Happy Birthday Jim Henson

[puppetmaker]

Today would have been Jim's 72nd birthday. I plan to watch various Muppet programs and a documentary I have on the Muppets in his honor today. I bet he would be amazed at the number of lives he still touches today. I know he was amazed by it back in the day.

There is a lot I could write about this topic but I have done so over the years.

So I ask you the reader of this web log, what is your favorite or most memorable Muppet Moment?

Yesterday was Peter's Birthday. We went for his traditional birthday breakfast. I had cleaned up his office for his birthday present. The girls gave him a deluxe copy of the Iron Man movie. Then we went to the Mets and Cubs game, ate in the Diamond Club, and watched the Mets win one. The Mets win put his birthday in a good birthday category.

Caroline, having been told that her birthday is after Daddy's, asked when it was going to be her turn to have a birthday. We explained that both Halloween and Thanksgiving were happening before her birthday arrived. She sighed heavily and said that's a long time.

I need to get my glasses fixed after they got mysteriously very bent. No one claims to know what happened but I am hoping that they are fixable.

It is a lovely day today. I think I may go out and get some more yard work done. I am giving serious thought to renting a chainsaw to get a bush back to size and get rid of a tree that should not be growing so close to the house. Actually, I would be perfectly happy to just get rid of both.

I am grateful that the Mets won on Peter's Birthday.

Comments

[amarafox.livejournal.com]

The sesame street sketch where Kermit and the little girl are doing the alphabet and she keeps saying 'COOKIE MONSTER'

One of my favourite kermit moments.

Muppet show wise, Mana mana

[puppetmaker40.livejournal.com]

That child is now probably 40 years old.

But I do love that esp. the end when Kermit starts to walk away and the little girl tell him that she loves him and he tells her that he loves her too.

[amarafox.livejournal.com]

Yeah, I love that part too :)

I know that Jonathan is about my age and this kermit skit predates that.

[mabfan.livejournal.com]

I love the episodes of the Muppet Show with Christopher Reeve, Lynda Carter, Brooke Shields, and the stars from Star Wars.

I loved the ending to the tribute special to Jim Henson, and wish they would release it on DVD.

[puppetmaker40.livejournal.com]

Disney owns that tribute footage now. It will be interesting to see if they do anything with it.

What I want is the episode of The Jim Henson hour that was the secret of the Muppets which was shown ONCE.

[popfiend.livejournal.com]

Echoes.

But I think of:

"Put Down the Duckie"
"'C' is for Cookie"
"Mana Mana"

Yeah, some of them are Sesame Street moments, but they mean nothing without the Muppets.

And I have nothing but love for The Muppet Movie.

[xo-kizzy-xo.livejournal.com]

Oh god, how can I choose? Swedish Chef trying to kill the chicken -- the one where they rush into the "Pigs In Space" sketch -- is a favorite, but I KNOW I have others.

Now I want to watch Muppets and I don't have a working DVD player *pout*

[puppetmaker40.livejournal.com]

Ah that was a classic.

Have you seen Beaker and the Swedish Chief singing Habanera on Youtube? It is a classic in the making

[campion7.livejournal.com]

Animal: EAT DRUMS! EAT DRUMS! *nomnomnom*

Dr Teeth: No! No! No! BEAT drums! BEAT drums!

*Animal looks up from the cymbal he's chewing on.* (I love the startled expression on his face at that moment.)

Animal: BEAT DRUMS! BEAT DRUMS!

*Animal proceeds to beat the crap out of his drums.*


Hee!

[puppetmaker40.livejournal.com]

Ah Animal.

My favorite Animal moment is him and Rita Moreno and "Fever".

[campion7.livejournal.com]

"Dat my kinda WOMAN!"

[lavendergem.livejournal.com]

How about in... I think The Muppets Take Manhattan when Animal started chanting "WO-MAN! WO-MAN! WO-MAN!!!"

I still break into that every now and then...

[tru2myart.livejournal.com]

I'll have to be sure to watch my favorite Muppets, Sesame Street and The Storyteller clips tonight.

Happy Belated Birthday Peter!!!

:laughs: Caroline and Andy sound so similar. Andy just insists that after Lacy's birthday (Dec 1st) comes his birthday (May 18th) and the next five and a half months are filled with "It's almost my birthday!!". :D

[puppetmaker40.livejournal.com]

I can believe that. Caroline's birthday is December 5th so it is 20 days before Christmas and she get Hannukah in there as well so December can be a month of presents for Caroline *grin*

[wandereringray.livejournal.com]

The Swedish Chef sketch where the bandito lobsters rescue their pal. :D

That and for some reason I'll always remember the Sesame Street episode after Mr. Hooper died.

[puppetmaker40.livejournal.com]

The Mr. Hooper episode was really well done. I remember that one too.

I am amazed at the number of fans that the Swedish chief has. The sketches are very memorable.

[xo-kizzy-xo.livejournal.com]

The Swedish Chef sketch where the bandito lobsters rescue their pal. :D

That's the other sketch I was trying to think of!

[gryphonrose.livejournal.com]

Wish him a belated Happy Birthday for me!

[puppetmaker40.livejournal.com]

Will do.

He apparently made the DC comics "This day in History" page yesterday much to both of our surprise

[artnouveauho.livejournal.com]

The Harry Belafonte show. Banana boat song! Drum duel with Animal! But especially the closing number, Turn the World Around. It gave me nightmares as a small kid, but now I really love it.

[puppetmaker40.livejournal.com]

I played with the puppets from that sketch at the Center for Puppetry Arts oh so many years ago. They were so cool. Unfortunately they were already starting to show signs of falling apart due to age of the foam used to create them.

[wookiemonster.livejournal.com]

Memorable Muppet Moment? I think I may have a few vying for first...

Kermit T. Frog reporting from Venus (?) about the mating habits of these alien creatures. This aired on Saturday Night Live (back when it was still good...)

Gonzo as Darth Vader on The Muppet Show

R2D2 falling in love with a fire hydrant on Sesame Street

or

Mahna! Mahna!

[puppetmaker40.livejournal.com]

The Koobanians which became a regular thing on the Muppet show.

Ah Darth Gonzo. I love the line "And no one will ever know who I am" as he turns sideways.

[paigemom.livejournal.com]

Hands down favorite: The Viking Pigs singing The Village People's "In the Navy" -- especially when the ship chimes in. Absolutely priceless.

After that, Robin and Bernadette Peters singing (I can't remember the actual song title) "If just one person believes in you..."

[puppetmaker40.livejournal.com]

I love that they seize the animals and leave the people.

The song is called "Just One Person" and I love that too.

[sky-designs.livejournal.com]

I know it's post-Jim time... but Muppet Christmas Carol. It is my favorite movie of all time, and the dvd and soundtrack are both on constant repeat during the holidays.

And this only beat out Emmet Otter's Jugband Christmas, which was a staple in my childhood every holiday to find it on TV.

I think I have every Muppet Christmas movie, and I usually play them all in age order on the day I do my christmas card making.

And I totally wish I was in my other LJ to use a muppet icon. *pout*

[puppetmaker40.livejournal.com]

You do know that they are doing a new Christmas Special this year?

Also Disney released the Christmas Toy for the first time on DVD this year.

[sky-designs.livejournal.com]

oooooo *childish grin*

[paigemom.livejournal.com]

Muppet Christmas Carol and Emmet Otter's Jugband Christmas are #3 and #5 on my "favorite muppet moment" list, respectively.

Mahna Mahna is #4.

[sky-designs.livejournal.com]

Every time I see or hear Mahna Mahna, i just go "do do, do do do."

We had a duo in college that did a ballet/tap scene to that song. The ballet dancer was the "do do do do do" and the tapper was the mahna mahna. It was one of the best student choreography pieces ever.

[jenny_evergreen]

The Muppet Show with John Denver and the forest animals doing the "somethin' goin' down" song. Probably my seminal animal rights moment...

P.S. Oops! Happy Birthday, Peter! :)

[puppetmaker40.livejournal.com]

The capper on that was the hunters talking about bagging cars and tractors rather than animals. *grin*

[readinggeek451]

I love that bit.

My most memorable is after the end credits in The Muppet Movie, when Animal says, "GO HOME! GO HOME!" I think of that every time I close the library. (Final announcement: "The library is now closed. Good night." In my head, I hear Animal. )

Favorite bit, also from The Muppet Movie: "Bear left!" "Right, frog!"

(Hmmm, I seem to need a Muppet icon.)

[ladyariyana.livejournal.com]

I was thinking about this being Jim's birthday myself...
The world is certainly a poorer place without him, but I celebrate this day because had he never been born so many wonderful things and characters would not be here either. I am grateful he was here on this earth even for the short time he was becaus ehe added joy and laughter to so many lives, mine included.

I also meant to post a happy birthday to Peter yesterday but never did, tell him I send belated happy birthday wishes and my gift was letting him have the mets win (because it breaks my heart when my cubbies lose you know!)
{{hugs}}

[puppetmaker40.livejournal.com]

Thank you for letting the Mets win. We appreciate it.

[hergrace.livejournal.com]

It's hard to come up with a "favorite" Muppet moment. I have so very many. I think I'll share a "first" Muppet moment instead.

When I was quite a little thing (yes, really, very young...I keep telling myself that), the Muppets made their first appearance on the Ed Sullivan show. Many people have seen this clip since then: it's Kermit humming along to the glow worm song, watching worms crawl up, and then gobbling them down and laughing (with the laugh that became Ernie's trademark giggle.) Finally he starts gobbling down a worm that just keeps coming, longer and longer, 'til finally he sees that it's not a worm at all, but the very long snout of a very large monster. The monster then proceeds to gobble up Kermit. Simple but hilarious, especially to a kid.

I can remember puzzling over how in the world those could be puppets. They seemed completely and utterly real to me. The eyes (those wonderful focused eyes that Henson developed) seemed quite real, and their movements were uncanny for puppets. It was completely magic.

[readinggeek451]

It's hard to come up with a "favorite" Muppet moment. I have so very many.

Yes, that. Exactly.

[morning-stand.livejournal.com]

I love all things Fraggle Rock. (although I'm not sure if they're a Jim Henson Creation or not)

AND

The Labyrinth :)

this is my favorite scene:
http://youtube.com/watch?v=f2xVZiGOw-o&search=labyrinth

[jafinnola.livejournal.com]

Aw, man.

[beeker121.livejournal.com]

I will always remember the first time I heard Kermit sing 'The rainbow connection'. It is still one of my very favorite songs.

[trinalin.livejournal.com]

I have many, many favorite Muppet Moments, most of them in A Muppet Family Christmas. But just about any time Pepe's on the screen will do it for me. Oh, and Ernie & Bert sketches. Heck, when I was a kid, I tried audio taping episodes of The Muppet Show. Heh.

[chite.livejournal.com]

My favorites:

from Sesame Street: Bert sings "Imagination" to Ernie
from The Muppet Show: Bernadette Peters/Robin: Just One Person
from The Muppet Show: Harry Belafonte/Animal drum duet

Oh so many more :)

[lavendergem.livejournal.com]

I'll never forget the day Jim Henson died. I was hme sick from school that day, adn mom was driving me to the doctor's when we heard the news on the radio. I was devastated. He had just been on Arsenio Hall, and had a cold, and then suddenly he's dead from pneumonia?

Jim Henson was one of those entertainers who shaped my childhood. From Sesame Street to the Muppet Show to The Dark Crystal and so much more, I cannot even begin to describe his impact. I wanted to make puppets because of him, and used to put on puppet shows for my class, and practice ventriloquism in elementary school. I even used to put on the McGruff the Crime Dog presentations for my class!

His characters meant so much to me. I was in love with Kermit, but identified with Fozzie. I loved the "Mahna Mahna" song, and even got into an argument with a friend a couple years back when he didn't realize that was from the Muppet Show (we were discussing it because it was being used in a lot of commercials at the time.) My friend's wife even said to him, "Don't argue with her if it's Muppet related. She knows what she's talking about." A few days later, I received an apology from him. ;-)

[wherdafux-d-cat.livejournal.com]

Happy belated birthday to Peter!

The 'family fave' Henson moments would have to be the Swedish Chef's 'chicken in a basket' and 'chocolate mousse' -- just mention either one (in the appropriate accent, of course) and my mom and sister dissolve into giggles. Even if we do misquote the 'mousse' one as 'Dippa da moose inda cho-ko-laht.' :)

HUGE thumbs up to artnouveauho for mentioning 'Turn the World Around' and bringing it back to memory. I sang that in the back of my head for months after seeing it. And I'll be doing so today. I haven't seen it in what, twenty-five years, but I still remember the words and the different melody lines.

Personal faves? John-John with any of the Muppets, the alphabet/'Cookie Monster!' girl with Kermit, the Yip-Yips, Alistair Cookie, Tit Willow, ... man, I've spent far too much time on YouTube now. But then, time spent watching the Muppets/Henson's work is never time wasted.

Thanks for the flashbacks and new finds. :)