Tag Archives: Jim Henson

2010/09/03 · 5:20 pm

Muppet Friday: Something Old, Something New, Something Drew

Just going to do a little bit of Muppet housekeeping and get out a couple overdue Kermit & Co related items as we head into the long weekend.

First, as widely reported last week (thanks, Yahoo! News), the original Kermit the Frog and some of Jim Henson’s other early creations have been donated to the Smithsonian, where they will sit alongside another more modern Kermit that has been on display for several years.  Many of the Muppets, including Kermit, are from Henson’s local DC television show Sam and Friends, which you may remember from “The Muppets: A Celebration of 30 Years” (because I certainly wasn’t around to see it when it originally aired in 1955). Scroll to about three minutes to see the Sam and Friends clips:

When there’s a crossover between two or more of our favorite things, like here, we like to think of it in terms of the intersection on a Venn diagram, where something awesome meets something equally awesome.  However, College Humor went ahead and took that idea a bit further, creating a Venn diagram by parsing out just one thing we love, that thing, of course being the Muppets.  Below, the Muppet Names Etymology:

I feel silly for never seeing this before.  And I have a human name.  So I guess I’d fall into the top left intersection.  Very illuminating.

Coming up next week: More Muppet news and/or links and/or old videos!

Leave a comment

Filed under Intersection of the venn diagram of things that I love, Muppets, Nostalgia Corner, Other people's stuff

Tagged as , , , ,

2010/06/08 · 9:33 pm

And Another Muppet + Someone Awesome Team-up! (Jimmy Fallon, You’ve Done It Again)

Jimmy Fallon, I like you more and more.

Ten years ago you were the object of affection of every girl in my AP European History class, and the envy of every guy (well, not every guy).  Then the constant giggling became kinda annoying, and then you went and made Taxi, and then you became sort of a joke.  And, to be completely honest, we were pretty skeptical when you were named Conan O’Brien’s Late Night successor.  Like the homecoming king who left the hometown only to flame out and return to work in his dad’s hardware store.

But damn if you haven’t gone and totally redeemed yourself.  But this isn’t really about you.  Rather, this isn’t really about your show.  We talked enough about that.  This is about you, once again, recognizing something brilliant.  In this case it’s the maze of pipes hidden inside of Studio 6B dressing room decorated by Jim Henson and his confederates 40 years ago, before an appearance on Jack Paar’s Tonight Show.  Fallon, love him or loathe him, appreciated the genius and made good on his promise to put the installation behind glass, and now the pipe-art is a new stop on the NBC Studio tour, as Fallon, along with Yoda, er, Frank Oz shows us here:

Vodpod videos no longer available.

And, just to show that the more things change the more they stay the same, and that everything is cyclical, here’s a 30 year-old video of Henson giving a tour of the pipes to Gene Shalit (!).  And look at that mop on Brokaw!

Vodpod videos no longer available.

Guess I’ll have to go on the Studio tour now.  Even though it’ll be awkward to return to network headquarters after NBC brass screwed me over and took my show away.

Leave a comment

Filed under Intersection of the venn diagram of things that I love, Muppets, Other people's stuff

Tagged as , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

2010/05/18 · 5:04 pm

Muppet Tuesday Nostalgia Corner In Memoriam: Jim Henson

As Entertainment Weekly so generously reminded me, this week is the 20th anniversary of the passing of Jim Henson.  It’s sad to think that he’s been gone for so long, but it’s a testament to his work that I was not quite seven years old at the time of his death and yet he had already made an inedible, lifelong impact on me.  He’s been gone for 20 of my 26 1/2 years, and yet in those first 6 1/2 he shaped the person I am years later.  I remember even then being aware of this death, and saddened by it, and worried that it meant the end of the Muppets.  In fact, it might have been my first experience with death; at least I can’t recall anyone passing before then.

And I still remember being moved by his memorial, which, per his request, was a celebration and not a dirge  And it still moves me to this day.

And to the credit of the Henson family and the Muppet family they soldiered on, and soon after the memorial they allayed my fears with a special television tribute to Jim, promising me and all the despondent, confused young fans that Muppets would live on.  The fact that they confronted his death head on was  somewhat difficult for a 6-year-old to comprehend, and somewhat overwhelming, but it was also somewhat appropriate, for Henson made entertainment for both children and adults alike, and I’ll always appreciate the honesty in which the Muppet team handled his death.  It was immensely sad, but also immensely inspirational.

For many years now my email signature has been a Jim Henson quote, “When I was young, my ambition was to be one of those people who made a difference in this world.  My hope is to leave the world a little better for my having been there.”  I think I first came across it when I read a Jim Henson biography at about 10 years old and it  resonated instantly, so when I was young that was my ambition too.  And it still is.

Because of Jim Henson I hope to leave the world a better place.  And if I can make a hundredth of the difference that Henson made then I’ll feel like I accomplished my goal.

Thanks, Jim.  20 years later you’re missed more than ever.

However, Henson wouldn’t want his Jumped The Snark in memoriam to end on such a treacle note.  And the good news is that it doesn’t need to: the Muppets are on the verge of returning to the spotlight.  We’ve missed a lot of Muppet news over the past month and a half, but things continue to look up for Kermit and the gang.  And luckily another one of our favorite Jim’s, Jim Hill, has taken the liberty of rounding up the latest Muppet developments over on his blog.  Things are looking up.

20 years later, and the Muppets are still going strong.  Jim would be proud.

Leave a comment

Filed under In Memoriam, Muppets, Nostalgia Corner

Tagged as , , ,

2010/03/05 · 1:57 pm

Muppet Friday (Somewhat Nostalgic Too): The Muppet Man Lives?

Vulture reports that Disney is in talks with The Jim Henson Company to produce The Muppet Man, a Jim Henson bioipic that made last year’s “Black List,” the compendium of Hollywood’s “hottest” unproduced screenplays.  Yay!  With the new Jason Segel-penned Muppet movie seemingly on the horizon, could it be that we’ll soon be treated to two Muppet-related movies?  Maybe!

Burning question?  Who will play Kermit in the biopic? (Tina Fey?)  And, for the record, I am available to play the Swedish Chef.

The film will undoubtedly touch on Henson’s personal life and his non-Muppet ventures, so with that in mind, here’s a clip from Time Piece, Henson’s trippy, experimental Oscar-nominated short film from 1966:

Vulture Exclusive: Disney Planning a Jim Henson Biopic

1 Comment

Filed under Mickey Mouse Club, Muppets, Nostalgia Corner

Tagged as , , , , , , , ,

2010/01/25 · 8:22 pm

Muppet Monday: Take Me Down to ‘Dog City’

A couple weeks ago I decided to check out the Paley Center here in LA (formerly known as the Museum of TV & Radio).  I assumed it would be basically the same as its NY brother (and my assumption proved mostly correct, as the West Coast branch actually has a little less to offer), but with The Muppets at Disney World scheduled to screen at 4pm I figured it would be worth a trip.  Except that when I arrived I realized that I had been looking at the NY schedule, and the most attractive screening option was an old episode of the Carol Burnett Show.  So I decided to try my luck with the video archives.

With the Muppets still on the brain I resolved to see what kind of treasures the library might offer, knowing that the Museum had put together several special Jim Henson events.  Indeed, I found a series of compilations celebrating the life and work of Henson.  Amongst these was an episode of The Jim Henson Hour that featured a short film I had heard of but never seen: Dog City.

Now the Paley Center has been rendered almost obsolete by YouTube; the web offers a wider selection videos, often better in quality, on demand, and with the added benefit of being viewable from your home computer instead of on an old NTSC monitor at a video carrel in an eerily quiet and sterile media room.  Not to mention you don’t have to wear ratty, flaking headphones that have already been used by innumerable strangers (that must be a health hazard).  But there are a few items, a couple rare gems that you can’t find on YouTube or even weird Polish websites.  Dog City is one of these such rarities.

Dog City is Jim Henson’s take on film noir, but in this scenario it’s classic hard-boiled crime drama inspired by paintings of dogs playing poker.  And with main characters named Ace Yu and Bugsy them, it has no shortage of corny, Abbott and Costello style jokes.  Except that, with Henson’s Muppet alter-ego Rowlf the Dog playing the piano and breaking the fourth wall as our narrator, the jokes are delivered with a full-on wink at the audience and they actually work.  I usually get bored during musical numbers in Muppet productions, and this was no exception, but I found the rest of the movie quite enjoyable, even with the VHS quality picture and its sometimes cranky tracking.  Since the movie is almost exclusively available at the Paley Center, the best we can do here is present the trailer:

Three years later Henson would turn Dog City into a Saturday morning cartoon, “Jim Henson’s Dog City” changing Ace Yu into Ace Hart, a more standard noir detective.  Luckily, the show still offered some traditional “real world” Muppets, as Dog City is animated by Eliot, a Muppet German Shepherd, and his friends and neighbors serve as inspiration for the animated canines.

So while the Paley Center has become a bit of a ghost town, made nearly irrelevant by the Internet, it can still be worth a visit, if only for that one special show.

Leave a comment

Filed under Local Flavor, Muppet Mondays, Muppets, Nostalgia Corner

Tagged as , , , , , , , , ,

2009/12/24 · 1:35 pm

Christmas Eve Clipdown: Muppets. Killing. It. Christmas. Style.

On Christmas Eve My True Loves Gave to Me: One awesome Muppet video.

As if you didn’t know that the Muppets have just been dominating the last part of 2009, they dropped by Jimmy Fallon to put a festive exclamation point on what has been somewhat of a Muppet resurgence (it was a good year for The Roots and Jimmy Fallon as well, in that order).  The Muppets have traditionally done some of their best work during the holidays, and this is no exception, recreating their classic collaboration with John Denver, the “12 Days of Christmas,” this time with Fallon subbing in for the late great Denver (and a few Muppet substitutions as well: hello Sam the Eagle, Pepe and Rizzo; goodbye Janis, Dr. Teeth and Stadler & Waldorf.  Times have changed).

Vodpod videos no longer available.

And in the spirit of the holiday here’s the original:

And because it’s the giving season, and I’m guessing you can’t get enough of the Muppets and Christmas, here’s some more Muppet holiday cheer: A Muppets Christmas – Letters to Santa, A Muppet Family Christmas, A Muppet Christmas Carol, and, for good measure, Jim Henson’s The Christmas Toy (which was arguably later ripped off by Toy Story).

Sidenote: At last night’s pub trivia the final question was “What are all the gifts from the ’12 Days of Christmas?'”  Having just watched the Muppets and Fallon, I had an ace in the hole.  I still could only name about 8 of the gifts (hey, what do you expect from a Jew with a terrible voice?), but thanks to Fozzie I knew that day 7 brought sevens swans a swimming.  Much appreciated, Fozz!

Enjoy!  Merry Muppet Christmas Eve!

2 Comments

Filed under Muppets, Nostalgia Corner, Talkies, Virulent, Yankee Swap

Tagged as , , , , , , , ,

2009/12/15 · 11:01 pm

Muppet Monday Continues into Tuesday! Jim Henson: The Movie?

(and, yes, I realize that it is now Wednesday on the East Coast.  Deal with it.)

Doesn’t it just keep getting better and better for the Muppets?  If not for Bronson Pinchot, I’d say they were having the comeback of the year (but maybe they take the crown for best comeback of the last two months).

“Hollywood” released its annual “Black List,” the list of the top ten “favorite” unproduced screenplays.  #1?  The Muppet Man, a biopic of Muppets creator Jim Henson.  Described as “Man on the Moon, but with puppets,” it sounds quite intriguing, and as it’s set up at the Jim Henson Company, we know that it will be a faithful and fitting tribute to Henson’s life (good thing they didn’t sell the rights to Henson’s life story to Disney; we wouldn’t want a glossy Mickey Mouse version).  Even though the list isn’t exactly a “best of,” let’s hope the script is fast-tracked and the film is in theaters soon.  Seems like the perfect time.

And who to play Jim Henson?  Well, Man on the Moon star Jim Carrey seems like a possibility, based on his experience with biopics, but mostly on his grizzly beard (not to mention that Henson and Carrey share a first name!).  Or maybe James Cameron is interested in getting in to the acting game, at least before starting on the Avatar sequels (and they also share a first name!!).

No word on who would play the Swedish Chef.  But I am available.

Via Vulture

2 Comments

Filed under Muppets

Tagged as , , , ,

2009/12/15 · 1:14 am

Muppet Monday!

For the past few weeks, starting with the days around Thanksgiving and the hoopla over the Muppet’s “Bohemian Rhapsody” video, I’ve been posting Muppet-related entries every Friday (I think).  However, today, we usher in a new era of Muppet posts, “Muppet Mondays,”* a hopefully weekly addition to Jumped The Snark (however, this certainly does not preclude the possibility of posting Muppet-related material on days other than Monday).

The inaugural Muppet Monday post is not just a viral video, but something much greater than yet.  Yesterday, even though I’ve been visiting Southern California for the last 12 years and have been living here for the past 7 months (to the date, in fact) I had yet to visit the original Happiest Place on Earth, Disneyland.  Well, that all changed about 36 hours ago.  And sure, I enjoyed myself on the two Buzz Lightyear rides, was charmed by the Monsters, Inc attraction, was thoroughly spooked by Pirates of the Caribbean, and napped during the Finding Nemo submarine tour, these all paled in comparison to what was the clear highlight: Muppet*Vision 3D.

Continue: I see the show, my life is complete. Also, the Muppets & Disney, what could have been…

Leave a comment

Filed under Mickey Mouse Club, Muppet Mondays, Muppets, Other people's stuff

Tagged as , , , , , , , ,