Jim Henson (1936-1990): Saying Goodbye 20 Years Later
By 
Matthew Kelly
on May 14, 2010
Twenty years ago, the world lost Jim Henson. I was four years old at the time, but I remember learning about his death a few months later on the television special “The Muppets Celebrate Jim Henson.” While in college years later, I purchased a bootleg of the broadcast on eBay and it’s always been one of my most prized possessions.
Jim Henson has always been my biggest influence. While movies like Star Wars and Jaws made me want to make movies, and Kevin Smith showed me that it’s possible to make it with just a cheap camera and your friends, Jim Henson taught me that anything was possible. It’s hard to reflect on a person who I never met and who died before I was out of pre-school. I could use my assumptions and write about his importance and influence on the entertainment industry, but first I want to talk about his influence and importance to me.
I was born about a year before my parents were married. They didn’t have a place to live at the time so the first year-and-a-half was spent at my mom’s parent’s house. While she went to work, my grandfather would baby-sit me and had me watch Sesame Street and The Muppet Show reruns. I’ve always loved the Muppets. As far back as pre-school I remember watching many Sesame Street VHS tapes. I’d listen to songs like Ladybug Picnic, Alligator King and Telephone Rock roughly three times a day and wore through the VHS tapes to the point where they could no longer play.
Perhaps it was because of that first year of my life that I developed a very close relationship with my grandfather. Our family would have parties and while everyone was drinking and watching football, I’d hang out with my grandpop in his music room. We’d listen to old jazz records, he’d play his banjo, and we’d always watch either the Marx Brothers, Mel Brooks or Muppet films. The Muppets helped shape my concept of comedy and their influence is noticeable in multiple comedians and comedy writers ranging from comedy troupes like The State and Stephen Lynch to directors like Lloyd Kaufman and Kevin Smith. Comedian Chris Hardwick even referred to the Muppets as one of his two biggest influences on the twelfth episode of his podcast “The Nerdist” (The following episodes his guests WERE The Muppets).
I come from a family (at least on my mother’s side) where everyone is a musician. When we’d have parties, there were always different family members performing songs. But the show stopper was when my Uncle Tommy (who was an amateur stand-up comedian/impersonator) would get a Kermit the Frog puppet and sing Rainbow Connection while my grandfather played banjo. Still, somewhere around junior high I really stopped caring about Jim Henson and the Muppets. It wasn’t like I stopped liking them - I just never thought about them any more. It wasn’t until my grandfather’s death in 2001 when they reentered my mind. The day after his funeral, I turned on the TV and was greeted by Kermit the Frog singing Rainbow Connection in the opening credits of The Muppet Movie. I immediately broke down crying. This brutal moment had reopened a door into the world of Jim Henson for me.
Every person who’s ever worked with Henson says the same thing when they’re interviewed about him: He was friendly, funny and always coming up with new ideas. In a world where it feels like every movie is full of CGI and 3-D effects, we sometimes forget how wonderful the practical effects of the past were. While movies like Deep Blue Sea and the Star Wars prequels look cheesy and dated already, a movie like Labyrinth still shines with fantastical wonderment.
It’s easy for me to say that Jim Henson is the reason I write or direct or do comedy. What people forget are the other things that Henson inspired in us and taught us. He taught many of us how to read and write through his characters on Sesame Street (and his legacy has continued to educate long after his death). He taught us to love each other, to care about each other, to believe in ourselves and of the unlimited powers of our imagination.
What always made things work for Henson was the way he depicted his characters. They were human - legit real creations - that were so much more than just pieces of felt and ping pong balls. When you watch the Muppet Show, you identify with these characters, be it the glamorous Miss Piggy, the misunderstood Gonzo, the stuggling artist Fozzie, the always relaxed Rowlf, or Kermit, who has the most daunting task of all the Muppets: struggling to keep everything together. I sincerely believe that everyone can be connected with a Muppet. But what made these characters so special and such an impact on generations of people young and old were the ways that they interacted with each other. They fought and they performed, but at the end of the day, they cared about each other. The Muppeteers were friends, and those friendships came through in the characters.
There’s a song lyric that has always made me think of Henson. The lyric is from the song "Pure Imagination" from the 1973 film "Willie Wonka and the Chocolate Factory": “If you want to view paradise/Simply look around and view it/Anything you want to do/Want to change the world, there’s nothing to it.” Jim Henson made the world believe that anything was possible. He created wonderfully elaborate worlds in his films. He made us all believe that as long as we believed in ourselves, we would succeed. He was the living example of following your dreams.
Jim Henson started his career on public access television with Sam & Friends, a show that almost immediately oozed Jim’s trademark off-key brand of humor and introduced future classic characters like Kermit and Rowlf the Dog. While producing the show, Henson started to experiment with techniques that forever changed the way puppetry was performed on television. Until that point, it had always been a ventriloquist act, but Henson used monitors and raised sets in order to allow puppeteers to hold puppets over their heads and watch their performances on the screens. He made a living using the puppets to make commercials, appear on talk show appearances and even directed an award-winning short film called Time Piece. However it was when Joan Ganz Cooney and the team at the Children’s Television Workshop approached him about their educational show Sesame Street that Henson truly got to shine.
It was there that Henson began to build a legacy with a new version of Kermit the Frog, in addition to Oscar the Grouch, Bert and Ernie, Cookie Monster and Big Bird – just to name a few. Henson always downplayed his role in the success of the show, but Cooney frequently praised his work and the Public Broadcast Service called him “the spark that ignited our fledgling broadcast service.”
Henson worried that he’d be typecast as only a children’s entertainer and began producing a series of adult sketches for Saturday Night Live, but the writers were not fans. Michael O’Donoghue famously stated, “I don’t write for felt.” It was from there that the groundbreaking Muppet Show began to grow. American Networks mostly rejected the series, feeling that the Muppets could only appeal to children, but it was with the help of a media mogul named Lew Grade that the show got made. Like most great shows, it was a slow burn to its popularity. But in 1979, Henson made The Muppet Movie, which became the 61st highest-grossing movie of all time and made the song Rainbow Connection a radio hit as well as the song most attributed to the Muppets.
The fame didn’t hold up forever, however. After the box office failure of Labyrinth and the low ratings for his television shows The Storyteller and The Jim Henson Hour, Henson began negotiations to sell the company to the Walt Disney Company to save the Muppets and give him more time on the creative side of show. Less than a year later, Henson began feeling flu-like symptoms and started feeling sick and constantly tired. Early on May 15, 1990, he was having trouble breathing and began coughing up blood. His ex-wife Jane Henson was by his side and she claimed in an interview with People Magazine that Jim thought he may be dying but didn’t want to bother going to the hospital. Jane said this was likely due to his desire to “not be a bother to people.” The following day, Henson died of pneumonia.
Someone recently put the entire funeral service on YouTube. While this might be a morbid thing, it’s an incredibly touching memorial filled with Dixieland music, singing, laughing and personal stories of favorite moments with Jim. There’s this constant struggle between great sadness and intense happiness for a great man who most of us never met. Many of the comments expressed a feeling of sorrow, as if they lost a close friend and not just a random celebrity. I completely identify with those sentiments, as there has never been another celebrity whose death has left such a feeling of emptiness inside me like Jim Henson’s passing.
In the last few months, I’ve been working on an EP planned for a July 20th release titled Musicians Celebrate Jim Henson, and one of the most impressive and inspiring things about this project for me has been the outpouring of love and respect that Jim Henson still has today. This is just one person’s opinion on a great man. If you grew up on Sesame Street or Muppet Babies, if you learned how to play drums from watching Animal, if as far as you’re concerned the only true Christmas special out there is when the Muppets visit Fozzie’s grandmother, then please use the Geekscape comments and share your fondest memories of this man. And especially remember how his great influence is still significant 20 years after his death.
The following clip is from the 1990 TV special Muppets Celebrate Jim Henson. This clips sums up the man far better than I, or anyone else, could.
15 Comments
I grew up on the Muppet Show, Sesame Street, and Muppet Babies. His death was the first celebrity death I ever made note of (I was 11 at the time).
Definitely making my kids watch all of this as they grow up and not that Disney channel idol pop bullshit the kids are being brainwashed with today.
I've never paid much attention to Jim Henson's work but after reading this I will definitely be checking it out.
Great writing!
I was 10 when he died, and it was the first person I felt I knew who died. The tribute did a great job of making you feel it was ok to be sad and confused, but it was ok to be silly again. I'll always love Jim and the Muppets.
I was six when Jim Henson died. I remember watching The Muppet Movie and just crying. To this day when I feel discouraged I watch Kermit sing The Rainbow Connection and remember what it was like as a child to know that someone, who had never meet me believed and me and wanted me to go after my dreams.
Jim Henson is such an influence on me as a writer. And as a cinema student, I honestly think The Muppet Movie is one of the greatest achievements in American Cinema. I have Muppet songs on my ipod and to this day still can’t sleep on Christmas Eve without first watching The Muppet Christmas Carol (which I know was after Jim died but still). Watching The Muppet Show takes me right back to childhood and Jim Henson made it a magical one.
You know when people ask that famous question: if you could have a conversation with any three historical figures, living or dead, who would they be? Well, it may take me some time to come up with my perfect answer, but I can say with all certainty that Jim Henson would most certainly be the first name to roll off my tongue. THE MAN (yes, he deserves the all caps) has always been a huge inspiration to me. If you were to go back and ask my 9-10 year-old counterpart what I wanted to do when I grew up, I would have said a filmmaker or a muppeteer. I was just as captivated knowing how he made the whole muppet charade cleverly work as I was (and while I was) watching one of the movies or an episode of the show. Unfortunately, I didn’t grow up to be either of those things (I’m still young – fingers crossed), but he taught me how to dream, and I’m a much better person for it.
By the way, “Henson’s Place: The Man Behind The Muppets” is premiering on DVD on August 3rd.
I totally remember how scared I was when my dad took me to see Dark Crystal in the theaters. Labyrinth wasn't as scary because I was older but something about the race against time and Jennifer Connely being cheated just drove me nuts with frustration. I remember the exact moment I heard Jim Henson had died. I was sitting in my dad's car waiting for him to pick up dry cleaning next to a 7-11 in my neighborhood and he'd left the radio on for me. I was pretty upset when he got back in the car. I was 11 or 12 years old. Crazy the things that stick with you.
I remember seeing Kermit when he was still made out of a green coat and Sesame Street was years in the future. I watched Sesame Street before our oldest daughter was even born and she learned her alphabet so well she astounded the eye doctor by reading the eye chart at the age of three. We watched everything Henson-related and still try to. I was so sorry to hear of his death as creativity used for good things doesn't happen all that much and his was unique.
You spoke the words I have wanted to express for so long, Henson was such a god to me, my handle has always been muppetsomething... because of my love for him and all things Muppet... Not many people understand his just how great he was....he should be remembered forever!
I was also one of the people who grew up on watching Seseme Street and Muppets. I remember hearing that Mr. Henson died, and was floored at the news. A month later, at my school's talent show, one talented trumpet player honored Mr. Henson by playing Rainbow Connection. While others next to me did not understand the "why" behind his choice for his act, and gave me a very mad stare when I told them to be quiet with tears in my eyes, I completely understood the importance that Mr. Henson had in many lives. The best thing that we can do to honor and remember is keep his ideas alive by showing the movies and shows Mr. Henson created to our children. I do this regularly, and they laugh hysterically because it is magic. :-)
Jim Henson was a truly magical person, and I truly wish I could have met him. I also wish that the Disney company had never gotten its talons into any of his creations. I realize that Jim himself evidently trusted Disney enough to consider selling the Muppets to them--but I will never forgive Disney for the special feature on season 2 of the Muppet Show, wherein the characters are being interviewed and they act like they don't remember who Jim Henson was. That wasn't funny--it was rude, and it dishonoured the memory of one of the greatest humans who ever lived.
Thank you so much for sharing all of your comments. Jim Henson has truly been the biggest influence on my life. For so long I tried to explain that to other people and they just didn't understand my love for the man. It wasn't until Geekscape that I found more people who understood, but now I know that there are people all over the globe who understand. I sincerely believe schools' should have the day off in honor of the man who arguably educated more people than any school could dream to.
I wrote this and had it published locally shortly after Jim Henson died.
Once upon a time...
a young lad by name of Jim created for himself a homemade hand puppet. Legend has it that he used an old coat worn by his mother. Jim added two eyes, and Kermit the Frog was born. From such humble origins, Jim Henson’s Muppets would capture the hearts of children and adult alike, and would grow into a multi-million dollar empire. But at the center of it all was Henson. He had the dream, and was the guiding force that made the dream a reality.
Henson had a great gift. Throughout his career, he was able to communicate to children on their own level, and, at the same time, he was listened to by adults. Each of his Muppets were unique and had their own personality. Of course, the recognized leader of the Muppets was Kermit the Frog. I remember as a child how I would sit glued to the tube and watch “Sesame Street”. I really had no patience for the actors. I only wanted to see the Muppets. Little did I know that I was actually learning. I thought I was having a good time. I enjoyed watching Ernie (also played by Henson), as he aggravated Burt. Later, I would come to consider Ernie to be a complete psychotic. Probably why I loved him so. I would even look forward to the Muppet television specials. In those days, before the VCR, it was a great time to see these shows because they may only be repeated once, and you’d never see it again. Even in these specials, Henson’s Muppets never seemed to take themselves seriously. Their satire was quick and entertaining. It was as if they were enjoying life so much that everything was funny. The Muppets were also affectionate and didn’t mind displaying affection when the time called for it.
Henson and Kermit have a special place in my life. Growing up disabled could be a bit of a pain in the buttocks, so to speak, and even though I was physically better than most people, there were times that it would still get the best of me. Then one day, I saw Kermit singing, “It's Not Easy Being Green”. I thought, “Hey! Kermit understands.” For me, the best part of the song is the end, when Kermit, after wondering about what life would be like as something else, decides he’s perfectly happy being green. In other words, he was happy to be just the way he was. Life became a little easier to bare.
Of course, we all loved Kermit the way he was. Although he may have changed physically from his humble origins, he was still the same person alter all these years. Perhaps that’s why Henson’s death is so sad. We felt that he and his Muppets were going to live forever. And we feel cheated arid robbed when we find out that we were wrong.
Henson was a genius. He created all types of Muppets whenever the situation needed it. Besides the ‘usual’ Muppets (if you can call the Muppets “usual’), there were the Muppets of “Dark Crystal”, “Labyrinth”, and even regular Muppets on the first season of Saturday Night Live. And of course, we all know that Yoda of Star Wars was a muppet (played by Frank Oz). One of my favorite Muppets was something that looked like a cross between a goat and a human and was called Dr. Deadly. It was made especially for Vincent Price when he hosted “The Muppet Show”. “The Muppet Show”, which is still shown in syndication, had many great guest stars, including the comedic talents of Peter Sellers and Monty Python’s John Cleese, but they were always upstaged by the Muppets. The Muppets were more than just puppets. Each seemed to be real. One really expected that there really was a Kermit the Frog out there in the world. And behind all of this was the creative force of Henson.
At the bequest of Henson, there was no mourning at his funeral, which was held at St. John the Divine in New York City. Big Bird sang “It’s Not Easy Being Green”, ‘Such Is Life” by Harry Belefonte was played (He also performed this song on “The Muppet Show”), and the Muppet performers gathered together with their creations to bid goodbye. It was not a remembrance of a death, but a celebration of life. The life of Jim Henson and how that life touched us all.
No doubt Kermit will live again, as well as Ernie and other Sesame Street Muppets that Henson created. But will they have the same personality that Henson was able to give them? Will life still be a joy to them as it was to Henson? Will they try to be so much like the original that they end up being a stale copy? I hope not, for if there is one thing Henson taught, it was that being original was alright It was alright to be different. It was alright to be green. That’s why we love him. That’s why we’ll miss him. But he’ll still live in the heart. And that cannot die.
I still remember the day he died. I was 13 at the time and had grown up a big fan of his, from the original Muppet Show, Sesame Street, Fraggle Rock and the Muppet movies (except The Dary Crystal, that movie scared the shit out of me when I was a Kid). The day he passed away, when I arrived home from school my older brother told me he was gone. As he was older brother, he would make up things just to rile me up so I didn't believe it at first. That night on ET they revealed that what he had said was true. I was shell shocked to say the least and could not comprehend that he was gone. He was a truly gifted man that was taken from us far too soon
compelled to post here. How's this- I was THIRTY when Jim Henson died! Thiir-dee. I was watching the muppets since their creation as characters on Sesame Street. The original kermit, made from Jim Henson's mother's coat sits proudly in the museum of american history at the Smithsonian in washington DC. He is honored to share the same case as Fonzie's leather jacket and Archie and Edith's chairs. I will never forgot the flood of emotion when i saw him there for the first time. I was literally overcome. My 28 yr. old son (then 8) wept upon hearing the news. And that, my friends is the true measure of how deeply a person has touched our lives.It is not so much how we felt then, but rather their ability to move a person to tears thirty years later.
very interesting (and true) note. Almost 10 years to the day later I was fine one day and next morning feeling like i was coming down with something but by mid afternoon was deathly ill and having severe breathing difficulty and a 104 fever.My doc takes one look at me, sends me to the ER. They tell me I have pneumonia and i say "wait a sec, i was FINE yesterday and today i am deathly ill? What could cause that? To which she replied- "you remember Jim henson??" What saved my life (But not Jim's) is that I am a nurse, and i knew to break my doc's door down. Pneumococcal pneumonia. from 0 to death in as little as half a day.
OK, I'll take you back. Jim Henson was in college, U of Maryland I think, and he appeared on the tonight show, maybe Steve Allen maybe later, and he was a hippie with a puppet in bed. Jim was reading "The night before Christmas" but as a hippie. "It was like the night before Christmas" he started. I have tried for years to find a reference to this show but even communications with his wife did not help. She said "it sounded like something he would do" Can any of you guys help?
Pete
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