Not too long ago I had the opportunity to own one of the coolest pieces of WOW memorabilia I've come across in a while -- a Worlds of Wonder set of prototype artwork for what was to be the first in a series of books for The Muppets (specifically, Muppet Babies). One would assume that there would have been talkers, but nothing is mentioned in the artwork. What was mentioned in the artwork, however, is some kind of "magical book" device that seems to interact with kids when they touch different areas of it. It also stands to reason that a prototype of this toy exists! See the images below for a closer inspection.
Along with beautiful full spread prints of what would have been pages in the book, it also came with a prototype book (which sadly is falling apart due to age). The book itself contains the entire story and looks very similar to all of WOW's other book series. The ink is transferring from page to page and the pages are curling near the edges (it's about 30 years old!), but it's still beautiful to carefully page through.
I think one of the most interesting aspects of this piece, however, is the handwritten signature of WOW designers or marketers and the date that is written on the piece. The date is marked July 9th, in what I assume to be 1987. If this is correct, it was a mere 5 months before Worlds of Wonder was to declare bankruptcy. It would be so interesting to me to see how Jim Henson's team reacted (or how the WOW team internally reacted) when bankruptcy was filed. To see that the Worlds of Wonder team was going strong on new, innovative product completely contradict's the company's failure come just a few months later. What do you think? Do you have any more information on the above prototype? Do you think a magical reader prototype exists? Enjoy!
❤ Elle
I think one of the most interesting aspects of this piece, however, is the handwritten signature of WOW designers or marketers and the date that is written on the piece. The date is marked July 9th, in what I assume to be 1987. If this is correct, it was a mere 5 months before Worlds of Wonder was to declare bankruptcy. It would be so interesting to me to see how Jim Henson's team reacted (or how the WOW team internally reacted) when bankruptcy was filed. To see that the Worlds of Wonder team was going strong on new, innovative product completely contradict's the company's failure come just a few months later. What do you think? Do you have any more information on the above prototype? Do you think a magical reader prototype exists? Enjoy!
❤ Elle
