BY KAREN BOSSICK
Did you know that Big Bird was once bullied?
Maybe not the bird but the man behind the bird.
The Sun Valley Center for the Arts will screen “I Am Big Bird: The Caroll Spinney Story” at 7 tonight—Thursday, April 7—at Magic Lantern Cinemas in Ketchum.
Tickets are $10 for Center members and $12 for nonmembers.
The heartwarming documentary chronicles the life of 81-year-old Caroll Spinney, who has spent half his life living inside a giant puppet, having played Sesame Street’s Big Bird and Oscar the Grouch since 1969.
The film traces Spinney’s journey from bullied child to celebrated performer, including footage of his earliest collaborations with puppet wizard Jim Henson. Spinney created Big Bird’s character and has performed it since the first episode of Sesame Street.
Before that he performed on Bozo’s Big Top and was a commercial artist and animator.
Sesame’s Street’s living legend as written a book, “The Wisdom of Big Bird—Lessons Learned from a Life in Feathers.”