Henson collaborator shares stories about his Muppets career

By Keri Baldwin

I recently had the pleasure of speaking with Fred Buchholz, once a colleague of Jim Henson, as he was passing through Leland. He was travelling from Santa Cruz, California, back home to New York in a vintage camper. Originally from the Washington, D.C. area, he worked in the theater there and then moved to New York and worked in the theater backstage with lighting. He also built models for sets for Broadway shows and worked with special effects.

“One evening, I was invited to a piano recital, and I met a woman who was knitting a small sweater. I said, ‘Who’s that sweater for?’ and she said, ‘Miss Piggy.’”

Buchholz continued, “She was Polly Smith, who was the costume designer for the Muppets! She told me that they were working on the movie, which was Muppets Take Manhattan, and that they needed someone who could build small props. So, I went in the next day, and I ended up getting hired to build those props – and ended up staying for twenty years.”

Buchholz garnered extensive experience with building props, eventually working with radio-controlled puppets and building mechanisms that controlled eye blinks, ear movements and more. These skills led him to Toronto, Canada, to work on the television series Fraggle Rock. He spent several seasons there and then returned to New York to work on Sesame Street for eighteen seasons. He was also a trained pyrotechnician.

“So, I used to blow up things for Jim on camera,” said Buchholz. “He always loved pops and special effects, so I got to use those skills, as well. And then I ended up working on two of my favorite films: Muppet Christmas Carol and Muppet Treasure Island.”

“I was credited as being the ‘Muppet Stunt Coordinator,’” he continued. “I made the puppets do all kinds of things that they normally wouldn’t do just with a puppeteer, like flying through the air or catching fire.”

“The last project I worked on with Jim, when he was alive, was Muppet Vision 3-D, which is a 3-D movie that’s in Walt Disney World down in Orlando.”

When asked how he feels about seeing his work live on he said, “I enjoy it, and I enjoy seeing the pleasure my work brings to people all over the world.”

“Jim was an incredible guy to work for and very generous, and he included everybody that worked with him,” said Buchholz. “He invited their contributions to his work, and so we all felt part of something larger.”

After his career with the Muppets, Buchholz had another whole career as a special coordinator for film and television. He was the coordinator for Julie and Julia with Meryl Streep and Inside Man with Denzel Washington, to name a few.

Buchholz was headed to Atlanta next, where he was to be part of a panel, alongside Dave Gold, the puppeteer for Gonzo and many others, about Muppet pranks in celebration of April Fools’ Day.