For the Love of Henson

The Muppets and American Culture

Many may look upon the 20th century with a dour and gloomy eye, recognizing the fundamental changes and outright destruction that emerged from that era. Alongside fundamental changes to the West, many of our cultural mainstays that we love and adore came from people with an eye for making their vision come to life, and the heart to leave their mark on the world. One doesn’t have to look too far to see some of the silver lining that emerged in popular culture, especially Jim Henson and The Muppets.

The man behind the Muppets, James Maury Henson was born in Greenville, Mississippi in September of 1936. In his early years, he developed a love for puppeteering, crafted puppets in high school, and tried his hand at it during his time attending college at the University of Maryland, College Park while studying the arts. He would meet his future wife, Jane Nebel there, and later work with her in creating one of his earliest successes in television puppeteering, Sam and Friends.

While originally aimed for adult audiences, Jim and Jane would innovate puppetry to exist outside its normal frame of stage performances and work within the confine of a television screen. With Sam and Friends coming to a close with a short season run in 1955, Henson would work in various television skits, side appearance and opening acts, alongside commercial work that brought irreverent humor to the Wilkins Coffee Company starting in 1957 with over 300 commercials made.

While Kermit the Frog may be one of the most recognizable faces and amphibians on the face of the earth, it would be Rowlf the Dog that gave Henson his start on the television circuit, even appearing on The Jimmy Dean Show and The Ed Sullivan Show. His biggest breaks came at the end of the 1960s, where he would come on and assist in the creation of the puppets of Sesame Street in 1969, and later expand with puppetry when establishing a partnership with Frank Oz that would last the rest of his life.

Much of America’s love for the Muppets focuses on what many these days think of as his legacy, a cast of ensemble characters from Miss Piggy to Fozzie Bear, all the while forgetting that much of his work started with adult humor, appearing on Saturday Night Live or attempting to get The Muppet Show with the subversive appeal of one of its pilot episodes titled, “Muppets: Sex and Violence”. However, as his fame and reach continued to grow, there was a need for broader appeal. This would come with a big screen debut with The Muppet Movie in 1979, with an on the nose plot about trying to make it big in Hollywood.

Like any artist, much of his work with his felt-y creations were also an expression of himself, with Kermit being Henson’s alter ego, who could “say the the things I hold back.” His touch could be seen in works ranging from The Empire Strikes Back to working with Lucas again to help direct the 1986 film Labyrinth starring David Bowie. The Muppets Take Manhattan for instance, was one of the highest grossing films in 1984. Kermit the Frog had a resolve of steel. While dealing with the wild and bizarre attitudes of his colleagues, he still managed to have a steady hand and do what is right, something I find lacking in many protagonists human or puppet these days.

Despite dying from toxic shock syndrome in May of 1990, Jim Henson’s legacy lives on as one of the most well known products of American culture. The last thing The Jim Henson Company played a major role in, the early 2000s sci-fi television show Farscape, remains one of the best science fiction shows of last two decades. The question becomes, what will happen to The Muppets, with Disney’s acquisition of the Jim Henson Company in 2004? We’ve seen attempts to bring back other legendary works of Henson’s, ranging from Fraggle Rock to The Dark Crystal in recent years. However, the mountain of work, writing, interviews, commercials, films, and more still exist as testament of what an American artist and visionary can create with a fire and passion that is in one’s heart since their early years.

As the saying goes, it’s not easy being green.

But to overstate the impact Jim Henson had on America isn’t.