jim henson

Happy Birthday Jim Henson! Today, September 24th, on what would be his 75th birthday, we take a moment to look back on the illustrious career that lives on to inspire the imagination and innovation for future generations to come. The following retrospective highlights one of the greatest creative imaginations of our times.

Jim Henson was an American puppeteer who dreamed of making Muppets as “entertainment for everybody." In 1956 he helped realize this dream building a frog puppet named Kermit the Frog. ''I suppose that he's an alter ego,'' Mr. Henson said. ''But he's a little snarkier than I am - slightly wise. Kermit says things I hold myself back from saying.''

Perhaps this outlet for his alter ego is what made Jim the famously kind employer his former colleagues recount in the touching Celebratory 75th Birthday podcast produced by the Jim Henson Company. The podcast is a touching tribute recounting relationships with Henson throughout the various levels of production. As a former receptionist recounts, “I think Jim Henson had the ability to make absolutely everyone that worked for the company feel like they were an important part of the success of the company.”

After listening to several of the podcast recollections it becomes apparent that Jim subscribes to the golden rule of dream making. Create unto others as you would have them create unto you. You get a sense that Henson was this altruistic omnipotent fairy godfather of creativity ushering his co-collaborators to success and in turn securing his own for all of time.

As an important lesson for us all, success did not come easily to Jim as he struggled through the early decades of his career honing his craft on a variety of projects that came his way from commercials, talk shows, and children’s projects.

Then in 1969 along came the children’s project that launched the ships of a thousand Muppet personalities, "Sesame Street." What would public television programming look like today without the innovative Henson Muppet Engineering? For that matter, what would our childhoods look like? Sesame Street is the substitute parent, babysitter, friend and teacher influencing childhoods from the show's inception to its current on-going production.

In the years following, Henson and his influential creative partner Frank Oz (Miss Piggy, Fozzy Bear, Animal) worked tirelessly in an effort to maintain the Muppets' versatility as entertainment intellectual property for all ages and not pigeon hole them to the sole venue of children’s programming.

Along came “The Muppet Show,” a variety show featuring Hollywood’s biggest acts including Steve Martin, Elton John, Mel Brooks, Julie Andrews, Carol Burnett and the relative list of who’s who in Hollywood continued through the show’s success.

Eventually, Henson and Oz would capture silver screen success for his own motley crew of Muppets with 1979’s “The Muppet Movie.” Both a box office and critical success, the film paved the way for the studio’s creative endeavors for years to come. The rest as they say is history.

History will hopefully repeat itself this Thanksgiving with, "The Muppets"starring Jason Segel ("How I Met Your Mother"). It is rumored Segel was hand-picked by the Henson company for his passion and dedication as a life long afficionado and follower of the franchise.

If I had to choose a favorite Jim Henson collaboration, in my mind it would be like choosing a favorite child. As an eighties baby I grew up on all things Muppet and I feel like I’m a better person for it. The world was made a better place with Jim Henson in it and his legacy continues to inspire imaginations forevermore.

Jim Henson let the world know that child-like imagination is not limited to youth. Imagination is for, “the lovers, the dreamers, and you.”

To a little girl of 5 — a composer of silly songs, a ratty-haired mischief-maker, a writer of skits, a hammy comedian — Jim Henson’s Muppets were hallowed.

In actuality, they were sacred to any fanciful child who digested that spur of creativity that dominated two decades of children’s television. They personified everything a child like that could ever want to become.

This, of course, was long ago, during a time before it became commonplace for parents to censor their children’s intake of playful ruckus, vaudeville humor and any sort of situation that could be misconstrued as politically or socially incorrect. A time before one-dimensional TV characters screeched of bland, yet safe mishmash.

Jim Henson is fairly responsible for educating children of the television generation to music, humor, art, make-believe, unbridled fantasy, and of course, numbers and letters.

His characters on “Sesame Street” and “The Muppet Show” barely graze the list of ingenious creatures that a myriad of young people looked to for inspiration. He had a knack for knowing how children’s minds worked. I’m pretty certain he knew just how far into adulthood his multidimensional work would follow these youths.

“As children, we all live in a world of imagination, of fantasy,” he once said, “and for some of us, that world of make-believe continues into adulthood.”

Whether it was an inventive creature, a fantastical doodle or a song that reached out to little kids feeling unappreciated — and reminded them that it’s not always easy being green — his work was genius. Yet, somehow, he made it seem so simple and easy, almost effortless, as if he had a natural-born talent for combining absurd creativity with wholesome candor. Much like fine food.

“Simple is good” always was Jim’s mantra. The connection between his work and a good chef’s is almost so similar it makes you wonder why he never dabbled in the culinary arts (although many of his characters — including Cookie Monster — got their start selling food during TV commercials). It’s a difficult task to balance creativity with simplicity, but true geniuses — either with their hands inside a puppet or inside a pot — can.

As a salute to Jim Henson, who would have celebrated his 75th birthday on Sept. 24, here’s a simple, yet delicious, recipe taken from an interesting source: “Muppet Picnic Cookbook.” This pamphlet was published in 1981, at the peak of popularity of “the Muppet Show” and distributed by Hallmark.

Favorite recipes from Muppet characters range from Kermit’s Swamp Salad, a spinach salad with a thick Parmesan dressing, to Fozzie Bear’s Corn “You’re Pudding Me On” Pudding.

The Bacon Upside-Down Cornbread, though, is perhaps the winner of the book. So simple, yet so tastefully ingenious. It’s almost a shame this very recipe wasn’t made renowned anytime before or after its publication. Prepared modestly with bacon and pure buttermilk, this recipe is clearly a tip of the hat to Henson’s work.

I was only 7 when Jim Henson died, but I still mourned for lost “Sesame Street” skits, the last of Rowlf the dog’s voice, and the fact that I’d never get to sit on a stool and discuss my favorite number with Kermit and Jim. As young and insignificant as I was, I knew the world had lost a supreme talent.

Like many others who grew up influenced by his artistry, I have him to thank for my own creative endeavors and artful tastes. Often, Henson fans have wondered just where his genius would have taken him if he were alive today — computer animation, more children’s programming, perhaps, and surely, today’s world of food would never be alien to Jim Henson.

“When I was young, my ambition was to be one of the people who made a difference in this world,” Henson once prophesied. “My hope is to leave the world a little better for having been there.”

When Jim Henson passed away, a few unproduced projects were left on his desk. One was an early project called Tale of Sand, a script written with frequent Muppet co-writer Jerry Juhl.

The script has been adapted into a graphic novel, by Ramón Perez and comic publisher Archaia. A twenty-page preview is now online, so you can get a taste of how one of Henson’s unrealized projects has been translated to the comic page.

Archaia has the preview (via Bleeding Cool) but you can see four pages in the gallery below. Head to the Archaia link to see more.