Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SUNDAY, December 19, 1993 TAG: 9312210001
SECTION: EXTRA PAGE: 2 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: By DAVE SALTONSTALL NEW YORK DAILY NEWS
DATELINE: NEW YORK LENGTH: Medium
But ask those same kids about Caroll Spinney and expect to get a long, blank stare. That's because Spinney is Big Bird, the man behind all those feathers, and for the past 25 years he has guarded his identity like a hawk guards its nest.
``It's like when a magician does a trick and makes a lady disappear,'' said Spinney, 59, explaining his long-held desire to remain somewhat apart. ``I don't want to know where she went. I want to think, `Wow, she's gone!' And I think that's particularly true for kids.''
Spinney's got some amazing stories to tell about his feathered friend, who was designed in 1969 to be the show's resident child and remains 6 years old to this day.
Did you know, for instance, that Snuffleupagus - Big Bird's once-invisible friend - was suddenly made visible eight years ago because of fears that the character could become a symbol of child abuse? The glum, doddering elephant had been visible only to Big Bird and viewers at home, causing adults on the show to routinely question Big Bird's veracity.
``I thought that was a stretch, but someone said that it's child abuse that these grown-ups won't believe Big Bird when he is telling the truth,'' said Spinney. ``So we decided to expose him.''
You also may not have known that Spinney also plays Oscar the Grouch, the grumpy trash-can dweller who is in most respects Big Bird's irritable opposite. Spinney said the green-headed Grouch was named by Muppet founder Jim Henson after a seafood restaurant called Oscar's on Third Ave.
Spinney does have his grouchy moments, like when carloads of strangers arrive at his home - he lives in Connecticut on a 40-acre farm - asking him to talk like Big Bird.
``I say, `Okay, get the hell out of here,''' in his sweetest Big Bird voice. ``You were expecting a friendly bird?''
But for the most part, waddling through life as Big Bird - whose lessons are beamed around the globe to 38 English-speaking countries and 31 others - is a dream come true for Spinney, who was developing a puppet show called ``Picklepuss and Friends'' when he was discovered by Henson in 1969.
Being offered a job by the Muppet creator ``was sort of like being a big fan of the Beatles and being asked if I could be the drummer. I was in shock,'' recalled Spinney, who debuted in the first ``Sesame Street'' on Nov. 10, 1969, as Oscar the Grouch, and as Big Bird the next day.
Spinney has three grown children, all of whom had to carry a bit of Big Bird baggage growing up. ``At certain years it was absolutely cool'' to have Big Bird as a father, said Spinney, who has no plans to retire. ``But then, when they got to be 9 or 10, they'd come home and say, `Boy it's so embarrassing having you as a father.'''
Mixed in with the laughter and fun also have come brief moments of sorrow, said Spinney, who will never forget eight years ago when the parents of a dying 5-year-old boy named Joey wrote with a heartbreaking request. Big Bird, it seemed, was the only person their child responded to. Could he perhaps call?
``So I got Joey on the phone and I couldn't really say, `I hope you feel better,' so I said `I hear you're being a brave little boy, and I want you to know that I'm thinking of you,''' said Spinney, slipping into the saccharine sweet voice of Big Bird.
``His father wrote me afterwards and said his son died one hour later, but that he had hung up the phone with a big smile on his face - the first time he'd smiled in a month - saying, `Big Bird is my friend.'''
by CNB