History Creator / JimHenson

In the meantime, Creator/JimHensonsCreatureShop had become a major font for further advancing puppetry. Building on the casts of ''The Dark Crystal'' and ''Labyrinth'', the Creature Shop was responsible for the title characters of [[Film/TeenageMutantNinjaTurtles1990 the 1990 movie version]] of ''Franchise/TeenageMutantNinjaTurtles'', and its first sequel ''Film/TeenageMutantNinjaTurtlesIITheSecretOfTheOoze''. As well, the Shop also did forays into CG animation, namely Waldo C. Graphic, a gusty experimentation of a manually-controlled virtual 3D character who appeared in both ''Series/TheJimHensonHour'' and ''Ride/MuppetVision3D'', the latter of which runs at Ride/DisneyThemeParks to this day.

James Maury Henson (September 24, 1936 – May 16, 1990) was an American puppeteer, filmmaker, voice actor and actor born in Greenville, Mississippi. Widely regarded as one of the greatest (if not ''the'' greatest) puppeteers in modern history, Henson was the creator of the world-famous [[Franchise/TheMuppets Muppet]] characters, and used the art of puppetry to reach heights of popular success and artistic acclaim undreamed of by anyone in his field before or since.

In the meantime, Creator/JimHensonsCreatureShop had become a major font for further advancing puppetry. Building on the cast of ''The Dark Crystal'' and ''Labyrinth'', the Creature Shop was responsible for the title characters of [[Film/TeenageMutantNinjaTurtles1990 the 1990 movie version]] of ''Franchise/TeenageMutantNinjaTurtles'', and its first sequel ''Film/TeenageMutantNinjaTurtlesIITheSecretOfTheOoze''. As well, the Shop also did forays into CG animation, namely Waldo C. Graphic, a gusty experimentation of a manually-controlled virtual 3D character who appeared in both ''Series/TheJimHensonHour'' and ''Ride/MuppetVision3D'', the latter of which runs at Ride/DisneyThemeParks to this day.

In the meantime, Creator/JimHensonsCreatureShop had become a major font for further advancing puppetry. Building on full body characters like the Gorgs from ''Fraggle Rock'', the Creature Shop was responsible for the title characters of [[Film/TeenageMutantNinjaTurtles1990 the 1990 movie version]] of ''Franchise/TeenageMutantNinjaTurtles'', and its first sequel ''Film/TeenageMutantNinjaTurtlesIITheSecretOfTheOoze''. As well, the Shop also did forays into CG animation, namely Waldo, a gusty experimentation of a manually-controlled virtual 3D character who appeared in both ''Series/TheJimHensonHour'' and ''Ride/MuppetVision3D'', the latter of which runs at Ride/DisneyThemeParks to this day.

** For an example of Jim's child-like prankster side on display, look no further than a tale told by Frank Oz at Henson's memorial service in 1990. The story goes, in December 1975, during a taping of "The Land of Gorch" sketches for ''Saturday Night Live'', Jim asked Frank to come with him to a dressing room so he could take pictures of Frank naked. Frank was asked to pose in a hunched position, covering his genitals with a shocked expression. After it was over, the two returned to work. When Christmastime rolled around, Frank received a gift from Jim, entitled "Bert in Self-Contemplation"; a sculpture of the ''Sesame Street'' character holding a ledge filled with little Bert toys and photos of the Muppet Workshop employees who had helped create Bert. The ledge also featured painted striations interpreted by Frank to be the layers of Bert's mind. The larger Bert, however, had his pupils cut out, and when Frank peeped inside Bert's head, he saw a photo of himself naked.

''Series/SesameStreet'' launched dozens of characters who are now a part of the worldwide consciousness, including Jim's own characters Ernie and Guy Smiley. The program would also solidify the core performers he'd work with for years to come. Creator/FrankOz, Jerry Nelson, Richard Hunt, Creator/CarollSpinney, Fran Brill, and later David Goelz, Steve Whitmire and Kevin Clash all performed characters too numerous to mention here that are just as memorable as Henson's own. In fact, Henson and Oz, whether performing Bert and Ernie, or Kermit and Fozzie Bear, or Kermit and Miss Piggy, or the Swedish Chef (Henson did the head and voice, while Oz did the hands) rank as one of the most prolific comedy duos in television history, and barely ever appeared on screen as themselves. Unfortunately, the success of ''Sesame Street'' caused a lot of people to see the Muppets as strictly "kid's stuff," a notion that Henson worked to dispel (with varying degrees of success) for the rest of his life.

* PrecisionFStrike: He gave one in his own fashion in response to a letter whose critisism of his experimental TV special ''Film/TheCube'' was so buried in PurpleProse as to be impenetrable.

** When Music/AliceCooper guest-starred on ''The Muppet Show'', he said by the end of the week he stopped talking to the Muppet performers and spoke directly to the Muppets, and all the performers were so great at improv that they never broke character. Forget Creator/MarlonBrando, the Muppet crew are kings of method acting.

While ''Sesame Street'' still runs strongly, as it was not affected by the sales and resales of The Jim Henson Company and its properties that persisted into the TurnOfTheMillennium, the ''Muppet Show'' cast had a spottier record via all the turmoil. ''Series/MuppetsTonight'', which set to update the concept of ''The Muppet Show'' for the 1990s by introducing new characters, a new host, a new setting, and new skits, only lasted for two seasons before falling into obscurity. New film productions were largely overlooked. Other productions by the Jim Henson Company and its performers, ranging from ''Series/{{Dinosaurs}}'' and ''Series/{{Farscape}}'' to ''Series/BearInTheBigBlueHouse'' and ''WesternAnimation/DogCity'', more successfully continued Henson's legacy with new characters for new generations of fans. Jim's legacy also lives on through the many puppeteers, filmmakers and creative artists who worked with, or were taught by, him or members of his team, as well as countless generations of people who grew up with his work, many of them future puppeteers for both The Jim Henson Company in Los Angeles and Sesame Workshop in New York City.

Disney has owned ''The Muppet Show'' and its characters since 2004. [[Film/TheMuppets2011 The 2011 Muppet film]] set out to keep the original cast of ''The Muppet Show'' fresh without changing them as characters, and proved successful enough to warrant [[Film/MuppetsMostWanted a sequel]] in 2014. (A few photos of Jim Henson are visible in the film, including [[TearJerker a large one of him and Kermit in Kermit's office.]]) Otherwise, the "classic" Muppets have been making fewer and shorter appearances in other media, such as a Website/YouTube channel of original skits. The Jim Henson Company in New York City produces mainly CG series, internet material, and the puppets for ''Sesame Street'', the representative characters now owned by Sesame Workshop. And then in 2015, [[Series/TheMuppets2015 they came back to TV once again.]]

* DoingItForTheArt: This was pretty much Jim's mindframe for most, if not all, of the projects he did in his life. However, this also contrasted him from other puppeteers and puppet troupes who saw more commercial success than he did, such as [[Creator/SidAndMartyKrofftProductions Sid & Marty Krofft]], for example.
** Although this ethic paid off in the long run for Jim since he continues to be a household name long after his death. This is in part by his company still producing new content regularly along with two of his [[Franchise/TheMuppets biggest]] [[Series/SesameStreet franchises]] maintaining a large media presence to this day.

** And on a straighter note, the banjo-playing member of [[https://muppet.fandom.com/wiki/The_Country_Trio the Country Trio]] bears his likeness, and when he performed him, he used his regular voice. You can see the character in the image next to the blue frog. He was often joined by two Muppet doppelgängers of Frank Oz (on bass) and Jerry Nelson (on guitar).

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[[caption-width-right:320:How come when ''he'' makes up {{imaginary friend}}s, it's cool, but when ''I'' do it...]]

In 1955, WRC-TV 4, a UsefulNotes/WashingtonDC television station owned and operated by Creator/{{NBC}}, began airing a nightly five-minute puppet show called ''Series/SamAndFriends''. In addition to the manic title character, and a skull-like omnivorous creature named Yorick, the show featured a lizard-like creature (made from an old green sweater and a couple of ping pong balls) named Kermit. This was the humble beginning for Kermit, who would eventually be refined in his design into a frog with a collar.