Jim Henson, master of puppets

By R.W. | QUEENS

“ALL of us under its spell, we know that it’s probably magic”. The lyrics from the “Rainbow Connection”, sung by Kermit the Frog in the “Muppet Movie”, feel especially resonant as a visitor walks through “The Jim Henson Exhibition”, a new permanent feature at the Museum of the Moving Image in Astoria, a neighbourhood in New York City’s Queens. Almost every turn of the exhibit introduces a familiar foam rubber and felt-made face, each one magical in its own right—Big Bird in all his 8-feet-2-inch glory, or Miss Piggy in her fantabulous wedding finery (“Moi has always possessed a charm that is lethal to men”). But the magic is really seen in the story behind the felt: how the Muppets, Sesame Street, Fraggle Rock came to be. And this is the story of Jim Henson, their creator and in the case of some Muppets, their voice.

The Henson family donated about 500 artefacts to the museum in 2013, which included puppets, product design material and licensed merchandise. The exhibition also includes sketches, storyboards and scripts, on loan from the Jim Henson Company Archive, that go back to Henson’s childhood. It is unexpectedly thrilling to see Henson’s handwritten notes for the creation of Miss Piggy, who should have “elements of Dolly Parton, Martha Mitchell, Shelley Winters, by way of Fredericks of Hollywood” and “dresses like someone 10 years younger”. And it is moving to see the comics created by Henson as a young teen.

Henson was little more than a teenager when he created “Sam and Friends”, a puppet show that aired in Washington, DC in the 1950s. Visitors can watch clips from his early days on television as well as read scripts and handwritten notes on ideas for his appearances on “The Ed Sullivan Show”. They can also dive into his lesser-known work, his experimental films. He earned an Oscar nomination for his 1965 short film “Time Piece”. His early work shows a wit and innovative mind from the beginning—as Miss Piggy might say, “start out perfect and don’t change a thing.” He revolutionised the way puppets performed on television. Before, puppets and puppeteers were either shown together or in a sort of frame; think Punch and Judy. Henson and his team of puppeteers were instead off-camera. Visitors to the museum can watch themselves perform with a puppet as he might have done on a black and white television monitor. Later in the exhibition, visitors can see a full-scale model of the church scene in “The Muppet Movie”, which shows all the Muppet wedding guests on one level and then underneath reveals the puppeteers operating them.

Henson worked quite a bit in advertising. Artists often do things for money, to finance the serious projects, but Henson’s time in advertising is not “an exception, even remotely, to the spirit of his work”, says Barbara Miller, the exhibition’s curator. For Henson, there was no distinction between corporate clients or viewers in terms of humour and sensibility. Rowlf, the first Muppet “star”, was created to advertise Purina dog food, which led to regular appearances on Jimmy Dean’s variety show.

He was happy to leave advertising to do “Sesame Street”. But if it wasn’t for his success in advertising, the beloved children's show might never have been. Joan Ganz Cooney, the co-creator of “Sesame Street”, noticed that children were paying more attention to commercials than television programmes. Henson was invited to develop high-quality, entertaining, educational television that did not pander. Visitors can see not just “Sesame Street’s” stars but also the craft behind the programme, from storyboarding to designing the various Muppets. Exhibition-goers can try their own hands at Muppet-design, with various googly eyes, wigs, and accessories.

Henson was worried about being pigeonholed in children’s television, so he created a variety programme, “The Muppet Show” to appeal to adults, too. After American networks passed on it, a British producer syndicated it and sold it all over the world. It was massively popular in Poland before it made a mark in America. The vaudeville-like show booked the likes of Elton John and Ethel Merman, key to getting the grown-ups to watch alongside their children. The off-beat humour coupled with broad slapstick appealed to all ages. The museum also explores the technical innovations behind Henson’s more sinister fare, such as “The Dark Crystal” and “Labyrinth”. The puppetry for “The Dark Crystal”, a 1982 film co-directed by Henson, is sophisticated and technical with animatronic heads instead of felt and form. The museum also displays David Bowie’s costume from “Labyrinth”—codpiece and all.

The exhibition with the late period of Henson's career, before his death at the age of 53 in 1990. This short section shows the development of the first digital puppet character and “Waldo”, a radio-controlled remote puppet-performing device used in the series “Dinosaurs”. He was excited by the possibilities offered by technology, but died before he could make much of it.

But his legacy lives on. His characters, owned by three firms, The Henson Company, Sesame Workshop and Disney, still make movies and television programmes. The most recent two Muppet movies made $265m globally. “Sesame Street” is nearing 50 years on television, with both Henson's classic characters and foreign-language speaking puppets in locally tailored versions around the world. Wherever they can be found, they are still teaching children to read, to count, and to appreciate co-operation and kindness.

The retrospective oozes nostalgia. Kermit sits next to the microphone headband Henson wore while performing, underneath a photograph of Henson using the headband. But it all feels appropriate. The exhibit complicates the perception of Henson as just a child’s performer, which he never wanted to be solely known as. He saw himself as a filmmaker and an entrepreneur. The permanent exhibit, which opened on July 22nd, is very much in line with Henson’s mission, to create entertainment that does not pander to kids, yet delights them and is still enjoyable for people of all ages, particularly perhaps the young in heart, “the lovers, the dreamers and me”.

"The Jim Henson Exhibition" is at the Museum of the Moving Image in Queens.