A long, long, long, long, LONG time ago ( 1936, to be precise) Jim Henson was born on September 24th, 1936 in Greenville, Mississippi. They later moved to Hyatsville, Maryland. ( They sure like living in " villes" apparently.)
Henson was fascinated in the movies and his first movie he ever saw was The Wizard of Oz back in 1939. He really enjoyed that, and got a radio when it came out. He enjoyed Edgar Bergen and Charlie McCarthy. When he heard about television in the 1950's, he immediately wanted to get a TV. After
If you click here, you can see a picture of Edgar and Charlie! several years of harassment, they finally...
You're not here for Jim's childhood. You're here for the history of Muppets! Anyhow, in 1955, Jim Henson saw an ad in the newspaper for puppeteers for a new TV show. He figured he could build an acting career off of puppeteering, since he always wanted to be a actor! Long story short, the show turned into.....
Sam and Friends!!!!
It turned into a show called Sam and Friends. The first Muppet television show... ever. It didn't include your average cast of Muppets. In fact, the only Muppet from Sam and Friends that we see now is Kermit. The other characters were Sam, Harry the Hipster, Yorick, and a cast of many more.
Although this show is not The Muppets at its finest, it's certainly worth watching.
Everybody loved Jim's new show! He got offers for.....
Commercials!!
Jim got offers for The Jimmy Dean Show, The Today Show, and he also got offers for commercials. Most of them were for Purina Dog Chow, where Rowlf the Dog appeared in those. Rowlf was the first star of The Muppets. Sure, Sam and Kermit were popular, but Rowlf was fantastic! When Rowlf used to appear on The Jimmy Dean Show, he would get more fan mail than Rowlf! At that time, Frank Oz, one of Jim Henson's closest friends and workers, decided to work for the army. While that happened, Jim needed a new worker: Jerry Nelson. Although Frank Oz didn't get drafted, they both still remained in the Muppet business. They were also still making commercials. Another one of their hits were Wilkins and Wontkins:
In 1969, Jim got an offer to perform Muppets for the show.......
Sesame Street!
Yes, it's that show we know and love today called Sesame Street! He was asked to play Big Bird, but he handed the job over to Caroll Spinney. Back then, the only Muppets were Oscar the Grouch, Big Bird, Bert, and Ernie. It was a little more adult-like back then, but there was still many educational stuff still involved.
The only four humans on the show back then were Gordon, Bob, Susan, and Mr. Hooper. And, it wasn't really sunny days when Big Bird was a dim-wit on the show and Oscar was ORANGE!! I'll let you see what I mean:
That shows how much the show has changed throughout the course of the years. Meanwhile, Jim was looking for a show that was a little more for adults rather than the preschool child. After making 2 pilots called The Muppets' Valentine Show and The Muppets: Sex and Violence ( proving that it was for adults, they finally came to an idea of a show that actually made it on the air called...
The Muppet Show!!
The guest stars, the music, the comedy. This was The Muppets at their best. This is what adults remember even today. The show we all grew up with and loved: The Muppet Show! For those of you who haven't seen The Muppet Show, shame on you! The Muppet Show is really, truly wonderful. You might say, " No, it isn't!" but take a look at this video:
It's absolutely GENIUS! During the course of The Muppet Show, Jim wanted to do something even MORE ambitious: Something that would put his Muppets in the real world. Long story short, this is what it turned out to be:
In my opinion, the best Muppet movie ever. The Muppet Show was still running as strong as ever, until 1981. Some say the show was cancelled. The truth is, Jim wanted to move on to EVEN MORE ambitious projects. This was one of those ambitious projects:
Which turned out to be The Great Muppet Caper. Jim wanted something not just your average simple Muppets. Big. Scary. Dark. Muppets. He made two of these films, that are considered some of the greatest science-fiction movies ever:
Not too successful in the years they came out. But, now, film historians and science-fiction fans love this movie. Oh, and, in between all this, Jim also made a new Muppet movie! In this movie, there was a small segment with The Muppet Babies. That made its own 7-year TV series!! Along this time, Jim Henson made some new shows such as Little Muppet Monsters, The Storyteller, and The Jim Henson Hour! Jim Henson died on May 16th, 1990 of pneumonia. His legacy will live on.
They proved that to us by releasing 3 Muppet movies: The Muppet Christmas Carol ( 1992), Muppet Treasure Island ( 1996), and Muppets from Space ( 1999). After a while, The Muppets dyed down. But, they rose to stardom in 2009 when they started making videos on YouTube. Most of them went viral!!! They also came out with a new Muppets movie called The Muppets in 2011, and a new movie called Muppets Most Wanted in March this year. Jim Henson's legacy will live on forever, no matter what. R.I.P. Jim Henson, R.I.P Jerry Nelson ( he passed away in 2012), R.I.P. Richard Hunt ( died in 1992), Jane Henson ( 2013) and this year, John Henson ( 2014.) You will all be missed so much.
If you want what I said in Muppet form, I suggest you watch:
I guess I'll see you tomorrow with more Muppety goodness! Leave your thoughts on The Muppets' history in the comments down below!
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