Muppet takes Manhattan, and Paris and Beijing …

Kermit goes on tour to promote puppet franchise

Kermit the Frog, perhaps the world’s most famous amphibian, will embark on a worldwide tour next month to celebrate his 50 years in show business and relaunch the Muppets franchise as part of the Walt Disney Co., it was announced yesterday.

The green, fuzzy puppet character, who got his start in 1955 on the local Washington, D. C., television program Sam and Friends, was scheduled to appear on the Disney-owned ABC network’s Good Morning America

to kick off the promotion.

His first stop will be the small Texas town of Kermit on Oct. 14, followed by visits to 50 destinations around the globe over the next 15 months, including the Statue of Liberty in New York, the Eiffel Tower in Paris, the Great Wall of China and even a Frog Leg Festival in Fellsmere, Fla.

The launch of Kermit’s 50thanniversary tour coincides with several events aimed at drawing new attention to the Muppets brand, which was created by the late Jim Henson and acquired by Disney in April, 2004.

Last month, Disney issued a DVD box set of the first season of the 1970s hit television series The Muppet Show, and this month Hyperion Publishing released It’s Not Easy Being Green and Other Things to Consider, a book of insights into the philosophy and humour of the Muppets.

Today, the U. S. Postal Service will issue a stamp honouring Henson and his creations, including Kermit, Miss Piggy, Fozzie Bear and the Swedish Chef.

Chris Curtin, general manager and vice-president of the Muppets Holding Company, said the Disney-owned venture also is developing an American Idol- style TV series featuring Kermit and friends conducting a talent search for the next Muppet.

Henson, who died of a bacterial infection in 1990 at the age of 54, originally constructed Kermit from the fabric of his mother’s coat in the spring of 1955.

Kermit first appeared as more of a lizard-like creature on Sam and Friends

but had fully evolved into a frog by the time he made his network TV debut on NBC’s The Tonight Show

with Steve Allen in the fall of 1956.

Fourteen years later, Henson brought Kermit and other Muppets to the landmark educational show Sesame Street, where they became household names.

The success of The Muppet Show, which premiered in 1976, led to Kermit and friends’ motiondebut in The Muppet Movie

in 1979. Kermit has since gone on to star in six feature films, has appeared on the cover of Life magazine and received his own star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in

2002.