A ecstasy of puppets (mostly Muppets)

Roosevelt Franklin, Grover, Elmo and Cookie Monster

Uncle Matt, Gobo and Red from the Fraggles

Atlanta houses any number of world-renown tourist attractions, from CNN to World of Coke to the Georgia Aquarium. But there are plenty of other corners to explore in a metropolis this sprawling. My mom had wanted to visit one for years, and this turned into the year.

The Center for Puppetry Arts was an innocuous building in Midtown Atlanta, the city’s arts district. The center details the history of puppetry, and includes a hearty devotion to the man who advanced puppetry more than anyone in the 20th century, Jim Henson. With help from Kermit the Frog, Henson cut the ribbon on the center in 1978. The center's ties with Henson have been lucrative, allowing it to offer insight into one of pop cultures most enduring creations.

The Henson collection is expansive. The interactive displays included a replica of the Muppet building workshop. Nearby was a reconstruction of Jim Henson’s office, complete with a Kermit lamp, a paper mache moose wall lamp and a stained glass depiction of Henson and Frank Oz puppeteering Ernie and Bert, respectively. I would happily install it in my own living room were it not a priceless piece.

After exhibits of a few early Muppets, familiar felt creeps into the display cases that rapidly grow in size. An exhibit on the late Carol Spinney has both Big Bird and Oscar the Grouch puppets, the two creations he brought to life for nearly 50 years. A video exhibit demonstrates how the puppeteers worked other characters, holding their arms straight up and working the skits with sets nearly six feet off the ground.

Full-sized Bert and Ernie puppets are posed to admire Bert’s bottlecap collection. Rowlf the Dog has his own display. Considered the first Muppet for early 1960s appearances on the Jimmy Dean Show and in dog food commercials. Those who knew Henson say Rowlf was the closest Muppet to Henson’s actual personality (although Henson’s normal speaking voice is all Kermit the Frog).

The only major omission, as my Mom quickly realized, was Miss Piggy, and Fozzie Bear (in his original form – “Amoeba Fozzie” from a Muppet Show episode was included). Rarely seen Sesame Street characters including Sherlock Helmock, Bert’s nephew Brad – who resermbles an evil Bert – and even the somewhat problematic Roosevelt Franklin appeared next to Scooter, Grover, Elmo and Cookie Monster. Mayor Fox and Gretchen Fox from Emmet Otter’s Jug Band Christmas, one of Henson’s early and sorely underrated specials, earned a spot in the cases. The crew of "Pigs in Space" were a welcome sight.

Pigs ....in ... Space!

The Henson collection shows an artist firing on all cylinders in the 1980s, with works ranging from the Muppet Show to Fraggle Rock to the Dark Crystal, which has its own exhibit hall now that movie has experience a revival thanks to a Netflix prequel series.

The collection of Fraggle Rock material was impressive. They had Sprocket the Dog, who chased Fraggles when they entered our world. Gobo, Wembley and Red looked ready to leap into action; they stood next to Uncle Matt, ready to leave on another adventure in our world. The Doozers might just be pausing construction on another building that the Fraggles would eat in due time. There were no Gorgs, even though there was plenty of room for them. Muppets are not restricted by size.

"What is it, Sprocket?"

The Sopranos might be lauded as the program that led to prestige TV, but in 1983 Fraggle Rock became HBO’s first original program, before later becoming the first U.S program broadcast on Soviet television in the 1980s. That isn’t surprising, considering its catchy songs and likable characters.

Even the talking burgers, sandwiches and fries from a Krystal Burger campaign made it into the Henson display. Everywhere in the galleries, video ran of Henson, Frank Oz and the Muppets doing what they do best.

Visiting the center would be worthwhile just for the collections of puppets and marionettes from around the world, some dating back nearly a millennium.

The surprises weren’t done – the world collection includes Crow T. Robot and Tom Servo from Mystery Science Theater 3000, the puppets who joined the show’s human hosts in skewering bad B-movies Across from the famous movie critics was Madame from Waylon Flowers and Madame, a long-running puppetry act once parodied on Family Guy. Now get the joke. Next to them stoody Gumby, all of 12 inches tall, then puppets from Tim Burton's stop-motion animation film The Corpse Bride.

I smiled at seeing these guys

Around the corner one could get lost in masks from the puppetry that breathed life into the stage production of the Lion King. Interactive displays let anyone manipulate different sets of puppets from Japan, South Korean and other cultures to tell stories through motion.

Indian puppet

In the Dark Crystal gallery, the movie’s creature remained as creepy as ever. The animatronic creatures and those that included human operators were among the most intricate ever created, some operated at great risk to the humans inside. I might need to revisit the Dark Crystal – at 7 years old, it was a bit too dark, the puppets a tad too scary.

There was one item we had to check off before leaving the center. At the entrance to the galleries sat a replica of Big Bird’s nest decorated for Christmas. Mom was happy about the picture of us in the nest, since Christmas Eve on Sesame Street might be her favorite holiday special. Muppets can be celebrated any day, but it was Christmas time.

More stained glass I would love to own