Issue link: https://digital.copcomm.com/i/1545257
22 PROP CULTURE I SUMMER 2026 ALF Alf was known for his unusual appetite (particularly cats!), meaning all the food he eats had to be specially made to be durable enough not to break, but soft enough for the puppet mouth to manipulate and lightweight enough for the puppeteer to easily hold above their head. PROPERTY MASTER CARL BUCK LABYRINTH When Jareth rolls the crystal balls across his hands, this is actually done by choreographer Michael Moschen, who crouched behind Bowie with his arm replacing Bowie's. Unlike a typical puppet performance, he had no video screen to see what he was doing so his manipulations were performed completely blind. PROPERTY MASTER BARRY WILKINSON, PMG LITTLE SHOP OF HORRORS THE JIM HENSON HOUR "DOG CITY" "I never thought I would have to find guns that could fire for the puppets!" –Fred Buchholz Fred collected many toy guns, including die cast metal cap guns from the '50s and squirt guns of various sizes. Jim wanted his charac- ter Bugsy to shoot a submachine with rapid-fire muzzle flash. Fred found Richard Huggins of Theatre Magic in Ohio to help. It worked by igniting a small burst of butane in the muzzle. This meant that the muzzle got very hot and needed to be built of steel. They made the gun as light as possible, but when it arrived close to the shooting date, it was heavy and tricky to oper- ate. When he showed it to Jim, Jim said no problem, you can operate it. So whenever Bugsy appears with a machine gun, Fred is right there under the set wrapped around Jim and holding up the machine gun. "When people ask me if I was close to Jim, I can answer 'yes, very close!'" MUPPET SPECIAL EFFECTS FRED BUCHHOLZ FRAGGLE ROCK