Vintage 1980s ALF Finger Puppet 👽 | Gordon Shumway TV Memorabilia

Remember ALF? 👽 Vintage 1980s ALF Finger Puppet Head, Gordon Shumway

Size: 2 3/4" x 1 3/4"

👽 That wrinkly snout, the beady black eyes, two little white teeth and a big mop of golden hair. It's ALF's head, just big enough to ride on the end of your finger, and it's never been played with. You don't see many of these little guys around, and he still makes me laugh every time I pick him up.

🔍 What's On It

The head is hollow molded vinyl in that mauve-brown ALF color, with the ribbed snout, painted creases, round black eyes and ears up on the sides. The hair is a golden synthetic pile glued over the top and back, with a zig-zag cut edge. Underneath there's an open hole for your finger, and that's the whole puppet, a head with no body. There's no printed name, tag or label anywhere. Tucked inside the neck flap, mostly hidden under the hair, is a little molded mark, and all that shows of it is KO, most likely the start of KOREA, where a whole lot of ALF goods were made in the late 1980s.

The hair is held on with the original glue, and on these old heads it can let go a little around the bottom edge. A dab of glue puts it right.

It isn't Coleco's ALF finger puppet, by the way. That one is a full plush ALF about eight or nine inches tall. This is the tiny one, a fingertip ALF, and he'll sit on the end of a pencil just as happily.

📺 ALF on NBC

Puppeteer Paul Fusco came up with the character in 1984, starting from an alien-looking puppet he used to pester his family and friends with. Bernie Brillstein, Jim Henson's manager, was won over, and Fusco teamed up with writer Tom Patchett to form Alien Productions. ALF ran on NBC from September 22, 1986, to March 24, 1990, and by the second season it was tenth in the Nielsen ratings.

Making it was a circus. Fusco worked ALF from underneath a set built four feet off the floor and full of trap doors, Lisa Buckley worked his left arm, a radio-control operator handled the face and ears, and Michu Meszaros wore the ALF suit when they needed him walking around.

🛸 Gordon Shumway from Melmac

In the show, ALF's real name is Gordon Shumway, from the planet Melmac - and Melmac lore has it he was named after his grandmother, one of the few women on the planet who could split a block of wood with her lips. Melmac blew up, and he only survived because he was out with the Orbit Guard. He followed a ham radio signal and crash-landed in the Tanner family's garage in the San Fernando Valley, and Willie Tanner named him ALF, for Alien Life Form. On Melmac cats were food, which is why poor Lucky the cat spent four seasons in danger, and a Melmacian wedding cake is a wedding cat. ALF was born October 28, 1756, so he was a couple of hundred years old and still acted like a teenager. And the show's fans remember Grandma Shumway, who told him to speak only when he had something nice to say, and then never spoke to him again.

🎉 ALF Mania

For a few years ALF was everywhere. ALF merchandise rang up well over $250 million in sales in 1987, and Coleco sold $85 million worth of plush ALFs alone. Nancy Reagan invited ALF to the 1987 White House Christmas party, and President Reagan said it was his favorite show. There were Topps cards, a Marvel comic, Burger King's 1988 hand puppets, and in 1989 ALF hosted the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade. He was a huge star in West Germany too.

📏 Details

• Vintage 1980s ALF finger puppet head, molded vinyl with golden synthetic hair
• Head only, open finger hole underneath, molded KO mark inside the neck
• About 2 3/4" x 1 3/4", never played with, New Old Stock
• Hair is glued on and may want a dab of glue at the bottom edge
• You'll get one ALF like the ones shown

🖼️ Put him on your desk, your monitor or the end of a pencil, or give him to the friend who still quotes ALF. He's a great little piece of 1980s TV.