I Am Big Bird: The Caroll Spinney Story

In "I Am Big Bird: The Caroll Spinney Story," we meet the puppeteer inside "Sesame Street's" Big Bird and Oscar the Grouch through interviews, historical footage and never-before-seen home movies. These two characters, especially Big Bird, are some of the most iconic figures of children's television in the world.

Big Bird was designed by Kermit Love from the drawings of Jim Henson, the brilliant creator of "Sesame Street" and The Muppets. The 8'2" bird can sing, dance, roller skate and write poetry, but he can't fly. Forever six-years-old, he and his teddy bear live in a large nest behind the brownstone on 123 Sesame Street.

When Spinney started at "Sesame Street," he had plenty of television experience and a genuine love of puppetry. Henson wanted to work with him for years before they came together in 1969. But Spinney hated New York. Early on he wanted to quit the show, but he persisted, an individual surrounded by dominant personalities, and even though replacement puppeteers have been on set since the late 1990s, Spinney still performs his characters and has no plan to retire.

This documentary is filled with charming bits of trivia rather than a driving storyline, although Spinney narrowly avoids peril on more than on occasion - like they time he was almost incinerated in Oscar's trash can and the time Big Bird was supposed to be shot into orbit aboard the Challenger Space Shuttle during the very launch that it was destroyed in flight.

"I Am Big Bird" is a simple portrait of a man with a good heart, a man who was bullied as a child for playing with dolls (that's what the tormenters called puppets), and was dominated as an adult in his work environment, but has always remained strong.

This DVD is loaded with additional footage in the form of special features: deleted scenes, a closer look at Oscar the Grouch, more detail about Spinney's relationship with his wife and even a look at when the puppeteer met Michael Jackson.

"I Am Big Bird: The Caroll Spinney Story,"
DVD
Not Rated | 85 minutes
www.iambigbird.com