Many of us would define success by how recognizable our face is. Imagine how puppeteers must feel, since their main responsibility is to stay entirely out of their audience’s eyesight. Kevin Clash, the innovator behind the world’s most popular puppet—Elmo—doesn’t seem to mind.
Being Elmo: A Puppeteer’s Journey documents Clash’s lifelong passion for puppetry. His fascination with Sesame Street inspired him to create 85 of his own homemade puppets in elementary school. His talents raised his classmates’ eyebrows until he began earning a living through his performances in schools, in pediatric hospitals, and eventually on Baltimore television by age 18. By the time he graduated high school, he landed a role on network television and was named “Most Likely Millionaire” by his peers in his graduating class.
Clash is the sole reason that Elmo is so iconic. The red puppet’s features are visually uninteresting, and, were it not for Clash putting his own warmhearted personality into the puppet, Elmo would have gone largely unnoticed next to kid favourites like Big Bird, Bert & Ernie, and the Cookie Monster. The film describes the hand motions of elite Sesame Street performers who have learned their techniques from Clash, now a storied veteran within the industry. The puppets’ facial expressions, muscle movements, and personalities must all be meticulously crafted. This type of skill requires sharp attunement to human behavioural quirks, and Clash’s knack for reading body language shows beautifully in the way he develops the personalities of his own vast puppet collection.
Those outside of this ‘puppet inner circle’ know Jim Henson as the poster child behind the Muppet Empire, much in the same way we consider Steve Jobs to be the pioneer of the digital era. The documentary presents Henson as an angelic soul on the surface, but suggests ever so subtly that, if the layers of his private persona were peeled away, left exposed would be a man who had intense expectations of himself and his peers. The film is a superficial but deeply endearing tribute to Henson’s contributions; the secret behind his managerial talents, his relationships with coworkers, and his untimely death are unfortunately avoided here. Sure, this is Clash’s movie, but the film quietly hints at the untapped potential of a Henson biopic.
As for Clash, he created a character that has made Sesame Street a marketing phenomenon among children, with Tickle Me Elmo selling millions of units since 1996. But more importantly, Clash’s charity appearances put smiles on the faces of children who have been struck with terminal illness or who are living in poverty. Elmo is the definitive achievement of his career, and Being Elmo tells the story without injecting any unnecessary, saccharine climax or digging up some half-baked Sesame Street industry dirt. No feathers are ruffled, there is no shocking exposé, nor should there be. There is only Mr. Clash, whose humble disposition is legendary on Sesame Street, but whose puppetry genius will pass by the rest of us on Main Street. Something tells me he’s perfectly fine with that.
