Kermit embarks on world tour for 50th birthday
Kermit the Frog began a globe-hopping tour to celebrate his 50th showbiz birthday yesterday in this small west Texas town that shares the beloved amphibian’s name.
The town of about 5,700, a ranching and oil area about 375 miles west of Dallas, rolled out the green carpet for the singing, dancing Muppet and former “Sesame Street” star, giving him the key to the city, dubbing him grand marshal of the homecoming parade and crowning him honorary homecoming king.
Kermit’s 50-stop tour will cross four continents and last until the end of 2006. Stops include the Statue of Liberty, the Eiffel Tower and the Great Wall of China. He’s even scheduled to run with the bulls in Pamplona, Spain.
“I thought they said bullfrogs,” Kermit said in a rare interview. “I’m going to get the heck out of their way.”
Kermit made his debut in a 1955 television comedy called ”Sam and Friends,” which aired locally in Washington, but he looked more lizardlike then. Kermit was fashioned from an old coat belonging to the mother of late Muppets creator Jim Hnson and was named after one of Henson’s childhood friends.
Henson and his two-foot tall puppet joined ”Sesame Street” in 1969. “The Muppet Show” followed in 1976 and ended its run in 1982.
Henson gave Kermit a voice and a life for 35 years, until his death in 1990. Since then, Steve Whitmire, who had worked with Henson for about 13 years, has taken over his voice and movements.
Kermit offered insight into how he stays so youthful looking.
“I don’t think it’s a secret: Stay moist,” he said, adding that an exercise regimen that includes yoga also helps. “My favourite position is the downward frog.”
The town of Kermit was named for Kermit Roosevelt, the eldest son of President Theodore Roosevelt.
He had visited a ranch in northern Winkler County to hunt a few months before the town was named.
Kermit, which incorporated in 1938, began as a supply centre for the area’s scattered ranches.
