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Not sure if this is the right section to post this but thought it made most sense here. It is difficult to find old interviews w/ Jim Henson. I think this site only has one in their archives. I'm hoping to locate any and all to share w/ you. If you have any, please direct me to them as I would like to chec them out. Here is the first, not quite an interview but some quotes by JH are sprinkled in....
SUNDAY MAIL, August 3, 1986 Sunday
WHEN LAUGHTER COSTS $4 A SECOND
The world falls in love with a frog When laughter costs $4 a second . . .
By IAN GORDON
JIM Henson is not ashamed to admit that one of his best friends is a frog _ a make-believe frog made from the sleeve of an old coat.
Jim has good reason to admire his unprepossessing pal because Kermit the frog has made him a multi-millionaire.
Kermit is the star of the show Jim created: The Muppets _ one of the zaniest and most successful shows in television history. In a high-tech age, its simple glove puppets and lovable characters have won it an audience of 300 million in more than 100 countries.
The Muppets have starred in more than 100 TV shows and two movies.
They have won top entertainment awards and been installed in the Chicago Museum of Science and Industry.
Fan clubs have sprung up around the world, books have been written about them and psychologists have claimed to get vital clues about people's personalities, according to which Muppet they choose as their favorite.
So, while other TV shows get more complicated, technical and expensive, the original Kermit still exists, with his eyes made from the halves of a split ping-pong ball, although he now has a few ""doubles" stored in cardboard boxes in Jim's office on East 69th Street, New York City. Nobody will say exactly how many Kermits exist.
Jim Henson explains: ""I'm not sure I'd like to talk about that. A magazine once published the fact that there were nine Miss Piggys; but I don't think people want to know that. It's like being told there is more than one Santa Claus."
Yet some secrets behind the making of The Muppets can be revealed.
For example, the voice of Kermit is the voice of Jim Henson himself.
His wife, Jane, once said the best way to find out what Jim was really thinking was to listen to him playing the part of the frog.
THE voices of Miss Piggy, Fozzy Bear and Sam Eagle all come from the same man, Frank Oz. Now 41, Frank has been working with puppets since he was 12.
Henson, Oz and a team of about 10 others make most of the main characters move. They lie or crouch under a platform little more than a metre high operating the glove puppets. It is an uncomfortable way to earn a living sometimes.
The action for each scene first is sketched on huge boards. The puppeteers monitor their own movements on video screens and frequently film has to be scrapped when they inadvertently let their arms appear in view.
A whole day's filming usually produces about 10 minutes of television time. The production costs are enormous. Jim Henson once calculated that it worked out at $4 a second.
There are a total of 150 people working for the Muppet organisation at workshops in London and New York. They include artists, sculptors, designers and jewellers.
Among the rare mechanical aids which have been introduced to the Muppets are a pair of motors inside Fozzy's head (which can make his ears twirl) and a device which enables Kermit to cross his legs.
In films and other projects, Jim Henson has used computers and special effects, but he is reluctant to move too far from the simple concept behind the Muppets.
""The fact that The Muppet Show characters are simple and straightforward puppets," he says, ""does not make them any worse than their more sophisticated rivals. In many cases, the simpler they are the better they are."
THE charm certainly appeals to superstars invited to appear on The Muppet Show. They have included Bob Hope, Raquel Welch, Elton John, John Denver and Rudolf Nureyev.
Jim Henson says: ""I could never tell in advance which guest stars would be good with the Muppets. We'd spend a week getting to be friends before taping the show; but, particularly in the first rehearsal, the guests would often speak their lines directly at the puppeteers instead of at the Muppets."
With re-runs of the original shows attracting bigger audiences than ever around the world, the latest success story is the Muppet Babies.
These were first seen in the film Muppets Take Manhattan and made such a good impression that an American TV network commissioned a new series. It won the 1985 Emmy Award (the American television ""Oscar") for the best animated show.
Now Jim Henson is under pressure to build a Muppetland _ a giant theme park on the lines of Disneyland. He is reluctant, so far, to commit himself. Jim says: ""I love Disneyland, but it would be such an enormous project to build a Muppetland that it would take up all my time.
""My life is wrapped up in the production of new ideas. It takes a lot of creative energy to keep the whole thing going."
Whatever the future holds, nothing and no one can take the place of Kermit in his affections. ""I love what I do and I have never got fed up with Kermit," he says.
SUNDAY MAIL, August 3, 1986 Sunday
WHEN LAUGHTER COSTS $4 A SECOND
The world falls in love with a frog When laughter costs $4 a second . . .
By IAN GORDON
JIM Henson is not ashamed to admit that one of his best friends is a frog _ a make-believe frog made from the sleeve of an old coat.
Jim has good reason to admire his unprepossessing pal because Kermit the frog has made him a multi-millionaire.
Kermit is the star of the show Jim created: The Muppets _ one of the zaniest and most successful shows in television history. In a high-tech age, its simple glove puppets and lovable characters have won it an audience of 300 million in more than 100 countries.
The Muppets have starred in more than 100 TV shows and two movies.
They have won top entertainment awards and been installed in the Chicago Museum of Science and Industry.
Fan clubs have sprung up around the world, books have been written about them and psychologists have claimed to get vital clues about people's personalities, according to which Muppet they choose as their favorite.
So, while other TV shows get more complicated, technical and expensive, the original Kermit still exists, with his eyes made from the halves of a split ping-pong ball, although he now has a few ""doubles" stored in cardboard boxes in Jim's office on East 69th Street, New York City. Nobody will say exactly how many Kermits exist.
Jim Henson explains: ""I'm not sure I'd like to talk about that. A magazine once published the fact that there were nine Miss Piggys; but I don't think people want to know that. It's like being told there is more than one Santa Claus."
Yet some secrets behind the making of The Muppets can be revealed.
For example, the voice of Kermit is the voice of Jim Henson himself.
His wife, Jane, once said the best way to find out what Jim was really thinking was to listen to him playing the part of the frog.
THE voices of Miss Piggy, Fozzy Bear and Sam Eagle all come from the same man, Frank Oz. Now 41, Frank has been working with puppets since he was 12.
Henson, Oz and a team of about 10 others make most of the main characters move. They lie or crouch under a platform little more than a metre high operating the glove puppets. It is an uncomfortable way to earn a living sometimes.
The action for each scene first is sketched on huge boards. The puppeteers monitor their own movements on video screens and frequently film has to be scrapped when they inadvertently let their arms appear in view.
A whole day's filming usually produces about 10 minutes of television time. The production costs are enormous. Jim Henson once calculated that it worked out at $4 a second.
There are a total of 150 people working for the Muppet organisation at workshops in London and New York. They include artists, sculptors, designers and jewellers.
Among the rare mechanical aids which have been introduced to the Muppets are a pair of motors inside Fozzy's head (which can make his ears twirl) and a device which enables Kermit to cross his legs.
In films and other projects, Jim Henson has used computers and special effects, but he is reluctant to move too far from the simple concept behind the Muppets.
""The fact that The Muppet Show characters are simple and straightforward puppets," he says, ""does not make them any worse than their more sophisticated rivals. In many cases, the simpler they are the better they are."
THE charm certainly appeals to superstars invited to appear on The Muppet Show. They have included Bob Hope, Raquel Welch, Elton John, John Denver and Rudolf Nureyev.
Jim Henson says: ""I could never tell in advance which guest stars would be good with the Muppets. We'd spend a week getting to be friends before taping the show; but, particularly in the first rehearsal, the guests would often speak their lines directly at the puppeteers instead of at the Muppets."
With re-runs of the original shows attracting bigger audiences than ever around the world, the latest success story is the Muppet Babies.
These were first seen in the film Muppets Take Manhattan and made such a good impression that an American TV network commissioned a new series. It won the 1985 Emmy Award (the American television ""Oscar") for the best animated show.
Now Jim Henson is under pressure to build a Muppetland _ a giant theme park on the lines of Disneyland. He is reluctant, so far, to commit himself. Jim says: ""I love Disneyland, but it would be such an enormous project to build a Muppetland that it would take up all my time.
""My life is wrapped up in the production of new ideas. It takes a lot of creative energy to keep the whole thing going."
Whatever the future holds, nothing and no one can take the place of Kermit in his affections. ""I love what I do and I have never got fed up with Kermit," he says.