Dis-orientedEdit

On the TP forum, Joe brought up a question about the photograph shown at this exhibit for The Muppets on the Orient Express. We've been listing it as a Minor Unfinished Project I assume because the language used in this article claims that it was shown as "concept photography" for the project. I just wanted to clarify on the info Andrew added back in May 2006. Is this the phrasing that the caption for the exhibit piece used? Joe is suggesting that it's just the title of the picture created as a stock photo. Do we know that the project intended to go beyond that (as a TV special or a View-Master reel, for example), or was it only ever meant to be just a photo? —Scott (message me) 22:52, January 3, 2012 (UTC)

The exhibit claimed it was for a proposed film, not just a random cute pic. I took handwritten notes at the time, now lost, and wish I'd snuck in a camera, but they tended to frown on that and I didn't have much time. Checking with either Karen Falk or John E. Barrett himself would be a good way to clarify, but there was nothing to suggest this was "stock" or just art (my own guess is it might have been used for a pitch, or possibly even a way to show how the characters might be cast, internally, but who knows; it's possible the display was misleading). -- Andrew Leal (talk) 02:54, January 4, 2012 (UTC)

The exhibit claimed it was for a proposed film -- perfect, thanks! —Scott (message me) 20:51, January 4, 2012 (UTC)

Ah, whoops, I probably should have said "project." Which is why I wrote that to begin with. It's possible it would have been a special. I think it said film (I also have a vague recollection this was post-Manhattan, during which time a *lot* of ideas for the next movie were tossed around, as well as unfinished specials like that Halloween concept), but that was over five years ago. It made it clear there was a script/story idea for *something*, not merchandise, anyway. Like I said on the forum, the best solution would be to e-mail John E. Barrett (his website link is at the bottom of his page) or Karen Falk. I took no photos so I can't check to see what the actual text said word for word, but I know it was presented as an "in development" sort of concept piece for a Muppet production of some sort. -- Andrew Leal (talk) 22:53, January 4, 2012 (UTC)

Gotcha. Karen hasn't been of much help on Muppet projects in recent years since all that stuff was shipped over to Disney. And I doubt Barrett would know anything. So we still don't really know what the "project" was. Could have been a film, special, View-Master reel, or anything really. —Scott (message me) 23:03, January 4, 2012 (UTC)

I'd contact Barrett anyway, since the captions and curation were based in large part on interviews with him (the exhibit had a video as well, showing how he worked) and several had quotes. This might have been one of them. At the least we'd have a direct quote (I'd prefer that to handwritten notes based on an exhibit which is long gone, and my own fuzzy memories) and while we do want to be respectful in contacting folks, it never hurts just to ask "Hi, if you ever have a moment to spare, can you let us know if this rings a bell?" and so on (as opposed to, "Can you give us an exact year, the full cast, what you had for lunch at the time, and tell us what material those adorable rat bellhop outfits were made from?") I know the caption had more specific details, and they seem to have come from him (or Karen Falk, who was listed in the little booklet, thanking those who contributed; now that I held on to for a long time, just a little pic like the one here and some general text, no specific piece by piece catalogue or anything, so I might still find it in one of my folders if it survived the move). The problem is I just have no clear idea what those details were by now, beyond what I wrote at the time. :) -- Andrew Leal (talk) 23:09, January 4, 2012 (UTC)