Henson’s wishes were honored in two separate memorial services, held at the Cathedral of St. John the Divine in New York and St. Paul’s Cathedral, London, both of which featured hymns, Bible readings, a solo from Big Bird and a collective rendition of ‘Just One Person’ performed by the puppeteers and Muppet characters. By using the television medium, Henson found that puppets could be more expressive and close to the audience. The second innovation was to get rid of the stage that all puppets on TV hid behind, just as they did in conventional theater. Never one to rest on his laurels, Henson moved on to an even more ambitious project. Have a wonderful time in life, everybody; it feels strange writing this kind of thing while I’m still alive, but it wouldn’t be easy to do after I go.”. Although very much involved in the series as a creator, and serving as a director on several episodes, by this point Jim Henson was becoming increasingly "hands-off" as a performer and beginning to look at ambitious "realistic" puppet projects, instead assigning the regular roles to The Muppet Show veterans as well as up-and-comers and Canadian talent. The second letter is addressed ‘to friends and family’, and contains Henson’s reflections on death and his wishes for his funeral. Two memorial services were held for him that year, one on each side of the Atlantic. The show was concerned with promoting understanding across cultures and around the world, a subject that was very important to him. (Photo by Nancy Moran/Sygma via Getty Images), Life is meant to be fun, and joyous, and fulfilling. Based on what he and his team learned from their experiences on The Dark Crystal, Jim Henson founded the Creature Shop to create new characters both for Henson movies and for outside productions. This all may sound silly to you guys, but what the hell, I’m gone—and who can argue with me? The most significant example of this idea is Kermit the Frog. Subsequently, control of the company was assumed by Henson's children: Lisa, Cheryl, Brian, John, and Heather. Steve Whitmire, a veteran member of the Muppet puppeteering crew, plays the roles of Kermit the Frog and Ernie, the most famous characters formerly played by Jim Henson. The Muppet Theater's curtain rail system, installed on Jim Henson's day of birth. Freeing the puppets from the constrictions of the past, Henson found that the characters were able to move around their environment in a much more imaginative and exciting way. Henson’s ’80s classic, “Fraggle Rock,” was the first … This incredible success was followed by a series of feature films, including The Muppet Movie (1979), The Great Muppet Caper (1981), The Dark Crystal (1982), and Labyrinth (1986). Read More . But he's a little snarkier than I am - slightly wise. In particular, one phrase was repeated throughout both services and printed on the programs, and has become something of a mantra for Henson’s fans across the globe: “Please watch out for each other and love and forgive everybody. The Jim Henson Exhibition: Imagination Unlimited. The Jim Henson Foundation is committed to supporting American puppet theater. He also performed such new characters as Ernie and game show host Guy Smiley. Jim Henson continued to innovate with the creation of the computer-generated puppet character Waldo C. Graphic for The Jim Henson Hour in 1989. Henson's later performances include "The Bird Family", a Sesame Street News Flash segment in which Kermit interviews a bird whose parents live in different trees, Kermit's song "I Wonder 'Bout the World Above Up There", and Ernie's song "Don't Throw That Trash on the Ground".[8]. Associated With. Apart from puppetry, Henson also experimented as an animator and filmmaker, with such films as the 1965 Academy Award nominated short Time Piece (which he wrote, directed, and starred in), several comedic industrial films (paving the way for the Muppet Meeting Films), the documentary Youth '68, and the hour-long experimental drama The Cube in 1969. And Jim Henson’s vision plays on: ... Muppet Treasure Island, directed by Brian (another of his five children, Lisa, 36, is a former president of Columbia Pictures). There were hardly any airplanes overhead when we filmed Miss Piggy by the pool.' Henson created another innovation starting with The Muppet Show: from now on, all productions would be platformed up, so that humans could move about freely and interact convincingly with the puppets, while the puppeteers could remain easily hidden, and move about their environment with even greater fluidity than before. 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