The Birth of Rowlf
Rpwlf hides behind his best buddy.
And what I probably enjoyed most about it is that the two actually swap between the straight man and the comedic roles in various sketches, or at the very least, sometimes Dean is the one teaching something to Rowlf, sometimes it’s vice versa, and sometimes they swap within the same sketch. While the traditional dynamic would probably be to have the human be the “smarter” one, so to speak, with the silly puppet trying to keep up, these two often balance each other out, although Rowlf does often get the funnier punchlines.
But, for example, in one of the two complete sketches, Rowlf is trying to learn how to defend himself against a bullying bulldog who’s been making his life miserable, and Dean acts as a mentor of sorts to him. In the other, Dean claims that he knows how to play jazz, but his no-other-good-way-to-say-this-but-extremely-white take on the music has Rowlf literally holding his head in his paws from its sheer wrongness. Rowlf then shows him the right way to play the piano (which would become a Rowlf staple on The Muppet Show), first using both hands, and then showing off with only one (“And a dog’s hand at that,” he jokes). But, as much as the two tease each other–in the first sketch, for example, Dean pokes fun at Rowlf for being a bit too flabby and out of shape to be good at self-defense, and to be fair, this earlier version of Rowlf is much rounder than the one we’re used to; in the second, Rowlf dubs Dean a “square”–you can also tell that it comes from true friendship, without a hint of meanness.
Rowlf plays the guitar.
As the second proceeds, Rowlf explains how much he’d love to live his life hanging around with all the hep cats at the jazzy nightclubs, and Dean tells him he can go, thickly pouring on how much he’d miss him, all alone at his piano while Rowlf is out on the town every night. “He does it to me every time,” Rowlf says, with not the slightest trace of resentment in his voice. “This is one cat that’s just gonna have to go back to being a dog–Jimmy Dean’s dog,” he continues, in a perfect early trademark Muppet blending of humor and sweetness. And when Dean then asks Rowlf if he’ll play some of his kind of music, country, with him, Rowlf responds, “You mean our kind of music.” Awwwww.
But besides being touching, it’s also a great indication of how deftly these conversation sketches weave through twists both emotional and comedic. Returning to the first sketch, what seems to be a simple training-to-fight-the-bully sequence gets a deliciously sharp turnaround later on when it’s revealed that Rowlf’s nemesis isn’t Bobby the Bulldog but Bobbie the Bulldog, short for Barbara, which causes Dean to switch tactics from teaching Rowlf to fight–which wasn’t going very well anyway, as Rowlf’s only winning fight move was biting his opponent on the arm!–into trying to teach him how to romance.
Of course, this is partially based in the era’s sexism (in other words, “You can’t fight a girl!”), though at the same time he impressively doesn’t mock Rowlf for being bullied by a girl, but is rather just surprised by it. Far more problematic is the mock-Japanese Rowlf comes out with while doing karate, along with a bit of broken Engrish, which is distinctly cringe-worthy today, but it doesn’t last long and really feels more indicative of the time period than an outgrowth of any genuine malice, which would be completely out of character for Jim Henson.
Jimmy and Rowlf meet Lassie.
I’d also like to add that this sketch features an early use of a gag that would recur frequently on The Muppet Show, and with Rowlf himself! Dean tells Rowlf he’d like to tell him something, and a moment later, off-stage music starts like something straight out of musical theatre, indicating Dean’s about to burst into song, but as soon as the chord plays, Rowlf starts looking around everywhere for the source, something he’d later do at the end of every Veterinarians’ Hospital sketch, searching for where the soap opera announcer’s voice is coming from. You can watch this first sketch here and the jazz sketch here.
And further examples of their fantastic chemistry, as well as Jim’s burgeoning skills both as a comedian and puppeteer, are on full display in this handful of short clips from a Jim Henson doc, including one in which Dean, playing doctor, fills Rowlf’s stomach full of air until it gets bigger and bigger, ultimately bursting with a huge pop, and one in which Lassie guest-stars, and Dean instructs Rowlf on how to “rescue” her, Rowlf mimicking running, swimming, and then finally doing the “Esther Williams backstroke”. By the end, he’s so exhausted that when Deans tells him to go “lickety split,” he responds, “I think I just split my lickety!”
All in all, these moments provide a fascinating glimpse at a show biz partnership that not too many people know of today but which was one of the first major stepping stones in the Muppets’ creative development, as well as their eventual rise to worldwide stardom. And tomorrow, we have more of Jim and the Muppets’ work in commercials, as well as an excerpt of Jim’s second attempt at bringing Tinkerdee to television.