It hasn’t been easy “Bein’ Green” for Kermit the Frog, showbiz veteran for 54 years, who is poised to return to the public spotlight at Seattle’s Experience Music Project through August 16^th.  His initial brush with public disapproval was his stand along with Jane Fonda and Donald Sutherland against the Vietnam War, which led to many cancelled appearances.  But by 1979 he was back on top with the chart-topping “The Rainbow Connection” from “The Muppet Movie.”  Many saw his much-publicized romance with Miss Piggy as being at the forefront of breaking down the barriers against inter-species dating.

 BUT THERE WAS A DARK SIDE…

Kermit was on a roller coaster of addiction - partying till all hours at Studio 54, junkets to Vegas, and the “Lost Weekend Years” with John Lennon.  By 1984, Kermit was admitted to “Amphibian House Recovery Center” in Los Angeles for his now-infamous poly-substance abuse disorder after the first of what would become a string of near-fatal relapses.

It was then that Kermit’s sponsor, Oscar the Grouch, proclaimed “Kermit is working the steps, taking it one day at a time, and is now guided by the hand of his Higher Power.”  In 1986 Kermit was nominated for an emmy for his performance in the made for TV drama “My name is Kermit and I’m a…” although his performance was somewhat overshadowed by that of Cookie Monster. 

FURTHER SCANDAL IN THE 90'S

In 1994 Kermit’s life was again front page news when he went on trial for the abuse of Miss Piggy.  According to Mr. Toad, a teacher from Kermit’s Swamp Years, Kermit had been abused himself as a tadpole and was repeatedly threatened by his parents, who told him he would be sold to a French Restaurant or a High School Biology lab if he couldn’t succeed in show business.  Kermit received counseling and agreed to a series of public service announcements and, as we entered the new millennium, he redeemed himself by performing  for the troops in Iraq and spoofing his image on reality television. 

Today all eyes are on Kermit’s comeback.  As Big Bird says, “Kermit is a survivor and our prayers are with him and with his family.”

Con Chapman writes:   "If Kermit would accept Froggy and His Magic Twanger as his savior, he'd have a chance to beat this thing."  

 Indeed before Kermit there was Froggy the Gremlin – (aka “the BULL-frog”).  

Kermit always acknowledged the influence Froggy’s work had on his career.  “The Gremlin,” so infamously controlled by Andy Devine, was of an earlier, visceral era and his penchant for rebellion and smouldering delinquent charisma rivaled that of James Dean.  The Gremlin was already bloated and past his prime, languishing between occasional supermarket parking lot gigs in the late 1960’s when Kermit visited him at Gremland – in “the Swamp Room,” scene of so many legendary magic twanger incidents with the all-too-willing tadpoles of the 1950’s.  Froggy was still clinging to his primal swagger in an era that was ready for Kermit’s embrace of  peace, tolerance, and social change.  Of course, during the turbulent 90’s, Kermit’s brief marriage to Froggy’s daughter did nothing to dispel the rumors that he was “not quite a Bull – frog..”