ToughPigs is saddened to learn that film critic Gene Shalit passed away earlier this month at the age of 100.
Shalit was best known for his role as the in-house movie and book critic for Today on NBC, where he appeared from 1970 (becoming a show regular in 1973) to his retirement in 2010. His upbeat personality and memorable hairstyle and mustache made him a popular figure, and subject to many parodies, including a Muppet version of himself in The Muppet Show: Sex and Violence.
In the end, as much as the Muppets loved Shalit, he loved them right back. He was delighted when Bert dressed up to look like him in a 1974 appearance on Today, Three years later, he hosted the primetime special Sesame Street at Night?, designed to celebrate the show’s 1,000th episode and give adults a chance to see what children were enjoying during daytime airings. He also appeared in the very first issue of “Muppet Magazine,” where he was paired in “The Great Muppet Look-Alike Contest” with the Swedish Chef. He also contributed a “Movie Crumb Cake” recipe to the 1996 book “In the Kitchen with Miss Piggy.”
In one interaction with the Muppets, Shalit inadvertently predicted the future. In 1980, he interviewed Jim Henson on Today about the pipes at the NBC Studios he had painted and decorated with Frank Oz, Don Sahlin, and Jerry Juhl back in 1964. Noting their unique style and Jim’s rising fame, he noted that the pipes should be preserved as a museum piece, which he dubbed the “Jim Henson Memorial Pipes.” Decades later, the pipes, still sporting their decorations, have become a key part of the NBC Tour at 30 Rockefeller Plaza.
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by Matthew Soberman – [email protected]
