Jim Henson: The Biography – Brian Jay Jones

The story of Jim Henson began on September 24, 1936 when he was born in Greenville, Mississippi.  Thankfully, it didn’t end when he died on May 16, 1990 in New York.  His legacy lives on, in both the legions of people who grew up with him and his creations on Sesame Street and The Muppet Show and those who are just now discovering him for the first time, with Muppets Most Wanted heading to theaters later this month.  With public interest in the Muppets and its highest level since before Henson’s death, biographer Brian Jay Jones tackled the story, and the myth, of Jim Henson.

At an early age, Jim Henson became enthralled with the new invention of television.  He started working at a local station in Maryland while he was still in high school.  By the time he was a sophomore at the University of Maryland, he was producing the top rated local show, where he first introduced what would eventually become known as the Muppets.

Throughout the 60s, Henson and his fellow performers would appear on variety shows, like The Ed Sullivan Show and The Jimmy Dean Show, expanding the Muppet repertoire while also appearing in commercials in order to pay the bills.  As the decade was coming to a close, Jim Henson joined forces with the team at the Children’s Television Workshop to come up with a show to could both teach and entertain children.  The resulting show, Sesame Street, became a cultural phenomenon that still educates and enthralls children today.

During the 1970s, Jim Henson tried to convince the broadcast community that the Muppets could sustain a half hour show.  After many many false starts, he eventually got the chance to prove himself when The Muppet Show was greenlit and began airing in 1976.  The show aired for 5 seasons, becoming a smash hit both in the US and abroad.  During the show’s run, Henson turned his sights to the big screen, starting with 1979’s The Muppet Movie.  In 1981, following the conclusion of The Muppet Show, the second film, and the first to be directed by Henson, was released.

At this point, Henson was moving on from the Muppets, starting work on his long in-development project The Dark Crystal, which he co-directed with fellow Muppet performer Frank Oz.  While successful, the film was not as well received as Henson’s previous work.  While Oz started working on the third Muppet feature film, Henson turned his attention to another fantasy film, Labyrinth.  Reviews for this film were scathing, and the box office followed suit.  For the first time, Jim Henson was experiencing some failures.

In the late 80s, Henson found that he was spending too much time running his company and not enough being creative.  He put a plan in motion to sell the company, and the Muppets, to Disney, which would free him up to start creating again.  Sadly, while negotiations were ongoing to close the deal, Henson fell ill and died due to organ failure caused by a Group A streptococcal infection.  His death, while certainly a sad event, was also turned in to a celebration of all the joy he had given to people.  Generations have now grown up watching Sesame Street before moving on to the various Muppet shows and movies.  While Jim Henson’s story may have come to a close in 1990, his legacy lives on, and will continue to do so thanks to his creations.