Jim Henson

:For the company founded by Henson, see The Jim Henson Company.

1960s

The success of Sam and Friends led to a series of guest appearances on network talk and variety shows. To this day, Muppets appear as "guests" on shows such as The Tonight Show and Hollywood Squares, with particularly memorable appearances by Kermit and Miss Piggy on 60 Minutes and Cookie Monster on Martha Stewart Living. Henson himself appeared as a guest on many shows, including The Ed Sullivan Show. The greatly increased exposure led to hundreds of commercial appearances (mostly for Wilkins Coffee) by Henson characters through the 1960s.

Related Topics:
Sam and Friends - Talk - Variety shows - The Tonight Show - Hollywood Squares - Miss Piggy - 60 Minutes - Cookie Monster - Martha Stewart Living - The Ed Sullivan Show - 1960s

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Being puppets, they have been able to get away with a greater level of slapstick violence than might be acceptable with human actors. A good example is one of the early coffee ads. A Muppet is poised behind a cannon seen in profile. Another Muppet is in front of the barrel end of the cannon. The first Muppet says, "How do you feel about Wilkins Coffee?" The second Muppet responds gruffly, "Never heard of it!" The first Muppet fires the cannon and blows the second Muppet away... then turns the cannon directly toward the viewer, and ends the ad with, "Now, how do you feel about Wilkins Coffee?"

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In 1963, Henson and his wife Jane, also a puppeteer, moved to New York City, where the newly formed Muppets, Inc. would reside for some time. Henson devised Rowlf, a piano-playing anthropomorphic dog, the first Muppet to make a regular appearance on a network show The Jimmy Dean Show. At that time Henson's long-time partner Frank Oz also came on board with the new company.

Related Topics:
1963 - New York City - Rowlf - Anthropomorphic - The Jimmy Dean Show - Frank Oz

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From 1964 to 1968, Henson began exploring film-making, and produced a series of experimental films. His nine-minute experimental film Time Piece was nominated by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences for an Academy Award for Live Action Short Film in 1966. The NBC TV movie The Cube from 1969 is another experimental film that Jim Henson had produced.

Related Topics:
1964 - 1968 - Experimental films - Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences - Academy Award for Live Action Short Film - NBC

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In 1968, Joan Ganz Cooney and the team at the Children's Television Workshop began work on Sesame Street, a visionary children's program for public television. Part of the show was set aside for a series of funny, colorful puppet characters living on the titular street. These included Oscar the Grouch, Ernie and Bert, Cookie Monster, and Big Bird. Kermit was also included as a roving Television News Reporter. Around this time, a frill was added around Kermit's neck to make him more frog-like. The collar was also used to cover the joint where the neck met the body of the Muppet. At first the puppetry was separated from the realistic segments on the street, but after a poor test screening in Philadelphia, the show was revamped to integrate the two and place much greater emphasis on Henson's work.

Related Topics:
1968 - Joan Ganz Cooney - Children's Television Workshop - Sesame Street - Oscar the Grouch - Ernie - Bert - Cookie Monster - Big Bird - Test screening - Philadelphia

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