The Royal Variety Performance
(1977)
-The Silver Jubilee Royal Variety
- in the presence of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II
and The Duke Of
Louise Gold featured as a Muppeteer (Puppeteering Big
Mama), at the London Palladium on Monday 21 November 1977, in aid of the
Entertainment Artistes’ Benevolent Fund
Cast and Production Team information, from the "Royal Variety
Performance programme reproduced by permission of "The Entertainment
Artistes Benevolent Fund"...)
Cast
The Host - Bob
Hope
Performing: Julie
Andrews, Paul Anka, Pam Ayres, Harry Belafonte, Brotherhood
Of Man, Tommy Cooper, Alan King, Cleo Laine with
John Dankworth and John Williams, Little And Large, Shirley
Maclaine, Jim Henson’s Muppets, Rudolph Nureyve
Also Appearing:
Brotherhood Of Man - Roger Greenaway, Tony Burrows (14-4-42), Johnny Goodison, Sunny Leslie and Sue Glover
Little And Large - Syd Little and Eddie Large
Jim Henson’s Muppets - Jim Henson, Frank Oz, Jerry Nelson, Richard
Hunt, Dave Goelz, and, Louise Gold
Production Team
Presented by
- Lew Grade and Bernard Delfont
Producers - Carry
Smith and Dwight Hemion
Musical
Director - Jack Parnell
Stage Director
- Robert Nesbitt
Cast and Production Team information, from the "Royal Variety
Performance programme reproduced by permission of "The Entertainment
Artistes Benevolent Fund"...)
Note, the Cast listing is also more or less the running order.
It really has to be noted that Prince Charles, The
Prince Of Wales, was also amongst the Royal Party.
Surprising as it may seem, Louise Gold appeared
on The Royal Variety again five years later, in her actress’s
guise, at
The Muppet puppeteers: Jim Henson, Frank Oz,
Jerry Nelson, Richard Hunt, Dave Goelz, and Louise Gold
were all puppeteers on The Muppet Show
(although five months into her puppeteering career, Louise Gold was
still very much the new girl). All six puppeteers went on to: feature in the
documentary Of Muppets And Men, perform on
the film The Great Muppet Caper, and TV special The Muppets Go To The Movies and have featured on the Muppet
albums: The Muppet Show Music Hall,
The Muppet Show 2, For What It’s Worth, The Muppet Show Music Album, The Great Muppet Caper (Soundtrack
album), John
Denver & The Muppets A Christmas Together, John Denver &
The Muppets Merry Christmas 45RPM, Christmas For Kids, John Denver Christmas, Jim Henson Presents Silly Songs,
Favorite Songs From Jim
Henson’s Muppets, Muppet Music Sampler,
Muppet Hits 1, Muppet
Hits 2, Muppet Music Mix (although Louise
Gold was not credited), and, Music
Mayhem And More (although Jerry Nelson and Louise Gold were not
credited). Jack Parnell was also the Musical Director for The Muppet Show (and various other Lew
Grade television comedy productions), and conducted the band on tracks on
most of the above albums.
In addition several of the other performers taking
part in this Royal Variety, namely: Rudolph
Nureyve, Cleo Laine, Julie Andrews, Bob Hope, and, Harry
Belafonte were Guest Stars on The Muppet
Show, mostly during the second series.
Jim Henson, Frank Oz, Jerry
Nelson, Richard Hunt, and, Louise Gold also sang on Elmo’s Lowdown Hoedown.
Frank Oz, Jerry Nelson, Richard Hunt,
and, Louise Gold also sang on Born To Add.
Frank Oz, Jerry Nelson, Dave Goelz,
and, Louise Gold went on to work on the television programme Sesame Street (in the early 1990s), and on
films The Muppet Christmas Carol , and, Muppet Treasure Island, and they sang on The Muppet Christmas Carol
(Soundtrack album).
As Muppeteers Louise Gold and Jerry Nelson
(with an introduction by Jim Henson) sang on the compilation album Jerome
Kern The First 100 Years (although they were only credited as ‘The
Muppets’)
Cleo Laine and Julie Andrew’s
recording credits also include: Jerome
Kern The First 100 Years
Jim Henson, Jerry Nelson, Richard
Hunt, and, Louise Gold also appeared on stage in “a burlesque show with some of
Muppet-company”.
Jim Henson, Frank Oz, Dave
Goelz, and, Louise Gold also puppeteered on The Dark Crystal, for which Jerry Nelson did
some voice-work.
Jim Henson, Frank Oz, and, Dave
Goelz also puppeteered on Labyrinth.
Dave Goelz, and, Louise Gold went on to puppeteer on The Animal Show, on which Frank Oz made a guest puppeteering appearance.
Bob Hope, Julie Andrews,.Harry Belafonte,
Cleo Laine and Rudolph Nureyve have all been guest stars on The Muppet Show at one time or another.
Louise Gold, Jim Henson, and, Richard Hunt all went on to puppeteer on Tale
Of The Bunny Picnic.
Jerry Nelson and Dave Goelz (besides puppeteering on Fraggle
Rock itself) went on to do voice-work on the UK Co-Production of Fraggle Rock, on which Louise Gold puppeteered.
Cleo Laine and John Dankworth
went on to appear in A Time To Start
Living, and, Side By Side By Sondheim 30th
Anniversary Gala.
Cleo Laine went on to appear in the Side By Side By Sondheim 25th Anniversary
Gala, for which John Dankworth provided an orchestration.
Frank Oz, Jerry Nelson, Richard Hunt, Dave Goelz,
Louise Gold, and, Harry Belafonte went on to take part in
Jim Henson’s Memorial Service.
This was probably the first time Louise Gold
appeared at The London Palladium, she has gone on to appear there in:
the musicals Ziegfeld and Chitty Chitty Bang Bang, as well as a
one night charity gala called Kids At Heart.
Jerry Nelson, Dave Goelz, and, Louise Gold went on to puppeteer on The Secret Life Of Toys, their recording
credits include A Green And Red
Christmas.
Louise Gold and Richard Hunt went on to puppeteer on The Ghost Of Faffner Hall.
Jerry Nelson, Richard Hunt, and, Louise Gold’s recording credits include The Count’s Countdown, however there has
been some debate as to whether Louise
Gold actually sang on it.
Critics Comments
.
Links about The
Royal Variety Performance
The Royal Variety’s website: http://www.eabf.org.uk/rvp1.htm
Kermitage’s Charter Guide part B (have a look
for Big Mama on it): http://www.kermitage.com/html/characterindex/tms/characterb.html
