American puppeteer and storyteller Jim Henson was born in Greenville, Mississippi on this day in 1936. He is best remembered for his work on Sesame Street and creation of the Muppets. Among the twentieth century’s true visionaries, his career was one of continual innovation and artistic risk-taking.
While he was a member of his high school’s puppetry club, Henson’s original intention was to become a commercial artist rather than a puppeteer. He studied that path at the University of Maryland, but continued to attend puppetry classes in college as well. In fact, he met his future wife Jane at one of these classes. At age 18, Henson’s puppetry experience led to his first job in television on a local children’s program. After working on a few different shows, he and Jane created a five-minute nightly program called Sam and Friends. This program afforded them their most creative freedom to date and served as an embryonic version of The Muppet Show. The character who would become Kermit the Frog technically made his first appearance here. The series ran from 1955 to 1961. Unfortunately like most early television, the majority of the episodes are lost, though a few were preserved.
For the next several years, Henson worked on TV commercials and guest spots on other programs. His commercial work was considered groundbreaking in its use of humor to sell products rather than through a straightforward sales pitch. While Jane retired from puppetry to raise their children, Henson brought puppeteer Frank Oz (best known as the puppeteer/voice behind Miss Piggy from The Muppet Show and Yoda from Star Wars) onboard, beginning a creative partnership that would last until Henson’s passing. Other creatives would quickly join the team as well.
By 1969, Henson and his team attracted the attention of the Children’s Television Workshop, which recruited them for an educational TV program that had premiered that year. The show was Sesame Street. Henson’s puppet characters stole the show to the point where many assume Sesame Street was originally a Henson creation. While pleased with the success of his work on Sesame Street, Henson did not want to be pigeonholed as strictly a children’s entertainer, a reluctance that would persist to the end of his life. He attempted to create skits for the new comedy show Saturday Night Live, but the Henson and SNL teams did not get along, rendering the partnership brief. After a few initial rejections, Henson and his team premiered The Muppet Show in 1976. A variety sketch show aimed at an all-ages audience, the series became a massive worldwide hit, running until 1980 and spawning several successful feature films. Still, Henson was not content to let success make him complacent.
In the 1980s, Henson’s work gained a darker tone. His 1983 series Fraggle Rock still featured comedy and songs, but also dealt with more serious topics such as prejudice and environmentalism. The feature-length films The Dark Crystal and Labyrinth were both dark fantasies aimed at an older audience. More influenced by the Brothers Grimm than vaudeville, they took on a brooding tone and initially could not find much of an audience. In later years, they became cult classics.
Henson remained active in the film and television industry until his sudden death at age 53. He had contracted strep throat, which quickly developed into bacterial pneumonia. His death was met with widespread mourning and his funeral was a televised event. Henson’s characters live on after him, as does his legacy as a hardworking visionary dedicated to artistic excellence and integrity.
September 24th is the birthday of puppeteer and storyteller Jim Henson, one of the twentieth century's greatest visionaries. Celebrate his life and career with the resources below!
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