The man behind the Muppets
The First Art Newspaper on the Net    Established in 1996 Saturday, November 23, 2024


The man behind the Muppets
A Muppet version of the puppeteer Jim Henson at his Creature Shop in Queens on May 21, 2024. The workshop still cranks out characters more than three decades after Henson’s death. (Thomas Prior/The New York Times)

by Melena Ryzik



NEW YORK, NY.- The new Disney+ documentary “Jim Henson Idea Man” conjures the life and mind of the visionary who created the Muppets and changed not only an art form, but also the parameters of storytelling. Directed by Ron Howard, and made with the participation of Henson’s children and longtime collaborators like Frank Oz — who played Bert to Henson’s Ernie, Miss Piggy to his Kermit the Frog — it’s a comprehensive portrait of a cultural giant who never lost his sense of play.

“We learned so much wandering around here,” Howard said on a recent visit to Jim Henson’s Creature Shop in New York City’s borough of Queens, which is still busily whipping up critters of felt and feathers. “It definitely influenced the style of the movie, seeing the colors and the mechanics and the detail of all of it.”

There was an emotional component, too: Walking in is “instant nostalgia,” Howard said. “You just get a lift, you know, just looking around the place.”

Henson, who died in 1990, had no childhood experience with puppets. He started working with them as a teenager in the 1950s for a job at a TV station. He made the first version of Kermit out of his mother’s old coat — teal, not green — and a Ping-Pong ball cut in half for eyes.

With Jane Nebel, his college classmate and later his wife, he also made puppets for commercials, honing a screen-friendly style and a sly, satirical wit.

In 1958 Henson visited Europe and encountered sophisticated forms of puppetry. He realized, “‘This is something I’m good at — where I can actually make a difference,’” said Karen Falk, the Jim Henson Company’s archivist.

“Sesame Street,” which started in New York in 1969, recruited him. In 1976, his more adult-oriented “Muppet Show” began in London.

Henson’s characters occupied the imaginations of millions around the world. He traveled, often at breakneck pace, to perform and develop new projects, still experimenting relentlessly.

His partnership with Oz drove characters, and comedy. “I was more moody,” Oz said in an interview — a good fit for Bert. Henson was the goofy Ernie.

Henson had large hands, which allowed him to be extra expressive, especially with Kermit, who clearly reflected Henson’s personality, Howard said.

Muppets also had human hands. Think of the Swedish Chef, performed in tandem by Oz and Henson. “I never told Jim what I was going to do with the hands,” Oz said.

Zaniness reigned. “You could walk into the workshop almost any time and find weird things going on,” said Bonnie Erickson, a Muppet designer who oversaw the space. Ping-Pong balls bouncing on toothpicks, blown by hair dryers; pet mice running across the studio through interconnected Slinkys — it all helped them discover “the movements of the puppets,” she said.

Ending a sketch was no problem: “You either blew it up, ate it or threw in a penguin, as we used to say.”

As Henson’s company grew, he minted his leadership style. “I called him a gentle anarchist,” Erickson said.

Oz added: “He never criticized, ever. He never told us what to do. He was the boss, but he was the boss as a brother, almost.”

Making Henson laugh was the goal.

On “The Muppet Show,” Erickson said, “even when the cameras were off and they called ‘Cut,’ everybody stayed in character and played jokes on Jim, or teased him or each other.”

Henson started a journal in 1965 and filled in details retroactively, “like he was downloading his brain,” said Falk, the archivist. The multicolored entry for 1979, when “The Muppet Movie” was released, begins: “A very major big year.”

Henson’s philosophy — treat people the way you’d like to be treated; stay in the moment; recognize the joy — pervaded his work and inspired countless others, including Howard, who met him only briefly.

At the same time, “a kind of creative recklessness or courage or thick skin — all of it — was required for somebody to be as prolific as Jim,” Howard said. “He followed a horizon line, which was, ‘I want to have a creative life.’”

“He would do very little small talk,” Oz said. “He wouldn’t talk about politics. He had his own very strong feelings about spiritual life and religion. He never gossiped. He would care about how we were and our families were, but that’s the extent of it. The rest of it was: ‘Hey, I got this good idea. You want to hear it?’”

This article originally appeared in The New York Times.










Today's News

July 6, 2024

A masterpiece of fiction inspires the urge to submerge in a gallery crawl

This bigheaded fossil turned up in a place no one expected to find it

Piñatas that provide awe instead of candy

Paal Enger, who stole Munch's 'The Scream,' is dead at 57

Inaugural auction featuring selections from William Strutz's celebrated library realizes $5.65 million at Heritage

The dazzling artistry of Hiroshige's '100 Famous Views of Edo'

Kunstmuseum Wolfsburg opens first institutional exhibition in Germany of works by Firelei Báez

The man behind the Muppets

How the Denisovans survived the Ice Age

John Waters' Baltimore

Museo Picasso Málaga to show a large-format installation by the South African artist William Kentridge

Nara Roesler opens 'Co(r)respondences: Constructive Affinities/Painting as Surface'

Heritage's July Entertainment Auction offers out of this world spaceships, costumes and artwork

The best documentaries of 2024, so far

Ordrupgaard to open an exhibition of works by British artist Flora Yukhnovich

Sculptural fashion and body-related art in the TextielMuseum this November

Exhibition challenges our perceptions of interconnectedness and transformation within the natural world

Heritage's Historical Platinum Signature Auction spans Beethoven and Napoleon to Neil Armstrong and Harry Potter

Celebrated Ruth Nelkin collection of Japanese woodblock prints brings $2.2 million at Heritage Auctions

How big is Taylor Swift by the numbers?

Netflix show earns its Saudi creator plaudits, and a prison sentence

A Jewish teen's diary recounts pain and resilience in a Nazi ghetto

Australian designer Martin Grant gifts more than 200 designs to NGV

International judge announced for The Walters Prize 2024

Protect Your Roof with Effective Roof Coating Solutions




Museums, Exhibits, Artists, Milestones, Digital Art, Architecture, Photography,
Photographers, Special Photos, Special Reports, Featured Stories, Auctions, Art Fairs,
Anecdotes, Art Quiz, Education, Mythology, 3D Images, Last Week, .

 



Founder:
Ignacio Villarreal
(1941 - 2019)
Editor & Publisher: Jose Villarreal
Art Director: Juan José Sepúlveda Ramírez
Writer: Ofelia Zurbia Betancourt

Attorneys
Truck Accident Attorneys
Accident Attorneys
Holistic Dentist
Abogado de accidentes
สล็อต
สล็อตเว็บตรง

Royalville Communications, Inc
produces:

ignaciovillarreal.org juncodelavega.com facundocabral-elfinal.org
Founder's Site. Hommage
to a Mexican poet.
Hommage
       

The First Art Newspaper on the Net. The Best Versions Of Ave Maria Song Junco de la Vega Site Ignacio Villarreal Site Parroquia Natividad del Señor
Tell a Friend
Dear User, please complete the form below in order to recommend the Artdaily newsletter to someone you know.
Please complete all fields marked *.
Sending Mail
Sending Successful