Jim Henson: Young Puppeteer

[Muppetfreak]

They have done a biography of him on Great Performances. I used to have it on tape....no idea where it is now....

I have also read another biography of his early days that filled me with rage because they said Miss Piggy's hands were the puppeteer's hands with gloves on them and such inacuracies fill me with rage.

 

[Super Scooter]

Originally posted by Fozzie Bear

Did you find certain aspects about Jim Henson and yourself that kind of match up?

Well, I don't remember reading this particular book, but I've read other "biographies" (mostly for children) that have gone into this stuff, and, yes, I have noticed the similarities. As you stated, The Wizard of Oz fandom being one. Being fascinated by the television (while nt quite becoming a junkie) is another.

Yeah, I see that certain aspects do match up in my life as his did.

 

[Buck-Beaver]

The "Great Performances" episode wasn't good, but it was done for PBS, not A&E's "Biography."

They have technically covered his life in part of the "Sesame Street" Biography special but that was very short on facts and more in the style of their "TVography" episodes.

 

[Fozzie Bear]

When did A&E do a biography on Jim Henson?? I want a copy of that!

 

[Super Scooter]

They did an A&E Bio of Jim? When was this? Can you get it anywhere?

 

[Sir Didymus]

I think you can buy the A&E episode on A&E.com. I saw it on T.V., it was mostly about Sesame Street. A very good special though!

Jake

 

[Buck-Beaver]

It wasn't on Jim Henson, but actually Sesame Street. They did briefly cover his contribution to the show though. There's also some footage of Steve and Brian doing Bert and Ernie which is kind of neat.

It's available for sale on VHS and DVD-R from A&E - click here - but they will only ship to North American customers.

 

[Fozzie Bear]

I've got that one, then. I also got their show about Charles Schulz and that was neat.

 

[ScottMonster]

I taped it off A&E in October 2001 and I still have it! All in all, I thought they didn't do to bad a job of giving some detailed biographical info on his pre-Sesame Street muppet work, and had some decent clips of his commercials for Wilkins Coffee, La Choy Chow Mein, as well as a few from "Sam and Friends" and what I think was an appearance on the Ed Sullivan show - with a young and clean shaven Frank Oz and a "Southern Colonel" type puppet. And on a related note, I think it's time somebody thought about putting together a video/DVD compilation of some of these earlier works, especially the commercials which are unlike anything the Muppets have ever done since. And I wonder if there's *any* surviving stock footage of "The Junior Morning Show" - His first job on TV and only seventeen years old. Now THAT would be something worth seeing!

 

[Buck-Beaver]

The "Southern Colonel" footage of Jim and Frank I believe is actually from "The Muppets on Puppets" which was a PBS special in the 60s I believe. I think there is also some brief footage from the same special of Jim and Don Sahlin, although I might be confusing the A&E special with the Jim Henson episode of "Great Performances".