Kermit Love (1916–2008) was a Broadway costume designer who became one of the most important builders in American puppetry, best known for constructing Big Bird and Mr. Snuffleupagus.
He did not come from puppetry
Love built marionettes and designed costumes for the stage from the 1930s, costumed Jerome Robbins’ ballet Fancy Free in 1946, and worked with George Balanchine — including a twenty-eight-foot marionetteA marionette is a puppet controlled from above by strings or... giant for Don Quixote in 1965. He arrived at the MuppetA Muppet is a puppet built in the soft foam-and-fleece style... Workshop already fluent in a discipline most puppet builders never study.
Why that mattered
His theatrical background gave him a particular skill at full-body puppets and at tailoring them to allow freedom for the performer’s movements. That phrase is the whole lesson. A costume designer thinks about the body inside the garment first and the silhouette second, and full-body puppetry is unworkable any other way.
How he got there
Don SahlinDon Sahlin (1928–1978) was Jim Henson's principal designer... urged him to meet Jim HensonJim Henson (1936–1990) was the puppeteer and filmmaker who... More in the early 1960s. Their first collaboration was Delbert the La Choy Dragon, a commercial character that turned out to be a direct precursor to Big Bird.
What he built
Oscar the Grouch, then Big Bird from Henson’s design — Sahlin having carved the first head — and later Mr. Snuffleupagus. He supervised Sesame Street builds for years alongside Caroly WilcoxCaroly Wilcox (1931–2021) was a Muppet builder and the wor..., and designed puppets for the show’s early international co-productions. He also built the Snuggle Bear.
Later work
included full-body puppets for the Joffrey Ballet’s Nutcracker, among them a sixteen-foot Mother Ginger.
He also appeared on camera
as Willy the hot dog vendor on Sesame Street, and encouraged a young Kevin ClashKevin Clash is the puppeteer who developed and performed Elm... More to apply to the show after meeting him on The Great Space Coaster.
For anyone building anything a person wears, Love is the builder to study.