A closer look
Controlling an eight-foot-tall yellow canary is basically an exercise in claustrophobic sensory deprivation. Because the Big Bird suit on Sesame Street is so massive, legendary puppeteer Caroll Spinney had to keep his right arm raised straight up to operate the mouth, leaving him completely blind to the outside world. To keep him from destroying the set, engineers strapped a crude, tiny television monitor to his chest inside the suffocating suit, broadcasting a live feed of the camera's view. Decades of childhood joy were entirely dependent on a sweaty man watching a tiny screen in the dark.
