History Creator / JimHenson

''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, Caroll Spinney, 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.

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.

* CreatorBacklash: The ''Series/SaturdayNightLive'' "Land of Gortch" sketches, sort of. Henson was still proud of the characters, enough to give King Ploobis a cameo in the final shot of ''The Muppet Movie'', but the contract forbade him and his team from contributing to the writing process, and the SNL writers really didn't get what he was going for. He did at least get to write their bittersweet sendoff when ''The Muppet Show'' was picked up.

* BreakingPointSwearing: 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.
--> "Dear Mr. Dionne: What the fuck are you talking about?" - Yours truly, Jim Henson

* ItWillNeverCatchOn:
** He and the rest of the crew got a lot of this when ''Series/TheMuppetShow'' was being shopped around and when it first premiered. It happened again before ''Film/TheMuppetMovie'' was released.
** Henson himself took two decades of trying to get other kinds of work going before he finally accepted that the Muppets were what he would be known for.

* DeadArtistsAreBetter: Henson was well appreciated before, but after his death, his reputation as the master puppeteer and television producer cemented fully, to the point where previously underappreciated projects of his like ''Labyrinth'' and ''The Dark Crystal'' became regarded as [[CultClassic Cult Classics]].

* IncrediblyLamePun: Boy oh boy, did he ''love'' these.
** When he was announcing the winner for Best Animated Short in his first appearance as himself at the UsefulNotes/{{Academy Award}}s, he began to read in Kermit's voice, "So, the winner is...", cleared his throat, and said, "Had a frog in my throat, there" then immediately apologized and claimed, "I haven't used that line before!"
** As Kermit on ''Series/SesameStreet'', he mentioned the joke about having a man in his throat. (He didn't actually do the joke.)
** At Henson's memorial service, Jerry Juhl told the story of Jim struggling with an Incredibly Lame Pun around which he was trying to build a ''Muppet Show'' sketch. Jim entered Juhl's office for the latter to review the script for the sketch. Eventually, Juhl asked if it was the pun itself that bothered him, to which Jim replied with heartfelt sincerity, "Oh no, it's a terrible joke, but it's ''worthy'' of us!"

* OldShame: The ''Series/SaturdayNightLive'' "Land of Gortch" sketches, sort of. Henson was still proud of the characters, enough to give King Ploobis a cameo in the final shot of ''The Muppet Movie'', but the contract forbade him and his team from contributing to the writing process, and the SNL writers really didn't get what he was going for. He did at least get to write their bittersweet sendoff when ''The Muppet Show'' was picked up.

* 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.
--> "Dear Mr. Dionne: What the fuck are you talking about?" - Yours truly, Jim Henson
** A milder example is a presentation he taped to pitch ''Series/TheMuppetShow'' to networks; the pitch was a brief showcase of the typical kind of mayhem the Muppets are known for, and when all is over with, Kermit enters frame, [[NoFourthWall looks to the camera]], and asks, "What the hell was that all about?"

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.

** 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.

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'' 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 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.

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

** A milder example is a presentation he taped to pitch ''Series/TheMuppetShow'' to networks; the pitch was a brief showcase of the typical kind of mayhem the Muppets are known for, and when all is over with, Kermit enters frame, [[NoFourthWall looks to the camera]], and asks, "What the hell was ''that?!''"

* PrecisionFStrike: A milder example is a presentation he taped to pitch ''Series/TheMuppetShow'' to networks; the pitch was a brief showcase of the typical kind of mayhem the Muppets are known for, and when all is over with, Kermit enters frame, [[NoFourthWall looks to the camera]], and asks, "What the hell was ''that?!''"

[[quoteright:300:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/Jim-Henson-Muppets-725792.jpg]]
[-[[caption-width-right:300:How come when ''he'' makes up {{imaginary friend}}s, it's cool, but when ''I'' do it...]]-]

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 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 1955, WRC-TV 4, a UsefulNotes/WashingtonDC television station owned by Creator/{{NBC}}, began airing a short five minute puppet show named ''Series/SamAndFriends''. In addition to the manic title character and a skull-like omnivorous creature named Yorick, it featured a lizard-like creature (made from an old green sweater and a pair 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.

When ''Sam and Friends'' ended, Henson moved on to producing commercials for national advertising campaigns. Meanwhile, The Muppets became popular features on variety shows, once even taking over ''Series/TheEdSullivanShow'' for a Christmas special, as well as Jim's character Rowlf the Dog being a regular on the ''Jimmy Dean Show''. Henson even experimented with non-puppet films such as the surreal short, ''Film/TimePiece'' which was nominated for a Live Action Short Oscar. However, it wasn't until Joan Ganz Cooney and [[Series/SesameStreet a show brought to you by the letters]] [[Creator/{{PBS}} "P", "B" and "S"]] came into the picture that the Muppets would become an institution.

Disney has owned ''The Muppet Show'' and its characters since 2004. [[Film/TheMuppets 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/TheMuppets they came back to TV once again.]]

''Series/SesameStreet'' launched [[LoadsAndLoadsOfCharacters 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, Caroll Spinney, 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.

* SomethingCompletelyDifferent: ''Film/TheDarkCrystal'', ''Film/{{Labyrinth}}'' and ''Film/MirrorMask'' are DarkerAndEdgier than the Jim Henson Company's other productions.

''Series/SesameStreet'' launched [[LoadsAndLoadsOfCharacters 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, Caroll Spinney, 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 voice and 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.

** 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 layers in 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.

** 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, with Frank 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 layers in 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.

** 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 Oz to come with him to a dressing room so he could take pictures of Frank naked, with Frank 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 layers in 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.

** In December 1975, during a taping of "The Land of Gorch" sketches for ''Saturday Night Live'', Jim asked Frank Oz to come with him to a dressing room so he could take pictures of Frank naked, with Frank 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 layers in 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.

** At Henson's memorial service, Frank Oz told the story of arguing with Jim over an Incredibly Lame Pun around which Jim was trying to build a ''Muppet Show'' sketch. At first, Frank gently pointed out what a stretch it would be to include the pun, then finally, he told Jim flat-out that the joke was just bad, to which Jim replied with heartfelt sincerity, "Oh yes, it's a terrible joke, but it's ''worthy'' of us!"

** In December 1975, during a taping of "The Land of Gorch" sketches for ''Saturday Night Live'', Jim asked Frank Oz to come with him to a dressing room so he could take pictures of Frank naked, with Frank 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 detailed sculpture of the ''Sesame Street'' character holding a ledge filled with little Bert toys and "Bert's brain." The larger Bert, however, had his pupils cut out, and when Frank peeped inside Bert's head, he saw a photo of himself naked.

** In December 1975, during a taping of "The Land of Gorch" sketches for ''Saturday Night Live'', Jim asked Frank Oz to come with him to a dressing room so he could take pictures of Frank naked, with Frank 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 detailed figure of the ''Sesame Street'' character holding a ledge filled with little Bert toys and "Bert's brain." The larger Bert figure, however, had his pupils cut out, and when Frank peeped inside Bert's head, he saw a photo of himself naked.

** In December 1975, during a taping of "The Land of Gorch" sketches for ''Saturday Night Live'', Jim asked Frank Oz to come with him to a dressing room so he could take pictures of Frank naked, with Frank 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 detailed figure of the ''Sesame Street'' character holding a wedge filled with little Bert toys and "Bert's brain." The larger Bert figure, however, had his pupils cut out, and when Frank peeped inside Bert's head, he saw a photo of himself naked.

** In December 1975, during a taping of "The Land of Gorch" sketches for ''Saturday Night Live'', Jim asked Frank Oz to come with him to a dressing room so he could take pictures of Frank naked, with Frank in a hunched position, holding 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 detailed figure of the ''Sesame Street'' character holding a wedge filled with little Bert toys and "Bert's brain." The larger Bert figure, however, had his pupils cut out, and when Frank peeped inside Bert's head, he saw a photo of himself naked.

** In December 1975, during a taping of "The Land of Gorch" sketches for ''Saturday Night Live'', Jim asked Frank Oz to come with him to a dressing room so he could take pictures of Frank naked, with Frank in a hunched position, holding 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 Henson entitled "Bert in Self-Contemplation"; a detailed figure of the ''Sesame Street'' character holding a wedge filled with little Bert toys and "Bert's brain." The larger Bert figure, however, had his pupils cut out, and when Frank peeped inside Bert's head, he saw a photo of himself naked.

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 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.