(By Maura Judkis, Washington
Post, 3 November 2012)
It might
have been the friendliest rally to ever come to the Mall — especially three
days before the election. Puppets and toddlers danced. Grown-ups in furry
costumes sang. A girl dressed as Cookie Monster handed out Chips Ahoy to
passersby. There was even a puppet-themed wedding. The Million Puppet March — a political rally
against Mitt Romney’s debate
remarks about Big Bird and cutting funding to public television — may not
have actually been a million puppets strong, but furry monsters came from far
and near in a post-Halloween parade of support for PBS on Saturday.
The march to the Capitol set off from Lincoln
Park shortly after 11 a.m., with the participants singing the “Sesame Street” theme
song, and the Muppets’ “Mahna
Mahna.” They were asked to keep to the sidewalk, but the hundreds of
marchers soon spilled into the street, requiring a police escort. They chanted:
“Power to
the puppets! We can save the Muppets!”
“Whose
street? Sesame Street!”
“What do
we want? Cookies! When do we want them? Now!”
“EL-MO!
We won’t go!”
“I am the
way I am — I’m an artist — because of ‘Sesame Street’ and PBS,” said Michael
Montgomery, who came up from Orlando with puppet Eddie. “To even think that
that could go away is sad, and I want to raise my support for it in any way
that I can.” “I used to work for Sesame
Street, and not only did it change my life as a kid, it changed my life as an
adult,” said Michael Schupbach, who
came in from New York City with his puppet Malcolm. “I can speak for the people
who work there, everyone there knows how important their job is, they know
they’re reaching 17 million kids every day.”
Malcolm described himself as a distant cousin of Oscar the Grouch.
“We’re friends on Facebook,” the furry green puppet said. “I believe we’ve
endorsed each other on LinkedIn.” Schupbach
also brought an “Oven Mitt Romney” puppet — a green oven mitt with
stern-looking eyes. “It’s not a political rally, so he’s staying quiet.” “More than you can say for the real one,”
quipped Montgomery.
“We’ve been
telling everybody: This isn’t a march, it’s a support group,” said Montgomery,
or maybe his puppet, Eddie — both of their mouths were moving. “Look at this —
it’s all the same weirdos.” Nearby,
Ronny Wasserstrom of Playdate
Puppets in New York was showing off his papier-mache Humpty Dumpty
marionette to a group of children. “He
never listens to me!” said Wasserstrom to a little boy dressed as Elmo. “You
know who he listens to? Kids.” The kids
helped Wasserstrom help his Humpty Dumpty puppet balance an egg on the puppet’s
head. “Does that look balanced? As
balanced as the budget,” he said. “How are we gonna help this budget out? How
about we fire Big Bird? No.” Of Humpty
Dumpty, he said, “we’re putting him back together again, we’re hoping to put
the country back together again. PBS is our past but we also want it to be our
future. I think we support PBS not only as a leg up on the future, but an egg
up on the future.”
’It’s
been an intense political season’
The rally was founded by Michael
Bellavia, a Los Angeles animation executive, and Chris Mecham, an Idaho
student, who came up with the same idea separately, and joined forces after
meeting online. The event was unaffiliated with PBS. “I’ve never been political. I didn’t intend
for this,” Mecham said. “I just feel passionately about this one thing. It’s
taken on a life of its own.” Democrats
have been criticized
for focusing on Romney’s remarks
about Big Bird, saying it’s a distraction from more serious issues in the
election. Mecham agrees — and he says that’s what the rally (which was supposed
to be nonpartisan but skewed liberal) is all about. “There are issues that are really are
important, and public broadcasting shouldn’t be among them. It shouldn’t even
be on the table. I can’t believe that anyone would even question value of it,”
he said. It’s about “saying it shouldn’t be a partisan issue, so go pay
attention to the things that are important. . . . Lighten up and have fun for a
minute. It’s been an intense political season.”
As Mecham
stood on the sidewalk of North Capitol Street, taking video of the marchers as
they passed, he estimated a crowd of more than 600 people — way more than the
300 they had anticipated in their permit.
“I’m overwhelmed with joy, I’m so happy,” Mecham said. “Ooh look, Sweetums, my favorite!” Mecham also hadn’t anticipated that his rally
would become the setting for a wedding. Charlie Anderson and Lisa, who declined
to give her last name, met on Match.com five years ago and came from North
Kingstown, R.I., to get married in Lincoln Park before the rally. The groom
dressed as Big Bird in a yellow tuxedo. The bride, in a green gown, dressed as
Kermit. “We’re not young. We were
looking for something a little different. We heard about this, and my wife
said, let’s get married there,” Anderson said. “She’s got this wonderful wacky
side, that’s why I love her.”
Other fans
and puppeteers, from Vermont’s professional Bread and Puppet Theater to amateur
PBS enthusiasts with sock puppets, came from afar — even braving transportation
obstacles caused by the hurricane. James Britt escaped Superstorm
Sandy-drenched Long Island with his wife, Gwendolynn Massie, and kids,
Antonette, 9, and Michael, 7. “It’s an
interesting freedom-of-speech lesson for them,” he said. The family carried
professional-looking puppets that Britt said were created for a children’s show
he tried to launch, called “Channel Z,” about an alien invasion. Michael’s
puppet worked at SETI, the institute that researches extraterrestrial life,
while Antonette’s character, Commander Pan, was a frozen space monkey. Britt
and his wife operated Agent X and Agent Y, two “Men in Black”-style agents who
had to investigate the alien invasion. “We’re
going to need a copy of this transcript,” Agent X said to this reporter, after
she finished interviewing the family. Dana
Cook brought her daughter, Emma, from Wilmington, N.C., for the rally, along
with their puppets: Frederick, a sheepdog, and a penguin named Lucy. “I just
made that up,” said Emma, who agreed that her mom was probably the coolest ever
for letting her miss school Friday to travel to D.C. to play with puppets. “It’s the perfect protest to teach my
daughter about protests,” said Dana, who is a fan of NPR. “There wouldn’t be
angry people — there would be puppets.”
A love song
to public broadcasting
When the
march stopped in front of the Capitol, Mecham and Bellavia led the crowd in a
pep rally for PBS and other public broadcasting, including NPR. They played
original songs that had been sent to them by fans, including an electronic love
song to “Fresh Air” host Terry Gross, by Casual Young Italians. Sample
lyrics: “Terry, you’re a breath of ‘Fresh Air.’ ” While Baltimore’s Beale Street Puppets
put on a children’s show on the stage, other puppeteers took the chance to
create a show to the tune of Beale Street’s music. A crowd gathered around Scott Land, who made his toddler-size
Mitt Romney and Barack Obama marionettes dance.
Children were encouraged to come up to the stage to share their favorite
“Sesame Street” characters with the crowd.
“My name is Marina and my favorite character is Animal, because he
reminds me of myself,” said a girl, to cheers from the crowd. “And my mom has
an addiction to ‘Masterpiece Theater.’ ”
Another girl spoke up for Animal. A shy boy said he liked Elmo. Then, a young
boy named Lucian took the microphone. Who
is his favorite PBS character? “Yoda.”
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