The Krofft Puppets

From small rod-controlled puppets to costumed Saturday morning characters to the towering marionettes of 'N Sync featured at the 2000 AMA Awards, brothers Sid & Marty Krofft have been entertaining audiences around the world with their puppets for over 80 years. Sid Krofft joined a traveling circus sideshow where he was billed as "The World's Youngest Puppeteer," and he later embarked on adventures around the globe as the opening act for celebrities like Liberace and Judy Garland, eventually dragging younger brother Marty along for the ride. During a brief encounter with Walt Disney, Marty was advised to put his name above everything he produced, and the business-conscious youngster took it to heart. Sid and Marty went on to become a sensation at the 1962 World's Fair with their risque show "Les Poupées de Paris," which featured topless wooden dancers and led them to work creating puppet shows for the Six Flags chain of amusement parks. Their Six Flags work caught the attention of Hanna-Barbera, who hired the Kroffts to create the costumes for "The Banana Splits," a Saturday morning hit, which paved the way for them to produce their own TV show, signature creation "H.R. Pufnstuf." From the inhabitants of Tranquility Forest in "The Bugaloos" to the hat people of "Lidsville" to "Wonderbug" the dune buggy, the Krofft puppets were kings on Saturday mornings for the next decade, but as the 1980s were ushered in, live-action shows were phased out. The puppets continued to appear in shows like "Barbara Mandrell and the Mandrell Sisters" and on various TV specials, but the Krofft puppet style was looking badly-dated as audiences were entranced by the likes of E.T. and Yoda. In 1987, a new puppet style was unveiled in the syndicated "D.C. Follies," which featured a vast parade of celebrity puppets convening in a bar which was tended by Fred Willard. From that point onward, the puppets have changed with the times, evolving through the 1990s reboot of "Land of the Lost" and the then-cutting-edge technology of Tiger Electronics' "Toby Terrier" to the elaborate creatures seen more recently in the Amazon reboot of "Sigmund and the Sea Monsters" and on Nickelodeon's "Mutt & Stuff."