AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |
Back to Blog
Teenage witch1/4/2024 “We usually want the ones that nobody wants, the ones that are high energy, the ones that are outgoing,” said Pittman. They were wrangled and trained by a team led by Cathy Pittman, who scouted animals with “star quality” from animal shelters. Three main cats would typically play Salem over the course of any given episode, with several taking the role over the show’s run. Having actual cats on set helped inform the realism of the puppeteers’ performances. “I had to go for massages with some regularity,” said Bernstein, “to maintain the flexibility to get squished into various places.” Her time on the show was spent mostly behind tables, beneath the sofa, or under Sabrina’s bed, with her arm over her head. Mauri Bernstein was the puppeteer hidden on set, controlling Salem’s head and body movements. Both were operated by multiple puppeteers, two of whom were stationed comfortably off-set: Thom Fountain controlled the mouth movements, in sync with Bakay’s live voice performance, while Jim Greenall, who’d also designed the puppet’s mechanical components, controlled the ear and tail movements via remote control. There were two main animatronic Salem puppets: one fashioned in a sitting-up position, the other in a lying-down position. But I think that it was part of the charm of the show-quaint, old-school practical magic and weird cat puppets. “And I get it: it’s not like it was going to fool anyone. “ABC did not love the animatronic cat,” said Bakay. ![]() Network executives were initially dubious about the Salem puppet, built out of foam rubber and rabbit fur by animal fabricator and puppeteer Jim Boulden for the show’s first season. He’s gone from world domination to staring at a piece of lint floating by, on a pillow in a teenage girl’s bedroom. So, you know, that formula right there, it’s just hilarious. “The great thing about the character is he’s a power mad man who’s been consigned to live as a cat, as punishment for trying to take over the world. The cat was very much the beneficiary of all those sort of little sideways pitches that might not have made it in if they were delivered from a human.”Īs Bakay also pointed out, the character was inherently funny. “Everyone else has to keep their act a little bit cleaner. ![]() “It’s that weird thing where animals and puppets can kind of get away with murder,” said Bakay. One crew member conveyed his impression that one of the show’s human stars was jealous of the attention lavished on the cat.īakay’s tones were dry as leftover kibble and well-suited to lines like “The sound of the can opener is the only thing that makes me feel truly alive.” They added a welcome wryness to the show’s laugh-tracked, family-friendly fare. Melissa Joan Hart, who played Sabrina and co-produced the show, considered keeping a black sock in her pocket to wield as a puppet when fielding endless Salem-related enquiries in public. ![]() The character was the recipient of piles of adoring viewer fan mail and three consecutive Nickelodeon Kids’ Choice Awards for favorite animal star. He does a smooth rendition of “Witchcraft,” but has also developed a more cat-like appreciation for getting scratched behind the ears. When not moaning about his fate or his fur-ball medicine, Salem reads The Economist, plays Risk, and poses as a woman on the Internet (“I like the attention”). According to the show’s lore, Salem Saberhagen was a hundreds-year-old warlock, sentenced to spend 100 years trapped in the body of a black American shorthair (though he was an orange tabby in the original comics) and stripped of his magical powers as punishment for attempted world domination.
0 Comments
Read More
Leave a Reply. |