No, "Smiley" was not really accurately descriptive, since the shape of his muppety mouth only looked somewhat "smiley" at a certain angle, which even Jim Henson could not hold him at all the time. Also, according to the Muppet Wiki, he once admitted on Sesame Street "They call me Guy Smiley because I changed my name from Bernie Liederkrantz."

Besides, IMO, any muppet venn diagram MUST have Rowlf in the very center. I'm old enough to remember "Old Brown Ears" when he had his weekly chats with Jimmy Dean... I still feel he should've gotten at least a co-hosting gig on The Muppet Show... and his picture on every roll of Jimmy's sausage (at least until it was bought out by Sara Lee).

Jimmy Dean died last month. "Suddenly" at home. 81. Crazy old coot. Burt the mansion down a few years ago. I wonder if Donna Meade Dean will stick around town. I guess so, it's tough times to sell a singin sausage mansion.

"Jimmy Dean died last month." Actually, 2 months ago. I should know, I wrote the obitfilter. But back to Rowlf. His "Old Brown Ears Is Back" album was great (with Henson doing the voice not long before his untimely passing); he sang "Lydia the Tattooed Lady" better than Groucho, "New York State of Mind" better than Billy Joel and "Bein' Green" almost as good as Kermit. And "I Never Harmed an Onion" is classic. (It's on an mp3 blog)

Tangentially related: last year two of my friends dressed as the Yip Yips for Halloween. Here's one of them in the car at the party.

THE YIP YIPS WERE MY FAVORITE AND I COULD NEVER REMEMBER WHAT THEY WERE CALLED! THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU!!!!!!!!!!

Sweet picture, workerant.

I'm pretty sure Bert and Ernie are named after the cop and taxi driver in "It's a Wonderful Life."

I thought so, too, but apparently that's not the case.

From Wikipedia:

Characters named Bert and Ernie appear in the film It's a Wonderful Life as a policeman and a taxi driver, respectively, but those behind Sesame Street claim that it's merely a coincidence. Jerry Juhl, a writer on many Henson-related projects, said that "Despite his many talents, Jim had no memory for details like this. He knew the movie, of course, but would not have remembered the cop and the cabdriver".

Maybe not consciously...