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Muppet Babies Memorabilia Is Now Live At Heritage Auctions

Published Wed, 02 Mar 2022 12:47:12 -0600

Many generations now have been raised on Jim Henson's The Muppets. Created in 1955, The Muppets have been delivered to adoring audiences in many different iterations. Personally, I came up loving Muppet Babies. While the franchise is best known for its use of puppets, many were first exposed to the series with this cartoon. Muppet Babies told stories of the characters as children being cared for by a Nanny in their nursery. Though Nanny's face was never revealed, her striped socks remain a potent memory as she would enter the room, care for the Muppet Babies, and react to their antics. Interestingly, this 1984 series was rebooted in 2018, and the series finale of the reboot aired just two weeks ago. In honor of this enduring piece of Muppet history, you can head over to Heritage Auctions to bid on a production cel setup from the original series.

Muppet Babies "The Air Conditioner at the End of the Galaxy" Rowlf Playing the Piano Production Cel Setup with Key Master Background. Credit: Heritage Auctions

Muppet Babies "The Air Conditioner at the End of the Galaxy" Rowlf Playing the Piano Production Cel Setup with Key Master Background (Marvel Productions/Jim Henson Productions, 1988).

Rowlf is depicted here in a fantastic image, doing what he does the best: playing the piano! This piano-playing image of Rowlf can be found in the animated series Muppet Babies, in the episode "The Air Conditioner at the End of the Galaxy." This fantastic production cel setup depicts a segment of the episode that is a spoof on The African Queen, with Baby Rowlf decked in a tuxedo and sunglasses singing "Keep Your Cool" at a jungle restaurant. The setup is composed of four hand-painted production cels that depict Rowlf, with another overlay cel depicting his piano and a palm tree. The overlay cel consists of trimmed background board affixed to a cel, with the image of the tree and piano rendered with ink and watercolor. The setup is displayed on the Key Master Background for this scene, which is rendered with watercolor and ink on background board.

Heritage Auctions notes that the image in the production cell can be seen near the 17:55 mark of the episode. They note that the setup is matted, with a matboard aperture of 9.75" x 8.5" and an overall mat size of 15.25" x 14" and is listed in "Very Good condition," with minor handling and edge wear. You can head over to Heritage Auctions and bid right now.