a fire-cracker burning at both ends

Eren Ozker, the Puppeteers Caucus and more

Eren Ozker, photographed during the first season of The Muppet Show, when she was the only regular female puppeteer (image via my last visit to the Museum of the Moving Image)

Before joining The Muppet Show in 1976, Eren Ozker played Ophelia.

At first glance, such a serious dramatic background might seem to make her an unlikely choice for a Muppeteer; but Eren quickly won over audiences as Janice, the hippie guitarist for Dr. Teeth and the Electric Mayhem, and Wanda, a sweet-voiced entertainer whose songs prove anything but “wholesome.”

Before her life with the Muppets, Eren performed on stages as an off-Broadway regular, so well-regarded that one reviewer called her “a fire-cracker burning at both ends.”