to 81 and
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then dr. honeydew and beaker 76 to 77
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and a labyrinth to 86 or from 86 Dark
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Crystal
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82 Fraggle Rock up to 1987 and then on
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the back is that big poster that they
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had the mural of inside that's going to
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do it for today from Los Angeles
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California at the Skirball Center which
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is hosting the imagination unlimited
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presentation or display exhibit
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exhibition is the word I'm looking for
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until September 2nd the works and the
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life some of the nooks and crannies of
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mr.
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Henson's work I highly encourage you if
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you're in Southern California to check
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it out if you're new here please
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