The Amazing Mumford
From Muppet Wiki
The Amazing Mumford is a talented magician, but his magic tricks sometimes go awry. His characteristic magic words are "A la peanut butter sandwiches!" After saying this, there is a puff of smoke usually accompanied by either a "poof" noise or magical tinkling sounds, and then after clearing, it reveals how the trick has gone wrong.
Grover often appears as Mumford's over-eager assistant.
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Trivia
- In some of Mumford's scenes in the direct-to-video special A Magical Halloween Adventure, the character was performed on-set by John Kennedy with dialogue looped later by Jerry Nelson. However, one brief bit of dialogue remains unlooped in the final product: a scene in which Mumford speaks on the phone with his friend Gilda the Great.
- Mumford's voice is based on that of the famous comedian W. C. Fields.
- The CTW archives' program summaries for Episode 0305 and Episode 0322 refer to Mumford as "the Amazing Ralph".
- On Sesamstrasse, the German co-production, Mumford is named "Mumpitz", which means nonsense or balderdash.
Segments
| Image | Theme | Earliest Known Appearance | Description |
|---|---|---|---|
 | Disapearing Pineapple Trick | | The Amazing Mumford begins his magic subtraction trick with four pineapples, and makes them disappear one at a time. Then Grover makes Mumford disappear. |
 | Full and Empty Cookie Jar | | The Amazing Mumford waves his magic wand over a transparent glass cookie jar and makes the jar become full of cookies and then empty (over and over) as an anxious Cookie Monster watches.
|
 | Suspension Act | | Grover volunteers to assist Mumford in his suspension act. Grover will get on top of a platform, and Mumford will pull the pillar off from underneath, and the platform will not fall. The trick works, so Grover decides to try it himself, with Herry Monster as his assistant. Grover can't pull it off, and Herry falls. |
 | Surprise | | A woman volunteers to assist The Amazing Mumford in his surprise magic trick. Mumford makes her disappear – but when he tries to make her reappear, Herry Monster pops up, saying "SURPRISE!" (Note: In this trick Mumford uses the magic words "peanut butter" by themselves, instead of his longer trademark phrase.) |
 | Rabbit Trick | | Grover watches Mumford practice a trick, making a rabbit come out of his hat. Mumford has trouble getting a rabbit to come out of the hat; both are oblivious to the fact that Grover gradually turns into a rabbit.
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 | Rhyming Trick | | Grover volunteers to assist Mumford in his rhyming magic trick, making three things come out of his hat that rhyme with "knee". Grover guesses the first one (key), but doesn't get the last two (ski and tree) right. |
 | MAGIC | | The Amazing Mumford sounds out the word MAGIC, then makes himself disappear. |
 | Hungry Baby Bear | | The Amazing Mumford approaches a sad Baby Bear, who still can't find any porridge, and misses Telly. Mumford offers to make him a porridge bowl with magic, but his spell literally turns Baby Bear into one! |
 | Mumford's Trick | | Cookie Monster asks The Amazing Mumford to make the cookie with the letter of the day disappear so that he can't eat it. Mumford tries and fails to make the cookie disappear, but Cookie Monster figures out a way to do it...
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 | Little Big Bird | | Mumford accidentally shrinks Big Bird down to the size of a ladybug. In the next episode, fortunately, he meets Mike the Ladybug, who helps Big Bird travel down the street, trying to get to Gordon and Alan. At last, Mumford accidentally restores Big Bird to normal size. |
 | Mumford's Big and Small Trick | | A Sesame Street News Flash, in which Kermit the Frog interviews Mumford, who is showcasing his big and little trick, where he will make Thumbelina big and The Big Bad Wolf small. He succeeds in making Thumbelina big, but makes Kermit (not the Big Bad Wolf) small. |
 | Mumford's Carrot Disappearing Trick | | Grover is about to eat his carrot when he hears Mumford approaching. Grover asks Mumford to make the carrot disappear. Mumford obliges...by eating the carrot.
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 | Rabbit Out of a Hat | | Mumford is in the courtyard trying his darnedest to pull a rabbit from his hat without any luck. In fact, he's never been able to achieve the feat. Along happens Professor D. Rabbit who agrees to help him out so long as the two may reverse roles afterward.
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Filmography
- Sesame Street
- Sesame Street Presents: Follow That Bird
- The Muppets: A Celebration of 30 Years
- Sesame Street: 20 and Still Counting
- Sesame Street Jam: A Musical Celebration
- Imagine That
- Cinder Elmo
- A Magical Halloween Adventure
- A Celebration of Me, Grover
Book appearances
- The Amazing Mumford and His Amazing Subtracting Trick (1972)
- The Sesame Street ABC Storybook (1974)
- Big Bird's Busy Book (1975)
- The Sesame Street Bedtime Storybook (1978)
- The Sesame Street Cookbook (1978)
- The Amazing Mumford Forgets the Magic Words! (1979)
- The Amazing Mumford Presents All About Bones (1980)
- The Count Counts a Party (1980)
- The Sesame Street Dictionary (1980)
- The Amazing Mumford Presents the Magic Weather Show (1981)
- I Have a Friend (1981)
- The Sesame Street Sun (1981)
- Which One Doesn't Belong? (1981)
- Big and Little Stories (1982)
- The Sesame Street Word Book (1983)
- Sesame Street ABC (1986)
- The New Who's Who on Sesame Street (1989)
- Happy and Sad, Grouchy and Glad (1992)
- Imagine... A Million Kittens for Elmo (1993)
- Knock, Knock! Who's There? (1994)
- B is for Books! (1996)
- The Counting Carnival (2003)
- Abby Cadabby's Rhyme Time (2007)
- Color Carnival (2008)
