Amph A Jim Henson/Muppets Chronology: Time Piece (1966)

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I've long held Jim Henson as one of my Top 5 creative idols (probably Top 3), and have been meaning to make a thread like this for some time. The man was a creative genius, a true visionary and a kind person. His passing came far too soon and the world is lessened from it.

But his legacy of films and TV programs that pushed the limits and perceptions of puppets, special effects and imagination to new limits endures.

Between some xmas shopping for a friend's kid (who wasn't familiar with The Muppets, thus the gift idea) and a desire to check out some of the darker Henson-related work like Mirrormask, I came to recognize the volume of material related to Henson that I hadn't yet seen (or hadn't seen in a very long time).

So, the aim of this thread is to follow the start of Henson's muppeteering through the decades, to most (if not all) of the projects he was involved in, and then, beyond his death, the projects the Jim Henson Company produced, as well as the ongoing projects of the Muppets themselves (who are now owned by Disney), with the hopes of exploring the material I may have missed and rediscovering the gems lost to video oblivion due to complicated rights issues.

This won't account for every Muppet appearance (there are far too many cameos and guest appearances to be a reasonable goal), nor every film to use the Jim Henson Creature SHop (such as Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles) but it should be a good overview of the majority of content related to this subject (the list I've compiled from multiple sources already exceeds 100 entries!).

TV series will be looked at as a whole as well, not on an episode by episode basis (though perhaps I'll swing back around after the initial project is completed and do so).

But, to start off, here's some of that multitude of appearances over the years:

-Saturday Night Live (with Lily Tomlin)
-Hollywood Squares: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tCIeAJ5hRfE
-The Tonight Show (as both host and guest)
-The Colbert Report (part 1, part 2)
-Cookie Monster's recent online campaign to successfully appear on SNL

Kermit also sang "Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas" with Robert DeNiro that I wanted to mention, but there's no videos online (damn NBC!). But it was from the 2004 season (Season 30, Episode 8), for those that wish to seek it out.


And now we begin our journey...


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The Junior Morning Show (1954)

A local children's show that aired for only 3 weeks in the Washington D.C. area.

Two production asssistants from a local TV station visited Jim Henson's high school, looking to recruit puppeteers for the show, and kenson jumoed at the opportunity. Though short-lived (cancelled due to revised child labor laws that required work permits the show was unable to obtain), it gave Henson a favorable mention in the local newspaper and a chance for him to work in front of a TV camera. Henson was paid $5 per episode.

Besides creating two cowboy characters named Longhorn and SHorthorn, Henson also brought over a character from his high school comic strip, Pierre the French Rat, who was the first (and, now, oldest surviving) muppet. He would later appear on Sam and Friends.


T2Q Comments: Researching this project was the first I'd heard about this show, but there doesn't seem to be much in the way of video to comment on, sadly. Still, the story behind it is pretty interesting, given the career and lega

 

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Sam and Friends (1955-1961)

A 5 minute show that aired twice daily on the NBC affiliate in Washington D.C. It's focus was mostly on lip-synching to existing songs and routines, but Henson did begin to experiment with character voices during the run (and related commercials for the show's sponsor). It was shot mostly in black and white, but later sketches were done in color.

The title character, Sam, was a humanoid character, and was joined by the hungry skull Yorick, beatnik Harry the Hipster and others. Also debuting here is a character named Kermit (not yet a frog, but merely a more "abstract lizard-like creature". Kermit wouldn't gain his froghood for another 10-15 years).


T2Q Comments: Very few of these original shorts have survived to this day, and many of those that have are incomplete. But some clips are up on youtube, so let's take a look at some of them:

-A Horse Named Bill: An example of the lip-synch singing skits. Not much to say here, but it is interesting to see Kermit strumming a banjo against a vaguely swamp-looking backdrop this early in his existence.

-That Old Black Magic: Another lip-syncher, though the "frame setting" to set up the song seems the most notable aspect to this brief fragment. That and Kermit with the wig on.

-Visual Thinking: You can certainly get a proto-Sesame Street vibe from this one (not surprising, as they did a variation on the concept ina an actual Sesame Street skit).

-Promo & Newsman Skit (followed by sponsor ad): Focusing on the skit, it's amusing for a quick gag, and Kermit moderating it does anchor it (...heh) pretty well.

I kind of wish they could have taken it slightly further with a 3rd newsman and had them squabble a bit more. Still, you can easily see the early foundation/rhythm of skits that will one day appear on The Muppet Show and Sesame Street here.

-Where Hunger Is From: Now this one starts to break out of the pattern a little- while it's a synched track, it's not just puppets dancing around to music, but rather a narrated jazz track with a fairly creepy looking main character.

I get the impression skits like this later echo into some of the more offbeat skits of the future, as well as (design-wise) some of the more fantasy-oriented creatures to come.

Also, it's hard not to draw some comaprisons between Yorick and Cookiee Monster (though it's also interesting to note that this fellow here actually swallows the food, unlike CM's "spills out everywhere" techique).




Up Next: Wilkins Coffee Ads.

 

Yeah, this weill certainly be fun (well, except for, you know... ). Finding these little skits and clips has been quite enjoyable.

And maybe by time I'm done with this, we'll actually have a teaser trailer or something for the Muppets, Fraggle Rock or Power of the Dark Crystal films in the works.


As for Sam and Friends- I did know about the show before, but mostly from biography books and stuff I read as a kid for school projects and leisure- this is the first time I had seen anything more than still photos from it.

I think one of the most striking things is that, even in the early material of the late 50's and early/mid 60's, the "Muppet humor" was already fully realized, essentially. It's not something that has to be looked back upon with nostalgia as "early work" compared to the more recognizable Muppet works of subsequent decades as context. It transcends decades.

 

Yeah, though apparently Jim was hesitant to go to a hospital even after he thought he was dying.

Or, to quote Family Guy:

"Jim Henson had a 'wait-and-see' attitude, and look what happened to him. Now we?ve got wrong-sounding Muppets!"

But, yeah, still an immense tragedy to lose such a talent to something that could have been treated with relative ease.

But, we're getting ahead of ourselves. Still a few decades of happiness to go before we get to the tears.

 

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Wilkins Coffee Ads (1957-1962)

In 1957, a Washington D.C. coffee company hired Henson to produce a series of commercials for it's product. With only 10 seconds available on the local stations (2 of which had to be used for product ID, so they were essentially 8 second gags) for the ads, so they had to be lightning-quick.

Henson later explained that "Till then, [advertising] agencies believed that the hard sell was the only way to get their message over on television. We took a very different approach. We tried to sell things by making people laugh.".

The ads were a big hit and Henson produced 179 ads for Wilkins, and the ads were remade for other companies across the country. Ultimately, he made over 300 ads.

They featured two characters- the cheery Wilkins (who "will" drink the coffee) and the grumpy Wotkins (who "won't"). Many involved Wilkins inflicting violent acts upon Wotkins (gun shots, branding, stabbing, threat of throat slitting, etc).


T2Q Comments:

The number of ads is almost overwhelming, despite their extremely short length. Here's a collection of some of the ads as well as an example of the variant-product remakes that was done in color.

Some aren't that funny, others definitely made me laugh, and a couple seem like they were edited into incomprehension. Given that the sell product by making people laugh" is arguably the most prominent/notable approach today (heck, almost the entire Superbowl ad time is dedciated to such ads), it seems Henson really started something that, at the very least, is an early example of that trend's impact, if not a direct influence.

The ultra violence reminds me of old Tim & Jerry stuff- and almost a non-bloody predecessor to Itchy and Scratchy in how it kinda plays with that concept.



Up Next: The Jimmy Dean Show.

 

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Purina Dog Chow Ads (1962-1963)

This series of 7 ads (3 60-second spots, 4 product IDs) introduced Baskerville the Hound and Rowlf the Dog

Purina Dog Chow Commercials


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The Jimmy Dean Show (1963-1966)

An hour-long variety show hosted by country singer Jimmy Dean that aired on ABC. Rowlf the Dog would appear as a recurring guest star (billed as Jimmy's "ol' buddy) for 7-10 minutes of each show. The comedic sketches would usually end with Jimmy and Rowlf singing a song together.

The show's producer apparently suggested the show needed some kind of comedic character for Jimmy to interact with. Jimmy mentioned some coffee commercials he had seen in the D.C. area, and so Henson was recruited for the show.

The Jimmy Dean Show allowed Jim Henson, for the first time, to develop an original character over a period of time, as well as give the Muppets a national audience. This was the first time Henson had to perform with a live partner, instead of pre-tapes segments and commercials, as well as actually sing. It also provided a steady source of income for Henson to begin developing other projects.

Henson said he learned a lot from his training on the show: "They would work with me in terms of performance and the delivery of punch lines. Buddy Arnold was an old-fashioned sock-'em joke person and you can learn a lot from those guys. You learn to put the funniest word at the end of the punch line, and you learn to deliver that line clean and sharp. If you stumble on your phrase, you've killed your laugh and the audience never knows it...So Jimmy Dean was great from a point of view of learning the craft, and Rowlf was the first solid, fully rounded personality we did."


Jimmy stated that the segments with Rowlf were among the most popular on the show and that Rowlf drew 2,000 fan letters each week.

Jimmy said, of Rowlf and Henson: "I treated Rowlf like he was real, but he was real to me, and I think that's one of the reasons he made such an impression on everyone. Jim Henson himself said it was the reason Rowlf was such a hit... Rehearsals with Rowlf and his handlers were done in my office, and we'd always have a lot of fun clowning around. My secretary Willie loved Rowlf and would come in regularly to watch us work with the writers. Sometimes Rowlf and I would act like we were fighting, and on one occasion when we were joking and having one of our scuffles, I smacked his head and one of his eyeballs flew off. Well, when I did that, Willie screamed and ran out of the office, and you'd have thought that I'd mortally wounded somebody.
Henson and I not only had a good stage rapport with Rowlf but we enjoyed each other as friends too. One of my most prized possessions is a miniature Rowlf that he and Frank Oz made and gave me for Christmas one year. The puppet stands about twenty inches high, and when you lift him off of the stand, there's Jim Henson standing there with his hand straight up in the air. It really is a well-made piece, and I wouldn't take anything in the world for it."

After the show went off the air, Henson took Rowlf on the road with Jimmy Dean for his live Vegas shows.

Dean said, For a while Jim Henson and his Muppet Rowlf were appearing nightly as part of our show, and it was on Lake Mead that I taught Jim how to water-ski. It's a picture I'll never forget: Jim back there skiing with his long hair and beard waving in the breeze. And with that skinny frame and spindly legs, I couldn't help but think how much he looked like Jesus on water skis.

Dean was offered 40% ownership in Muppets Inc., but declined, feeling he hadn't done anything to earn it- a decision he never re

 

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The Tonight Show: "Let me In" & "Inchworm" (1965)

In a series of two skits performed on News Year E\ve in 1965 on The Tonight Show wih Johnny Carson, a drunk Whatnot (blank Muppet heads used to create any misc characters that fill out the Muppet universe) sings "Let Me In", while Kermit deals with some insects.

-"Let Me In" & "Inchworm" Video Link


T2Q Comments: This isn't the first Tonight Show sketch, but it's an example of some of the great little gems that are scattered about the pre-Muppet Show history. The Kermit bit is funny (and has actually been performed on several shows, including a recreation on The Muppet Show (with different characters) and an homage on the animated Fraggle Rock), but the first one is touching- can't decide if it's funny or unexpectedly sad, but it's definitely brilliant.

Worth noting that, beyond the Whatnot drinking booze (somehow I doubt Disney will be having Muppets do that anytime in the near future), that Carson refers to Kermit as "Kermit the Frog"- even though he doesn't officially become a frog until The Frog Prince, we can see here that Kermit was already far enough along in his frogification to have arnered that description/title/name.



Up Next: The La Choy Dragon

 

Whoops! I forgot to include the video link in that last update! Here's the Let Me In & Inchworm sketches.

This has certainly been the surprise of this project- I also had no idea.

 

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The La Choy Dragon (1965-1969)

In a series of ads made for La Choy chow mein, Delbert the La Choy Dragon (occasionally interacting with Muppet spokesman Mert and/or some celebrities) tells people how easy it is to make La Choy products. Delbert was sometimes a hand puppet and other times a full-body puppet. Voiced by Jim Henson and performed (full body) by Frank Oz in one of his few full-body performances (as he hated performing in full-body suits).

-La Choy Pitch Presentation Video (guest-starring Rowlf from th Jimmy Dean Show) & Commercials
-La Choy "Sad Bride" Commercial

T2Q Comments: "I shall choose to ignore that!"

"Howdy."

It's interesting to see that pitch reel building on all these little things that have come before it, from Wilkins to Carson to Jimmy Dean.

"Howdy."

And the behind the scenes humor is also perfectly in keeping with the Muppet humor as well. And all this for a presentation reel!

"Howdy."
"Will you STOP THAT!"

The commercials themselves are simply mad too. I'm almost positive Jim Henson inspired the entire Japanese commercial industry.

"BUY SOME TODAY!!! And remember- you heard about it from THE LA CHOY DRAGON!!!!!"

"Lurk, lurk, lurk..."


Up Next: Muppet Ideal Toy Commercial

 

(found something new to interject before the Ideal Toys commercial...)


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Wheels, Crowns and Flutes Commercial (1966)

An unaired General Foods commercial that featured three original Henson monster designs- one of which was destined for greater things.

-Wheels, Crowns and Flutes Commercial

T2Q Comments: The birth of what would become Cookie Monster! Here known as the Wheel-Stealer. The Crown-Grabber (creepy thing, that one!) would appear in a sketch on the Ed Sullivan SHow and become known as the Beautiful Day Monster. The Flute-SNatcher would become kown as Snake Frackle- a background character in The Muppet Show and elsewhere.



Up Next: Muppet Ideal Toy Commercial

 

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Muppet Ideal Toy Commercial (1966)

Commercial for the (now pretty scarce) puppet toys made in 1966. Though the commercial features a Kermit (with feet, not flippers, as he was not yet a frog), Rowlf and Snerf puppet- however, there's apparently no evidence that the Snerf toy was ever actually produced.

The commercial itself was made by Henson- so, for the first time, Henson was able to use his style of comedy that he used to advertise other people's products to now advertise his own.

-Muppet Ideal Toy Commercial

T2Q Comments: "Oh buy us, oh buy us, oh buy us we beg, for if you don't buy us, we'll bite you in the leg."

Selling toys through threats of implied violence- gotta love it .



Up Next: The Ed Sullivan Show

 

AICN posted this nice BTS pic the other day: http://static3.aintitcool.com/assets2011/BTSkermson.jpg

 

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The Ed Sullivan Show (1966-1971)
Ed Sullivan's show, which aired on CBS from 1948 to 1971, was straight out of old vaudeville, featuring brief acts of every description, from slapstick comedy to operatic arias.

Of the 26 Muppet skits performed, 24 were not repeats. 20 of these skits were released in 2003 on DVD as "Muppets Magic From The Ed Sullivan Show". One of the uncollected skits can be found on the VHS release "The Very Best of Ed Sullivan Vol 2".

The others are presumably either lost or held up by music rights issues.


T2Q Comments: Some good stuff here. We get appearances by Kermit and several Sesame Street characters like Big Bird, Grover and Cookie Monster (though they often appear in early proto-forms). Some skits aren't solid as others, but most are worth a look and several are extremely fun.

I also couldn't help but notice a pattern or theme of transformations- many skits include or revolve around concepts of puppets turning into other puppets or things. A little udner half of all the skits feature that element. So having a semi-thematic core element running through this disc was unexpected.



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1) Rock 'n' Roll Monster (September 18th, 1966)
A small capsule contains an "instant rock and roll band": a monster with 3 heads and six arms that lip-syncs to "Rock It To Me".

This was the Muppets' debut on the show (Ed Sullivan introduces them as "Jim...uh, Newsom's Puppets", but this has been dubbed on the DVD release to "Jim...uh, Henson's Muppets."). Here the concept of transformations is right up front as we see the capsule grow and begin to sprout arms, hands, instruments and heads, before condensing back to into the capsule and being swallowed by a bird.

It's a pretty complex routine for a simple idea- it had to require a lot of coordination to choreograph all those limbs and motions. The color scheme is also interesting- the dirty dark-green fur (the same color as the proto-Cookiee Monster we meet again later on), besides helping generate the illusion of all these limbs coming from the same place, helps the brightly colored mouths really pop and make the singing element be conveyed better than it would have otherwise.

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2) The Art of Visual Thinking (October 2nd, 1966)
In this remake of the skit from Sam and Friends, Grump studies the art of visual thinking with advice from a hip and trendy Kermit the Frog.

What's interesting here is that, in the original Sam and Friends skit, it was Kermit being taught by Harry the Hipster, but now the roles are reversed with Kermit playing the hip role while the Grump plays the straight man, so it's almost like a sequel. This skit would later be partially remade on Sesame Street as well (though lacking any of the original characters).


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3) Monster Family (October 23rd, 1966)
A father monster talks to his son about being a monster. Splurge appears as the wife/mother, breaking through the set and charging into the audience.

"You know how they try to drop nets over us, or electrocute us or run after us with flaming torches?"
"Yes, I had noticed that..."

::taps the boy on the head, then recoils from the pain::
"Oof! You've got a point there, boy."
"Yeah, I know- mommy's been sharpening it."

Amusing skit. Splurge is played by Frank Oz and was the first larger than life full-bodied Muppet made (he was actually produced a year earlier for a pilot of Hey, CInderella!). This skit is included amongst the bonus features on the DVD (alongside

 

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Time Piece (1966)
Time Piece embed
Produced between various commercial and television projects. A surrealistic, experimental short film produced, directed, and written by Jim Henson, who also played the leading role. Running just under 9 minutes, it follows a nameless man who lies in a hospital bed awaiting examination by a doctor through a wide range of experiences, accompanied by a rhythmic percussion soundtrack.

Nominated in 1966 for an Academy Award for "Best Short Subject, Live Action Subjects".


T2Q Comments:

Certainly a trippy little 60's piece. Very creative use of sound, though. The animation inserts also seem to be predecessors to such inserts used on Sesame Street. You also have brief cameos from some Henson associates like Frank Oz.

Besides the embed link above, the film is also available through iTunes. A brief segment of the film is up on youtube through the Henson Company, as well as a brief retrospective behind the scenes video clip.

Up Next: The Cube (1969)