Jerry, Jacquie, and Jacquie's sister Vannessa worked on the Chrysler Show at the 1964 World's Fair.  Jacquie writes:


Jerry and I worked at the 1964 World's Fair for two years. -- we were puppeteers at the Chrysler Pavilion.  We were animated "car parts" created by Bil Baird.  It was a hoot and great fun.  We wore what puppeteers call "blacks" because we were not on a bridge up above the stage, as was often the case with Bil Baird marionettes.  These were (mostly) hand puppets, so we were on stage and would have been visible to the audience. The solution --  we were covered head to toe in soft cotton black costumes.  Only the most observant could see an occasional shadow of us moving around.

At the time we lived just off Queens Boulevard in a two family house.  We lived on one side of the house and the owner (our landlady) was on the other side.  We had half of the back yard, which was divided by a grape arbor with a little walkway.  Our landlady was a nice older lady who kept her back yard neat and mowed.  We didn't have a lawn mower and we just let the grass grow.  Christine loved it and so did we.  It was a tiny wild meadow.  The grass was almost 3 feet high and it waved in the wind.  For some reason it stopped growing at 3 feet so it never got crazy high.  And to Jerry's and my surprise, our landlady never complained, never asked us to mow it, and never had it mowed herself.  Maybe she liked us.  Jerry was handsome.  I was pretty and Christine was adorable at 3 years old.  We didn't know yet that she had cystic fibrosis.  It was happy times.

There was a shiny silver diner next door to us, with red velvet booths and all that kind of fancy stuff.  They had chocolate chip cookies that were the size of a large salad plate.  We were shocked by that excess and renamed the diner The Fat People’s Diner.  We didn't see fat people, but we figured we would one day because of the cookies.

When they first moved to New York, Jerry was taking acting classes.  Jacquie was working at the Gaslight Club, which was a precursor of the Playboy Clubs that came along later.  They shared an apartment with Vaughn Maeder and his wife.  The apartment was laid out on a long hallway.  They each had one end of it.  Vaughn did a wonderful, funny impersonation of John Kennedy that was very popular.  Of course after Kennedy was killed it also killed Vaughn's act.  There is a Wikipedia entry about Vaughn:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vaughn_Meader

The apartment was nondescript.  To liven it up they painted a skyline - profiles of buildings - on the wall of their living room.  It wasn't a replica of the New York skyline, just an interesting design.

Jacquie sent this comment about living in New York in an apartment on 89th St.

  Did he ever tell you the cockroach story?  We used to sleep on the floor on Japanese tatami mats in that funky apartment on 89th street (you'll recall he was stationed in Japan and had adopted some of their ways - for awhile).  When we realized that the feisty New York cockroaches refused to stay off the tatami mats we got a bed.  Problem solved.  You may recall that the first floor of that apartment building had a Greek diner, hence more than the usual number of roaches.  Ick.

Jacquie posted this comment on the New York Times blog after Jerry died.  Apropos of the clip from the Great Muppet Caper:

  "What a loss for children everywhere. ..little children and grown up children.   Jerry's voice could twist and turn, and COUNT and laugh, and sing and growl....He must have had a hundred voices, as did our beloved daughter Christine Elizabeth Nelson.  Jerry and I were married for 7 years  and it was sometime after she was  diagnosed with cystic fibrosis that our marriage ended.

     But Jerry and I remained good friends and we held Christine's hand together when she died in 1982.   Many of Christine's happiest times were with her father, on the Sesame Street set,  on Fire Island for many summers, in London with him making The Great Muppet Caper where she had a small speaking part with her father, and when it was time to film her scene, Christine didn't like what the wardrobe department had selected for her to wear, so  Christine and Jerry  both went to Jim Henson and Jerry said,

"Jim, Christine isn't happy with the  wardrobe department's choice for her scene with me, she wants  to wear what she has on, okay?"

Jim looked her up and down and said, "Great."  And then Jerry said, "and I'm going to wear what I have on too"....and so they did.  What a pair they were.  What wonderful imps.

     All his life,  Jerry brought joy and laugher and giggles to all who heard him.  There was only one Jerry Nelson, although the COUNT would have preferred more Jerries, so he could count them.

Good by dear Jerry.  No one is laughing today

Here's a link to a YouTube video, Philly Joe Jones, Blues for Dracula.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lz3d8C6xnmU&feature=youtu.be

There's an article on Wikipedia on the evolution of the Dracula role - Dracula in popular culture.

Incidentally, Philly Joe was on his way to Las Vegas with John Hicks and Freddy Williams to receive an award for this recording but he never made it.  He died on the way out there.

More later, my dears.