SassyBlonde

As I promised last week, this week's RoundUp focuses on the career of the intrepid Bip Bippadotta. Who is Bip Bippadotta you ask? Why none other than the star of one of the most famous Muppet Show sketches of all time, Mahna Mahna:

Bip began his career in a sketch on Sesame Street in 1969, in which it's clear that his career has yet to take off.

(Note the subdued striped sweater and his decidedly more calm coif. Clearly not yet in the fashion echelon so coveted by the clients of Rachel Zoe today.) Two days later, it's apparent that Hollywood has come calling when he appears on the Ed Sullivan show in what was to become his trademark look- orange hair and a green shag top, and his eyes have already taken on that vacant I need to wear shades to do this cast. His erstwhile companions have already been replaced by the Snowths, a more polished complement to his scat stylings.

The artist now known as Bip Bippadotta began his career as a Little Anything Muppet, going on to distinguish himself in the aforementioned performances as a solo artist. Cameo appearances followed on Sesame Street in songs such as Fat Cat Sat Hat, Some of Us, Everybody's Song, and Air. He struggled with his identity through the 70's, known only by the title of his hit performance, until the 1979 release of Every Body's Record, on which he finally received artist credit as Bip Bippadotta.

The song that made Bip Bippdotta a household icon was originally composed by Piero Umiliani and made famous as a single from the movie Svezia, Inferno E Paradiso, which the Muppet Wiki refers to as a documentary about Sweden. As a clarification, this is a movie about sexuality in Sweden which "shows contraceptives for teen girls, lesbian nightclubs, wife swapping, porno movies, biker gangs, and Walpurgis Night celebrations. It also examines Sweden's purported drug, drinking and suicide problems." (IMDB) Listen to a good remix of the original single here, or watch the entire film here.

UPDATE: And I almost forgot, for Keith: Bip's hair was made from either the equivalent of long pile shag fur, what appears to be ostrich fringe, or a combination of the two (ostrich hair and shag beard, etc.)