puppetmaker | Happy Birthday Jim Henson.

Skred and the Grand Phabog on the first few shows of first season SNL. So out of the box it just wasn't grokkable for mainstream America. I remember the puppets fondly, though. And later that season, Skred got to duet with Lily Tomlin. I think Skred was probably the prototype for the Skeses in The Dark Crystal.

A friend of mine got me most of those on tape because he knew I was a Muppet nut and was too young at the time to see when they aired. I think you are right. The audience wasn't ready yet but they are now having had a generation (almost two) that grew up with the Muppets.

When I was a kid, I was enthralled by Miss Piggy. I remember turning to my mother and grandmother once during a scene of her in a swimming pool and saying, "Isn't she lovely?" They got a kick out of that.

Ooh! And one more--the Emmy show where puppets from Fraggle Rock, Sesame Street and The Muppet Show all showed up together in the green room. So amazing. The kids were on muppet overload, and frankly, so was I.

Wow! That must have been something to see.

Well, I was never a big fan of Sesame Street, but I *loved* Fraggle Rock like no other show until Rainbow Brite came out, so... I liked the bard character that Jim Henson actually played himself in one of those FR episodes. I'm a musician today probably because of that character and Ariel, the Little Mermaid. So, Jim Henson will always be special to me--and I can't wait to have kids and have them watch Fraggles.

Cantus the Minstrel which was a wonderful character.

You do know that they are in pre-production for a Fraggle Rock movie?

O_o? Really? I'm a little bit scared--who's behind it?

*goes off to look around*

Well Brian for one and he worked on that show with his dad.

And the voices are the same for the most part. Only if the person is dead did they have to find someone else.

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0481649/

I remember when Jim Henson (and Kermit) cut the ribbon at the newly-opened Center for Puppetry Arts.

i feel a need to visit there... ihave been in a year or so and it's within walking distance of my work place...

i remember getting to go into the storage room on the second floor with a friend of my boyfriends who worked there - on the usual backstage tours they let you look into the room, but not go in. we got to go in and there's nothing more intense than beeing 1 inch from a mystic and emmet otter and a few of jim's other puppets - to smell them... you could feel them without touching them. it was amazing.

More moons than I care count I did work at the Center. I working in the museum as its handyman and one of the guides. It was a lot of fun. I had the longest arms so when the Mystic (UrAc) dropped his head off his armiture I was the one who got to put her hand down the neck and pick up the head. There was a magic there when the head came up and the light caught the eyes, UrAc would come to life on my hand. I would let him look around a bit before putting his head back in place. I swear there were times he did it just to get some time to look around. Mr. and Mrs. Fox I played with when we had to shut the museum down for asbestos removal. I also got to play with Link and Dr. Strangepork.

i volunteered for them for a while - got a nice pin and certificate and everything for it. i'd like to again, whenever i can go back to only working one job that is. i loved getting to see mr. and mrs. fox up close too. being in that store room with just my bf and his friend and no one else - all was quiet - it was just magical, as trite as that sounds. nearly spiritual.

That's not trite at all. I know that is so true. There is something about those puppets that is magical.

i have this obsession with wayang puppets and i get all awestruck when i am around them, but there's some about henson's that are somehow so much more intense and powerful. it's like you can feel the love he had for humanity radiating from them... it's hard to put into words. i can't ever hope to do him and his work justice.

All Jim ever wanted was for people to be good to each other. Do that and you are doing both him and his work justice.

Ah yes. the first time that Jim Henson ran into me.

My first Christmas movie that I watched religiously every year was A Muppet Family Christmas. I watched it so much that the tape wore out and broke in our VCR one year. Christmas hasn't been the same since then.

I think that one is out on DVD or coming out on DVD soon.

I've always been a huge Animal fan.

Used to have an Animal muppet back in college. Used to take it to the student union and practice coordinating the moveable eyes, the hands on the sticks and the mouth (not as easy as it looks on TV, let me tell you.)

Also, got a number of dates thanks to Animal. "Sorry, It's not my fault. I just can't control him around a pretty woman. . . ;)"

remind me the next time we are both at a convention to tell you the "talk to the hand" story. It need visuals.

I wish I had gotten to meet him. My favorite Muppet memory was at D*Con a few years ago. Ken Plume had gotten his hands on some old footage, and we aired it in the YA Lit room. At the end, it has a snippet from Jim's funeral where the puppeteers and their Muppets sing "Rainbow Connection." There was not a dry eye in the house. We passed around a roll of toilet paper.

Yep. I was there. It wasn't a funeral but a memorial service. They gave out butterfly puppets to everyone. I gave mine to a kid who came in late with her mommy. She was clutching a kermit puppet and I though she needed it more than I.

Miss Piggy and Elton John singing "Don't go Breaking my heart" Is one of my all time favorite Muppets moments."Eat your heart out Kiki!"

Happy Birthday Jim! Thanks for all the great memories!

LOL. That's a good one. Miss Piggy is always good for great one liners.

That special they did where all the Muppets sang to Jim...gets me every time.

Oh yeah. I tear up thinking about it.

I still have a hard time with the end of the Muppet Movie.

I love the Dark Crystal. As a kid it hit all the right chords, and I still remember the wonder I got from it.

My mother would walk around imitating the Frank Oz's Skeksis character's whimper...used to freak me out.

I also loved the old school Muppet show when it would re-run on Nickelodeon.

But the Dark Crystal influenced my future taste for fantasy, and let me know as a young kid it was ok to be crazy and imaginative.

I go and visit the Chamberlin at the Center for Puppetry Arts in Atlanta any chance I get. It was a movie that no one in Hollywood "got" at the time but it has influenced so many over time.

Fozzie was always my favorite muppet. Can't recall anu specific moment, but the show was like Magic.

I got to wiggle Fozzie ears once when we were putting him into an exhibit. He is a very cuddly puppet.

*so jealous* Fozzie's a cutie.

I can't choose between two:

The viking pigs (and the ship)singing "In The Navy." I still roll on the floor with laughter every time I see that.

The entire "Muppet Christmas Carol," but especially the lines: "You're a little absent-minded, Spirit." "No, I'm a LARGE absent-minded spirit!"

My brother-of-spirit's mother went to high school with Jim.

Coool. six degrees is fun ain't it?

Have you ever seen the special when they show how they did the In the Navy sequence?

I only get one?

("Bear left." "Right, frog!")

Yeah well I know you probably have a ton but then consider who your friends are *grin*

But that is one that lives in my memory too. Esp. anytime I have to give directions to Peter in the Car.

My favorite Muppet's memory is Animal and the Leo Sayer episode. "He ate my sheet music. " "Last week, he ate the drummer."

My favorite Henson memory is at Worldcon in Chicago many moons ago; Larry Propp was interviewing Henson on stage when in the back came someone costumed as Beaker. Everybody applauded and Henson said it was nice to see Beaker getting the respect he deserved.

It seems like only yesterday.

Were you in Baltimore when Jim was there for the WorldCon? I think it was Baltimore. They had an exhibit from Dark Crystal and I got to see Jim's jaw hit the floor when I asked him a question.

"Ahhh, a bear in his natural habitat: a Studebaker!"

Actually, there's no way I can choose. Sesame Street was, in some ways, my corruption. I grew up in an excessively conservative household. I remember looking out into the back yard on day, I was no more than three, and exclaiming "Gosh, what a big dog is in our backyard". Well, gosh was a forbidden word in our household. My mom immediately began asking where I had heard the word. I remember being frantic when I thought she was going to cut off Sesame Street.

I'm so grateful for the whimsy and clever humor that infused everything Jim Henson touched.

The Muppet Movie was so well done that I think it lives in most of our imaginations. I just wish that Caroline could see it on the big screen sometime.

It's Not Easy Being Green - still makes me cry.

I heard Ray Charles sing it at the memorial. We all cried and laughed that day and left feeling a little better.

i have no favorite, i love all muppet and creature shop stuff so much...

i still cannot watch the tribure - i weep throughout but when it gets to reading children's letters, i bawl like crazy.

jim was the most noble and wonderful and creative force this world has ever seen. we lost a lot of love and humanity the day he died.

okay, getting weepy...

We all miss Jim. I tend to get a little morose in May when he died.

I think he more than anyone else outside my immediate familyhas influenced my art and how I look at life.

Happy Birthday Jim Henson.

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