Do
You Know Jim?
Jim
Henson is without a doubt the most famous puppeteer in history. Both
the creator and a performer of the "Muppets," Henson is
known throughout the world for his puppet creations, which include
such characters as Grover, Elmo, Big Bird, Bert and Ernie, Miss Piggy,
and especially, Kermit the Frog, whose voice was provided by Henson
and who remains the muppet with which Henson is most closely associated.
Through television and later through feature films, Henson developed
the art of puppetry to new heights of technical expertise and storytelling
capabilities, particularly in the ability to create sympathetic, emotional
characters with whom audiences, both young and old alike, can relate.
James Maury Henson was born September 24, 1936, in Greenville, Mississippi,
the second son of Paul Ransom and Elizabeth Marcella Henson. He grew
up in nearby Leland, where his father, an agronomist, worked for the
U.S. Department of Agriculture. His childhood was a happy one, as
he explored both his artistic interests and the local countryside,
whether alone or with friends. One of his childhood friends, Kermit,
would later inspire the name of Henson's most celebrated creation.
When he was in fifth grade, his family returned to Maryland. Henson's
first television appearance occurred while he was still in high school,
performing puppets on a local Washington, D.C., Saturday morning program
on WTOP-TV. While a freshman at the University of Maryland, he turned
professional when a local NBC affiliate hired him to do a five-minute
late-night show called "Sam and Friends." His first performing
partner, Jane Nebel, would later become his wife.
In creating the "muppets" — a combination of the words
"marionette puppet" — Henson rejected the painted
wood appearance of most puppets of the period because they were not
sufficiently expressive of emotion. Instead, he crafted his puppets,
including an early version of "Kermit," who was not yet
a frog, out of flexible, fabric-covered foam rubber, giving them supple
bodies and large mouths that allowed them to convey a wide range of
emotions.
Success from the show proved the stepping stone for a series of commercials
that brought him nationwide fame. Soon, he was making guest appearances
on such national network programs as The Steve Allen Show, The Jack
Paar Show, and The Today Show. In 1961, as Muppets, Inc. grew, Jim
and Jane brought on puppeteer and writer Jerry Juhl, who would become
one of Jim's major collaborators.
The Hensons moved to New York in 1963 as his television appearances
grew to include The Tonight Show, Ed Sullivan, and The Jimmy Dean
Show, and weekly appearances on The Today Show as well as commercials.
To keep up with demand, he hired master puppet builder Don Sahlin
and young puppeteer Frank Oz. During this time also, he experimented
with short films, including "Time Piece," which was nominated
for an Oscar for best live-action short subject. In 1968 he broadcast
his first television special, "Muppets on Puppets," for
National Educational Television.
With the premiere in 1969 of Sesame Street, the Muppets reached superstardom.
Produced by the nonprofit Children's Television Workshop, Sesame Street
used flashy imagery and quick pacing common in television commercials
to teach preschoolers about letters, numbers, and social values. PBS
producer Joan Ganz Cooney had invited Henson to create a family of
Muppet characters to populate Sesame Street. Henson and his creative
team created a number of memorable characters for Sesame Street, including
Oscar the Grouch, Bert and Ernie, Grover, Cookie Monster, and Big
Bird, each with distinctive personalities.
Henson's success on Sesame Street paved the way for his next television
production, The Muppet Show, a weekly syndicated variety show hosted
by Kermit the Frog with an expanded cast of both new and familiar
muppets and guest starring live actors and celebrities. The show was
an immediate success upon its premiere in 1976 and was still popular
when Henson decided to cease production in 1981 in order to concentrate
on greater challenges.
His company by now had expanded to include a wide variety of children's
programming and educational materials, including books, music, and
television shows, such as Fraggle Rock on HBO and Muppet Babies on
CBS-TV. His primary creative interest, however, was in motion pictures.
In 1979, he had scored a hit with young and old alike with the first
big-screen Muppet movie, titled simply The Muppet Movie. The musical-comedy
launched a series of Muppet movies, including The Great Muppet Caper
(1981) and The Muppets Take Manhattan (1984), which has continued
into the present.
During the 1980s, Henson also produced two big-screen productions
starring a cast of puppets other than the familiar cast of Muppets.
The Dark Crystal (1982) and Labyrinth (1986) expanded the art and
craft of puppeteering to new levels of technical achievement. Henson
also continued to produce some memorable television programs and specials.
Jim Henson's The Storyteller and Jim Henson's Greek Myths were original
series conceived by Henson to convey the metaphoric richness of ancient
stories. Based on authentic myths and folk tales and produced with
a strong literary research team, the two series represented a rare
combination of ancient tradition and modern technological artistry.
Henson died of pneumonia in New York on May 16, 1990. Over the course
of a career spanning more than 30 years, Henson received eighteen
Emmy awards, seven Grammy awards, four Peabody awards, and numerous
other honors.
