S07E22 Kim Novak
Kim Novak was born as Marilyn in Chicago, Illinois. Novak is of Czech descent with her father working as both a history teacher and freight dispatcher for the railroad. Interestingly, though her parents were not in show business, they would both appear in a movie with Novak later in life. She got her start as a promotional model for a refrigerator and went by the name “Ms. Deepfreeze”. She then traveled with some other models to Hollywood to look into the exploding film industry. When Columbia Pictures hired her, she was offended when the head of the studio wanted her to change her name to Kit Marlowe because he claimed her “Polack” name. They compromised on Kim Novak. The studio wanted her to be the successor to Rita Hayworth and a counterpart of Mariyln Monroe. She was immediately cast in movies like Pushover, Phffft, and 5 Against the House. She had her first major success in the movie version of Picnic. She also took a sultry turn in The Man With The Golden Arm.
She continued to star in movies but had another mega-hit with Alfred Hitchcock’s Vertigo. She continued to work after that but her career did begin to decline. She starred in Bell Book and Candle, a movie where she had some agency for once. She worked less and less but not because Hollywood was done with her but rather she was getting burnt out. By 1966 (17 years before this episode would occur), she was pretty much done with the life of a Hollywood star. At that time she was able to pick and choose her films, though. In the early seventies, she took four years off and she had already moved out of Hollywood to Big Sur. She continued to act here and there with more and more time between roles. She lost her home in a mudslide which is why she probably kept working a lot. Her career came full circle when she guested on the soap opera Falcon Crest as a character named Kit Marlowe. She was a gorgeous and talented actress who was true Hollywood royalty.
Cold Open: Kim rushes into the back door chased by paparazzi but is blinded by flashes
Guest Arc: Everybody fawns over Kim being a big star but she is modest
Guest Acts:
Kim talks with Kermit about being in danger and Novak proves she can be dangerous too
Kim and a bunch of female muppets dance to “A Lot of Livin’ to Do” (Schroeder/Weisman)
Kim is cast in a film noir sketch that devolves into competition with Ms. Piggy
S07E23 Mary Martin
Mary Martin was born in Weatherford, Texas to a lawyer father and a violin teacher. From an early age she was said to have a real ear for music. She began singing with her older sister and another girl on a bandstand outside of the courthouse where her father worked. She learned a lot of music by acting as a mimic and covering songs by artists of her day. However, she first started with an education in dance at the Franchon and Marco School of the Theatre before she opened up her own studio and taught dance for a while. Her studio was burned down by a man who believed dancing was a sin which spurred on both her divorce and her journey into show business. She auditioned so much in Hollywood that she earned the nickname “Audition Mary”. This actually led to her joining Broadway instead where she flourished. At the same time, she started a career as a singer on the radio.
She made her Broadway debut in Cole Porter’s Leave it to Me! where she was an instant hit. She moved on to the Kurt Weill musical One Touch of Venus. She then won a Tony Award for her portrayal of Nellie Bush in Rodgers and Hammerstein’s South Pacific. This led directly into the role she is perhaps most known for as she played Peter Pan on Broadway for quite a while. She was also in the first cast of the Sound of Music on Broadway as Maria. Notably, she originated a lot of famous roles in musicals but did not reprise them in film. She said that she did not like acting on film as she missed the connection with the audience but she did sometimes appear on television. She went on to play Annie Oakley in Annie Get Your Gun. She was a legendary singer and a bright star on Broadway.
Cold Open: Mary walks through the back door and ducks as one of The Flying Zucchini Brothers flies past. Mary quips that she used to do that.
Guest Arc: Sweetums has a crush on somebody and Mary gets immediately sucked in
Guest Acts:
“Honey Bun” (Rodgers/Hammerstein) – Mary and Sweetums try to dedicate the song to Sweetums’ crush
“I’m Flying” (Charlap/Leigh) – Mary tries to show off by flying but can’t quite take off
“I Got the Sun in the Mornin’ (and the Moon at Night)” (Berlin) – Mary sings with the cast
S07E24 David Bowie
Bowie was born as David Robert Jones in London, England. His mother was a waitress at a cinema and his father worked as a promotions officer for a charity. Everything changed for Bowie the day that he heard Little Richard sing “Tutti Frutti” and he is quoted as saying that he “heard god” that day. He was obsessed with music and had a lot of poise for a small child. Bowie lived his life with faulty depth perception due to a schoolyard injury brought on by a fistfight. He formed his first band (The Konrads) at the age of 15. Once Bowie had an agent, he joined a succession of bands trying to find the right fit for his sound. Bowie dreamed of being like Mick Jagger, something he definitely achieved as the two later became peers and friends (and maybe more according to legend). Bowie finally came into his own with the release of his self-titled album Space Oddity, a song that particularly endures in pop culture. He then moved into a more hard rock sound rather than his earlier acoustic sound.
Listening to proto-punk, he started to come up with the part of his act that was arguably the most famous. This was his glam rock movement where he worked to experiment and innovate musically. He also came up with different personas through which he performed songs. Ziggy Stardust was an androgynous rock star from outer space. The Thin White Duke was a more serious performer who dressed in a cabaret style. Halloween Jack was a little wilder. Aladdin Sane was kind of like a reincarnation of Ziggy Stardust. He continued to push the envelope of rock music and flaunted his sexuality and androgyny. Bowie released a lot of albums and even released one a few days after his death in 2016. He was the epitome of a rock star.
Cold Open: Bowie is putting on his makeup in the mirror when he sees monsters in the reflection. “I’m going to fit in here.”
Guest Arc: Bowie has an idea for a movie and wants to run it past the Muppets
Guest Acts:
“Space Oddity” – Bowie sings the song as the story is shown in muppet form
“Let’s Dance” – Bowie performs with the Electric Mayhem
“Scary Monsters (and Super Creeps)” – Bowie rocks out with a bunch of monsters