The Two of You

The Museum of the Moving Image's exhibit, "Jim Henson's Fantastic World", shares this video essay, "Henson & Oz: Never Before, Never Again," a fantastic tribute to one of the great comedy teams of the 20th century.



http://www.movingimagesource.us/articles/henson-oz-20110715

In speaking about Henson's innovations, Frank Oz's refers to puppeteer Burr Tillstrom, the man who did the ground-breaking work of moving puppetry to television with the show, "Kukla, Fran and Ollie."



Washington Post writer Tom Shales reminisces about childhood and the importance of his television "friends," Kukla, Fran and Ollie. Shales says, "... the TV shows that were made for us, the first generation of tube-babies, had a magically accessible homemade quality, the entertainment equivalent of comfort food."

Which bring to mind this sweet song written by a fan of the Kuklapolitans, composer Stephen Sondheim. "The Two of You," is a song that was originally rejected by the show's producers. Eventually, Sondheim found a way to deliver his musical love letter to Kukla and Ollie's creator, Burr Tillstrom.

Tillstrom actually performed this song in the show Side By Side By Sondheim in 1978. Sondheim recalls that "he sang it with the spot very tight and Kukla on his arm and then, I think for the first time in his career, the spot came up and you saw his arm inside the puppet. He'd never revealed the puppets as puppets before. It was very moving."

Ev'ry day I think anew of you,
How I love the two of you.
And I fondly hope the two of you do too.

Dope that I am,
I can't think what to say,
Just "Hope cake and jam and Happiness come your way."

I want no one else in lieu of you;
I prefer the two of you.
And I'd like to take the two of you to tea.

Come spend the day;
Oh what lovely sights we'll see!
But nothing's sweeter than
The view of you,
So stay, the two of you, with me.

You can hear "The Two of You" as sung by Tillstrom with Kukla, Fran & Nancy Dussault here.