Dude! Joe's Jottings, Mostly Junk

BBC News - Original Kermit the Frog puppet given to Smithsonian:

The original Kermit the Frog has been donated to the Smithsonian's National Museum of American History in Washington.

The muppet was donated by creator Jim Henson's widow Jane, along with nine other characters from the 1955 TV show Sam and Friends.

Some of the other muppets in the collection include early versions of Cookie Monster and Oscar the Grouch.

Henson's oldest puppet, Pierre the French Rat, was also donated.

Jane Henson said the original characters provided five minutes of fun each night after the local news where they mostly mimed to popular music.

...had the show continued into the 80s...

• Talking Heads: Once in a Lifetime
• B-52: pretty much ANYTHING, but particularly Rock Lobster, Channel Z, Roam, Love Shack
  
• Bangles: Walk like an Egyptian
  
• Bon Jovi: Wanted Dead or Alive
• Dire Straits: Money for Nothing
• Edie Brickell: What I Am
• Huey Lewis: pretty much anything
• Human League: wouldn't the irony of having one of their monsters sing "Human" be excellent?
• Madness: House of Fun or Our House
• Bobby McFerrin: (song that will not be named)
• Men At Work: Dr. Heckyll & Mr. Jive, and Who can it be now
• Rod Stewart: Love Touch (maybe some weird Midas touch where some muppet turns the others into shades of pink?)
• Thompson Twins: Doctor Doctor

any others?

update: two more came to mind

• Re-Flex: The Politics of Dancing (imagine a bunch of tie-n-coat pigs with "vote for me buttons" suddenly breaking out in song)
• Madonna: La Isla Bonita - A great one for Miss Piggy trying to be all romantic and serious, but kermit comes out with the maracas and keeps trying to make it upbeat...

Jim Hill : How sometimes being in the wrong place is the right thing to do:

In this week's "Why For" column, Jim Hill shares a story that Wally Boag once told him. Which explains how -- thanks to being accidentally upstaged by Steve Martin -- this Disney Legend wound up appearing on "The Muppet Show"

Wally Boag was the star for a great many years of the Golden Horseshoe Review in Disneyland's Frontierland (taking breaks to train the WDW cast as well through the 70s). In the 5th season of the Muppet Show, he was a guest star and it really is one of the best episodes of the season (which is a tough thing, 'cause a LOT of them are good). Search YouTube for some excerpts. You can catch Wally in his prime act on one of last year's Disney Treasures dvds.

BTW, that episode is the same one where the UK release had the incredibly funny "O Danny Boy" (Animal, Swedish Chef, Beaker) I posted around St. Pat's Day.

Beaker has really shown a new musical talent!

As with the America dedication earlier, stick around to the ending...