We've already recorded an episode on The Muppets, but Jim Henson was such a neat guy we delved into him even further. Learn all about the man behind the Muppets who was so much more than just a master puppeteer in this classic episode.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Chapter 1: Who was Jim Henson beyond the Muppets?
Good morning, everyone. I hope you are watching Saturday Morning Cartoons, or maybe The Muppets, because this one is all about Jim Henson. I'm often asked what our favorite episodes are when we do the Q&A at live shows, and many, many times I go back to the ones on The Muppets and Jim Henson because he was just one of the best. This is from January 6, 2015, How Jim Henson Worked, American Hero.
That's not part of the title. That's just me.
Welcome to Stuff You Should Know, a production of iHeartRadio.
Hey, and welcome to the podcast. I'm Josh Clark with Charles W. Chuck Bryant. Howdy. And Jerry, for the last time this year. Yeah. She's just informed us and she's all smiles. She is. Not very nice, Jerry.
How'd you like that presentation earlier?
The sensitivity training? Uh-huh. It was great.
Yes, people. Because we work for a corporation, we have things like sensitivity training. Uh-huh. And in those trainings, you get shown video examples of various forms of harassment. And they are the best, most fun things to watch ever.
They're pretty overt.
Yeah, I could watch those all day long.
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Chapter 2: How did Jim Henson start his career in puppetry and filmmaking?
But by the time he graduated, he was already extremely successful. The Rolls Royce that I mentioned, he bought in time to drive to his college graduation because he'd already created successful shows in his town.
Yeah, I think in high school, he was on the local TV station doing little guest spots. And then in 1955, the show Salmon Friends debuted, and that— He also did work on the side making money with, I think he did some of the really cool concert posters of the day, really colorful silkscreen posters. Sam and friends did really well, but he still wasn't quite sure. I still don't know if I want to...
You know, I'm a filmmaker. I did these short films, really sort of weird, abstract short films, live action. Experimental. Totally experimental.
Did you see The Time Piece?
Oh, yeah.
That one was pretty cool. It was great. In its way. And did you see The Cube? I watched parts of The Cube. Did you see the end?
No.
Oh, you've got to see the end. I skipped the middle because I was like, okay, I get where you're going with this.
Yeah, well, we should just set it up real quick. The Cube was a show on NBC. It was a one-hour show. From 1969. The name of the show NBC did was called Experiment in Television. It was a different thing each week, and he had one week's installment called The Cube, which was a guy just stuck in a white room, but other people could come in and out of the room, but he could not, right?
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Chapter 3: What role did Sesame Street play in Jim Henson's career?
And if you were a fan of the old Sesame Streets back then, not all, but many of those little short films, the little claymation ones or the live action ones, he directed those as well, which is pretty cool. I never knew that.
I think I knew that. Did you? Yeah, he was our Russ Vic. No, he was their Russ Vic. That's right. Russ Vic is ours. That's right. So, Chuck, the whole thing that changed everything for him was Sesame Street. Yeah. He wasn't a creator of Sesame Street. They just hired him on.
Yeah.
And they actually kind of won him over because remember one of the things that Jim Henson always struggled with his whole career was he wanted to – explore places that puppets had never really gone to.
Right.
In themes that they hadn't gone to, at least not in the modern age. Sure. But he was fighting against them not being taken seriously.
Yeah, it wasn't like he was anti-puppet by any means, or anti-kids, because one of the big reasons he signed on with Children's Television Workshop was their goal to educate kids. It meant a lot to him, but like you said, I think to merge those worlds successfully was a big part of his goal and struggle for a little while.
Russ Vick, by the way, made the little interstitial things for the Stuff You Should Know television show. Yeah, the animations. Which is why I reference him. Yeah. So the Children's Television Workshop, which is now called the Sesame Workshop, from what I understand, they won him over big time.
He makes all of these characters from, like, Big Bird, and I think Kermit came before Sesame Street, and he started out, and I think we talked about this in the Muppet episode, too, he started out looking really weird. Yeah.
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Chapter 4: How did Jim Henson innovate puppetry for television?
In fact, we know some really, really talented puppeteers here in Atlanta.
Yeah, the Center for Puppetry Arts is, I think, the nation's largest puppeteer organization.
Yep, and that is where we had our TV show debut party, premiere party. Yeah. It was a really cool experience. Emmett Otter and the gang are right there on display. I think Henson and Kermit cut the ribbon for the grand opening back when it opened. ended up donating like 500 puppets and Muppets to the Center for Puppetry Arts.
So if you ever visit Atlanta, people always email us and say, what should we do? I highly recommend going and checking out the Center for Puppetry Arts.
Yeah, because they have a museum with, like you said, Emmett Otter. Oh, man, all sorts of cool stuff. Like a full-size, life-size Skeksy behind glass. Scary as you can imagine.
Yeah, but I was talking about Raymond Carr, our friend, who I hate to keep bringing up the TV show, but it all kind of overlaps. He was a production designer for Stuff You Should Know on Science Channel.
Yeah.
And he and his friends, Brandon and the gang, are...
amazing puppeteers and they're doing some really really leading-edge like cool stuff here in Atlanta yeah like these giant puppets operated like you know 15 foot tall puppets operated by like six and eight people have you ever seen the spaceman that they do no it's unbelievable it's really cool it's like it I don't know how tall he is he seems like he's 20 feet tall
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Chapter 5: What is the significance of the Center for Puppetry Arts in Atlanta?
Chapter 6: How did Jim Henson's business savvy impact his creations?
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All right, so it's 1969, and a very, very big thing happens to Jim Henson. He was invited to be on the pilot of a show created by the Children's Television Workshop called Sesame Street. He did not create it. Some people think he did. But he did make his mark by creating most of the iconic characters.
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Chapter 7: What challenges did Jim Henson face in bringing The Muppet Show to life?
Yeah, how that started out in Vaudeville, and Burlesque had, that's where stand-up comedy came from. That was an interesting episode.
Yeah. I miss those variety shows, though, like the Kenny Rogers and Dolly Parton and Carol Burnett, all the Bandrell sisters.
Although Kenny and Dolly could just sit on a couch and stare at the camera for an hour, and I'd watch that.
Yeah.
They are the best. Great entertainers. Yeah. Love those two.
All right, so where are we in our timeline?
Well, Chuck, the Muppet Show has just hit. Oh, that's right. Things are going pretty well. They have been going pretty well already for Henson. Apparently in 1970, Rubber Ducky hit number 16 on the Billboard charts. And for those who don't know, Ernie is voiced by Jim Henson. So Jim Henson sang a song, Rubber Ducky, that made it to number 16 on the Billboard charts.
That was 1970, a year after the Cube, before the Muppet Show even happened.
Before Sesame Street even, right?
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