Muppet Pro
09-23-2008, 10:22 PM
I just want to wish Jim Henson's Spirit a Happy 72th Birthday.
On my dresser, I have a picture of Jim with Kermit, and right near it, I save Quarters that were made in 1990. It's kind of like a memorial sort of thing.
Tomarrrow I'll be waring a green shirt and a light green jacket. And for the quarters, I would only spend them on something deditaced in Jim's memory. And since I need to get up early tomarrow LOL, I'll be going over to Tim Hortains for an Ice Coffee, but I wanted to make a Toast to Jim's spirit.
Plus I'll probably be watching some classic clips after my college homework is done.
I know it's not much but I would really like to do something in memory of Jim, even if it's just a simple toast.
Jim's probably my strongest influence to my work. When Television Puppetry came out there was only two purposes............It would always be aimed at kids or at parents to buy a cheap product.
The art of Puppetry has been around even before Television and film. Not only was puppetry a popular choice of entertainment for children but adults as well. It simpolized life on Earth and expressed messages visually. Sometimes it was artsy, sometimes it was just for a laugh that anyone could enjoy, sometimes it was dirty and violent and ment for only adults, then a lot of times it satirized people in a humorious and serious fashion using the art of Satire.
Puppetry and Cartoons were seperated for a long time. But it was totally Jim Henson who put them both together. Jim was an artist not a puppeteer at the time. He loved painting, pop music, and country life in Mississipi. When he saw Television for the first time, he bugged his parents until they finally got one. LOL
He was so amazed by the artform, he knew that he wanted to do something with it. He didn't choose puppetry, it was just part of a TV related job back in 1954. He designed specialized puppets for the TV format. Around the time when Sam & Friends was a hit show in Washington D.C., Jim toke a vacation to Europe. He was thinking on ending the show and quiting puppetry all together and start with a better stable art carear. Then he saw an adults only puppet show there, and it changed the way he looked at puppetry today.
I know that a lot of people talk about how Jim looked at the world in a positive point of view and how The Muppets were enjoyed by so many audiences.
Though the biggest thing that amazed me about Jim is not only was he a great boss and never rude to anyone, always fexable even at times of disasters. But how he fought long and hard for Adult puppetry.
The Muppet Show was a huge struggle to get on the air. No one in America wanted it, they thought that The Muppets were just for kids. And even though that was so stressful and fusterating for Jim, he still kept his cool. The only time I ever heard of Jim showing a little bit of his anger is when I read that around this time, Jim just sat at his desk and discussing more ways to get his point across. Jerry Juel said that he witnessed Jim giving a light pound on his desk saying "This is going to be an Adult puppet show, not for kids!".
He certainly made a stand to adult puppetry. Now a lot of the gereral audiences are kind of forgeting this and how The Muppet Show was watched mostly by adults. Crank Yankers, Greg The Bunny, Crow Police, Wonder Showzen and Spitting Image kept the tradition going.
Around the mid 1980s Jim tryed to escape the world of Comedy to do something different and that became his Fantasy Films. I remember hearing that Spitting Image creators Peter Fluck and Roger Law asked Jim if he can help out with Spitting Image or at least let them use one of his workshops. Jim didn't want to be appart of Spitting Image because not only he wanted to get away from the Comedy side of entertainment but he felt that createing a character and a strong personality that is simply built can be believeable to the audience more then a puppet satirizing a certain person for cheap laughs.
And I think that it was a good thing that Jim Henson kind of stood away from Spitting Image so it wouldn't ruin his carear much. LOL
Anyways, sorry if this post was a bit too long (plus a bunch of spelling errors I bet LOL ) But I just wanted to take the time writting about my idol on the 72th anniversary of his Birthday.
God Bless Jim Henson's Soul and Mind ;)
I feel that he totally made a difference in this world and in certain areas made the world a better place just like he attented too.
And for people who disagree, I remember his wrote in the letters that he wrote to his kids before his death "This might sound crazy and off the wall too you guys but what the he**, I'm gone and who can argue with me?" LOL
Happy Birthday Jim and thanks for being such a strong influence in my work.
On my dresser, I have a picture of Jim with Kermit, and right near it, I save Quarters that were made in 1990. It's kind of like a memorial sort of thing.
Tomarrrow I'll be waring a green shirt and a light green jacket. And for the quarters, I would only spend them on something deditaced in Jim's memory. And since I need to get up early tomarrow LOL, I'll be going over to Tim Hortains for an Ice Coffee, but I wanted to make a Toast to Jim's spirit.
Plus I'll probably be watching some classic clips after my college homework is done.
I know it's not much but I would really like to do something in memory of Jim, even if it's just a simple toast.
Jim's probably my strongest influence to my work. When Television Puppetry came out there was only two purposes............It would always be aimed at kids or at parents to buy a cheap product.
The art of Puppetry has been around even before Television and film. Not only was puppetry a popular choice of entertainment for children but adults as well. It simpolized life on Earth and expressed messages visually. Sometimes it was artsy, sometimes it was just for a laugh that anyone could enjoy, sometimes it was dirty and violent and ment for only adults, then a lot of times it satirized people in a humorious and serious fashion using the art of Satire.
Puppetry and Cartoons were seperated for a long time. But it was totally Jim Henson who put them both together. Jim was an artist not a puppeteer at the time. He loved painting, pop music, and country life in Mississipi. When he saw Television for the first time, he bugged his parents until they finally got one. LOL
He was so amazed by the artform, he knew that he wanted to do something with it. He didn't choose puppetry, it was just part of a TV related job back in 1954. He designed specialized puppets for the TV format. Around the time when Sam & Friends was a hit show in Washington D.C., Jim toke a vacation to Europe. He was thinking on ending the show and quiting puppetry all together and start with a better stable art carear. Then he saw an adults only puppet show there, and it changed the way he looked at puppetry today.
I know that a lot of people talk about how Jim looked at the world in a positive point of view and how The Muppets were enjoyed by so many audiences.
Though the biggest thing that amazed me about Jim is not only was he a great boss and never rude to anyone, always fexable even at times of disasters. But how he fought long and hard for Adult puppetry.
The Muppet Show was a huge struggle to get on the air. No one in America wanted it, they thought that The Muppets were just for kids. And even though that was so stressful and fusterating for Jim, he still kept his cool. The only time I ever heard of Jim showing a little bit of his anger is when I read that around this time, Jim just sat at his desk and discussing more ways to get his point across. Jerry Juel said that he witnessed Jim giving a light pound on his desk saying "This is going to be an Adult puppet show, not for kids!".
He certainly made a stand to adult puppetry. Now a lot of the gereral audiences are kind of forgeting this and how The Muppet Show was watched mostly by adults. Crank Yankers, Greg The Bunny, Crow Police, Wonder Showzen and Spitting Image kept the tradition going.
Around the mid 1980s Jim tryed to escape the world of Comedy to do something different and that became his Fantasy Films. I remember hearing that Spitting Image creators Peter Fluck and Roger Law asked Jim if he can help out with Spitting Image or at least let them use one of his workshops. Jim didn't want to be appart of Spitting Image because not only he wanted to get away from the Comedy side of entertainment but he felt that createing a character and a strong personality that is simply built can be believeable to the audience more then a puppet satirizing a certain person for cheap laughs.
And I think that it was a good thing that Jim Henson kind of stood away from Spitting Image so it wouldn't ruin his carear much. LOL
Anyways, sorry if this post was a bit too long (plus a bunch of spelling errors I bet LOL ) But I just wanted to take the time writting about my idol on the 72th anniversary of his Birthday.
God Bless Jim Henson's Soul and Mind ;)
I feel that he totally made a difference in this world and in certain areas made the world a better place just like he attented too.
And for people who disagree, I remember his wrote in the letters that he wrote to his kids before his death "This might sound crazy and off the wall too you guys but what the he**, I'm gone and who can argue with me?" LOL
Happy Birthday Jim and thanks for being such a strong influence in my work.