In 1989, a children’s show featuring singing puppets managed something no politician had. It slipped quietly across the Iron Curtain. For the first time, “Fraggle Rock” appeared on television in the USSR, bringing Jim Henson’s underground world of Fraggles, Doozers, and Gorgs into Soviet living rooms. The story began years earlier. By the early 1980s, Henson was already famous for “The Muppet Show” and “Sesame Street,” but he wanted to create something bigger than ratings. He dreamed of a show that carried a message of peace and wasn’t bound by national borders or languages. Puppets, he believed, were the perfect characters for that type of program. The result was “Fraggle Rock,” a hopeful experiment in connection. The Fraggles didn’t reach Russia overnight. During the Cold War, few American programs managed to cross the Iron Curtain. But in 1982, Henson’s fantasy film “The Dark Crystal” became a surprise hit at the Moscow Film Festival. There were sold-out screenings and crowds lined up outside theaters. That success opened a door. As the Soviet Union began to change under Mikhail Gorbachev’s reforms, Soviet television grew more open to ideas from outside countries. On Jan. 8, 1989, Soviet audiences saw their first episode of “Fraggle Rock.” The response was overwhelming. Ratings were unprecedented, and later that year, the entire first season began airing, dubbed with a Russian narrator. It arrived months before the Berlin Wall fell. For Henson, who died the following spring, the Fraggles’ appearance on Soviet airwaves was one of his last great accomplishments. After Henson’s passing, his dream lived on. A few years later, Russia produced its own version of “Sesame Street.” For a time, children on both sides of the world grew up watching the same small creatures solve problems with laughter. Maybe that was the peace Henson hoped for all along. Fraggle Rock’s Cold War Breakthrough Puppets Behind the Iron Curtain
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DREAM EQUALITY FESTIVAL GROUNDHOG HEARTS KING LINCOLN MUFFIN PANCAKE
RABBIT ROSES
Mouthwatering Mini Cheesecakes
Ingredients
• 12 oz package vanilla wafers • 16 oz cream cheese, softened • 3/4 cup white sugar
• 2 large eggs • 1 tsp vanilla extract • 21 oz can cherry pie filling
Directions 1. Preheat oven to 350 F. 2. In two 24-cup miniature muffin pans, line each space with a paper liner. 3. Using a food processor or resealable plastic bag, crush vanilla wafers into a fine crumb. 4. Press 1/2 teaspoon of crumbs into each paper liner. 5. In a mixing bowl, beat cream cheese, sugar, eggs, and vanilla until light and fluffy. 6. Fill each miniature muffin liner with this mixture, almost to the top. 7. Bake in the preheated oven for 15 minutes or until the cheesecakes are set. 8. Cool completely in the pan. 9. Top each mini cheesecake with about a teaspoon of cherry pie filling before serving. Enjoy!
Inspired by AllRecipes.com
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