Henson closes NY office

[Fozzie Bear]

Don't give up hope! There's always MuppetFest possibilities, and they HAVE been making personal appearances lately. Steve Whitmire even welcomed fans to talk to him in a letter he wrote to MC a while back!

All the performers are cool folks, and anybody I've ever dealt with from JHC have always been nice, whether in email or phone conversations. It's not the building, it's the people! I just hate that folks are losing jobs.

 

[Mark Filton]

Philip thanks for fixing my account it is working again

Man I am sad about this building. Personally I can't find anything good about it. NEW YORK CITY is where Jim went for the big time from a small town. It is where he died and had a beautiful funeral.

It is just me and my opinon, but if the Henson company needs the money this badly, it is terrible, and if they don't care about the history of the great man of the company's name, then that is a catastrofy as well

This is like moving the White House.

You just don't do it!

Oh well what can I do. I am not a rich man

Hope to God the new owners keep a little bit there and sell tickets as a sideline. How on earth do you move that mural? It will never be the same. I think of all the stories of that building. Why do we have to keep losing things? A new building for the business that Jim was never in will be breaking the chain of the magic. It is like rebuilding the world trade building. That one place is special and the people will build AGAIN on that SAME SPOT. If the Henson building was wrecked, then build again right there. It is just me but I am only sad about it

 

[Fozzie Bear]

How on earth do you move that mural?

http://www.schulzmuseum.org/permanent.html

Read the above link about how a wall can be moved!

 

[Phillip]

Great link. Thank's for sharing that. How cool to have that treasure in your own home.

 

[Fozzie Bear]

Man! I'd never have called them! LOL!!

But, I'm a Schulz freak, too; then again, I might want to so it would be preserved.

To think: Someone actually covered that stuff in wallpaper!! YIPE!

 

[Mark Filton]

Yes, you got me there. That is amazing

Still, what guarantee can you give me that is also going to happen at the Henson building? It's not like we can just phone up and say "Hello we are Muppet fans. What are you going to do with that stuff? Where is the proof? When will it be happening? How will it be done? Call me back and we can set up a time for me to come over and supervise...blah blah blah"

Selling the building is a very bad sign

Just because the people in charge are making the decision does not mean that it is wise and we just have to find ways of accepting it and realizing how smart they are.

Look at the big mess the Henson company is in now, and all the mistakes they made over and over again. Just because it is Henson's family running things doesn't mean Brian or any of them were great business people. They had it given to them.

All these people make a big smile on everything they do. It is called "the spin."

I am a lot fearing that the Henson people feel that they will always be the small potatoes from now on, and figure there is no point in keeping the historeic New York building there open

What do we expect them to say---the truth?

"Hi everybody, we tried to sell to a big company and got all the small timers, and now there are a million cable tv channels and all fantasy characters can be done with a computer, and we are without our big performers and we can't even be bothered to find ONE guy who can do Scooter's voice any good, and everybody is watching Barney the dinosaur, and even YODA isn't a Muppet anymore, and we have no big special movies like Labrinth or Dark Crystal in the works, and instead of selling the NBC Christmas special on NBC's own Jay Leno we go begging on syndicated Jimmy Kimmel Live and we're just trying to be a small children's entertasinment company so we'll never use the New York building and all that big time fun is over and in the past and we're sick of it and we don't care anymore."

CLOSE the building??? SELL IT AWAY??? WHat, do they need the 14 million that badly?????? Can't they afford just to keep it and pay the property taxes?????

FOR THE PROPERTY TAXES COST they SELL AWAY the building where Jim Henson himself made all theat good stuff????

The cost of property taxes to MILLIONAIRES like the Henson family is like candy bar money to us normal people!!!

Selling that building is crazy. It should never happen!

Why not sell away Elvis PResley's GRACELAND, too!

Never should happen. NEVERRRRR!!!!

 

[Princess Melora]

From what I understand, some of the marketing and licensing people, as well as a small staff of builders, will move over to the space formerly occupied by the Muppet Workshop (and owned by Jane Henson).

So there will still be a small Henson corporate presence in NYC, albeit not at the Muppet Mansion.

 

[Beauregard]

"Hi everybody, we tried to sell to a big company and got all the small timers, and now there are a million cable tv channels and all fantasy characters can be done with a computer, and we are without our big performers and we can't even be bothered to find ONE guy who can do Scooter's voice any good, and everybody is watching Barney the dinosaur, and even YODA isn't a Muppet anymore, and we have no big special movies like Labrinth or Dark Crystal in the works, and instead of selling the NBC Christmas special on NBC's own Jay Leno we go begging on syndicated Jimmy Kimmel Live and we're just trying to be a small children's entertasinment company so we'll never use the New York building and all that big time fun is over and in the past and we're sick of it and we don't care anymore."

Please, that is not nice. There are times when I don't want to hear the truth. Oh man, oh man, oh man. I've been wanting to admit all that stuff to myself for years, but have never got round to it.

 

[Mark Filton]

Yeah, that's how I feel about it

Why not sell Elvis Presley's Graceland?

"Time for a new start, everybody. Let's move on into the future with Lisa Marie Presley. No more looking back into the past!"

Yeah, right.

As long as there is enough revenue coming in to pay for the taxes, historic places like Graceland should never be sold and turned into something else.

The Hensons could put a little money into a savings bond and to pay the taxes and keep the building there forever, or could spend a million to lobby for the city of New York to make it a historic landmark. Why not???? After all, Jim reinvented puppetry for television in NYC

If the company is down to the last penny, then sell it off if you have no choice. Jim would have done that, too.

But he left his family mountains of money after the German sale and buy-back at a bargain price.

This is like selling your wedding ring when you still have money for the rent, the groceries, and a vacation

People act like they have no choice. They do have a choice!

They're just sick of the business, and want to keep their memories of Jim alive in their hearts, but they just wanna forget the past and to always have to be reminded of it, and to stay in sunny california and get on with their own lives.

Jim died in NYC. For the Henson family, it is sadness.

If you get down to the last penny, you have to sell the family heirlooms, but the Henson family no way "HAS" to do this. They are weary and sick of trying to sell, and they wanted to sell, and now Henson's hope of finding a big safe home for the Muppets isn't happening. I bet even the family is angry with the world. So sick of it all they want to go to california and be done with it.

How can we know what is in their hearts? None may say-only guessing.

After all, I only found out a few years ago that Jim and his wife were separated. You think everything is happiness and no fighting? Even Jim was very sad after Labrinth failed to be a blockbuster.

To me, this decision says "WE ARE FED UP WITH EVERYTHING! ENOUGH! FINISHED! WE TRIED! GOODBYE!"

It has been a hard time for them. IF they were happy I feel they would keep it. THe building was come from nothing to greatness. If you're still loaded with cash, you NEVER give those things up. You CHERISH all your days with it.

But you know what? I don't blame them all the way. Me? I think it's crazy, but if I were in they're shoes, I might feel the same way. I would make a mistake, but I can say that I understand them.

Oh, that magical spiral staircase. Ah, it would only take them ONE darn day to make a nice big virtual video of the place for us fans, but they won't. I don't like it, but I can understand why they make a bad mistake.

After all, all we know is that it is for sale. We don't get invited to Brian Henson's house to talk about it

We will never know, but sadly we will also never get to visit it now. Or even imagine it in our dreams. Better for it to fall down than be sold to anybody with a few bucks

 

[Fozzie Bear]

Why not sell Elvis Presley's Graceland

They make too much money off that stupid house is why; Henson has to reduce costs right now (which I had rather they did than to fold or go under or *YIPE!* sell to some German media company or...wait, that already happened and got us into this mess now)!