Jim Henson: The Biography (87 page)

114
“as long as there were no more than three instruments”
Joseph Karow to JH, October 10, 1966 (JHCA Cyclia folder).

115
“Nearly bought ABZ”
JH RB November 1966.

116
“We went to the El Morocco”
“The Greenwich Years” exhibit.

117
“It could well be”
JJ, archival interview.

118
“Jim went where the excitement was”
FO interview.

119
“You would think that he would be tired”
LH interview.

120
“There was a lot of making things”
CH interview.

121
“Jim loved to come home”
Jane Henson interview.

122
“He was very matter-of-fact about it”
LH interview.

123
“an embracing environment”
CH interview.

124
“There were times”
Ibid.

125
“was like my surrogate grandmother”
LH interview.

126
“Jim and I would sit and think up anything”
“The Greenwich Years” exhibit.

127
“This guy Henson’s”
Howard Morris to BB, May 19, 1967 (JH 5780).

128
“strange electronic pulses and rhythms”
See Jim’s proposal for “Inside My Head: A Concept Outline for a One Hour Experiment in Television,” circa 1968 (JHCA
Inside My Head
folder).

129
“to communicate the ideas of Youth”
Proposal for “A Collage of Today” (JHCA 14-0886).

130
“We worked twenty hours a day”
Barry Clark to David Granahan, May 7, 1968 (JHCA 140882).

131
“Back in the sixties”
JH Quotes.

132
“We got into”
JJ, archival interview.

133
“Visually the program”
John Voorhees, “TV Can Be Art Form,”
Seattle Post-Intelligencer
, April 23, 1968.

134
“No television program”
Ralph Gleason, “NBC’s Portrait of Our Youth,” circa 1968 (JHCA Youth ’68 box).

135
“one of the most inspired programs of this season”
“Youth 68,”
Variety
, April 24, 1968.

136
“excellent, brave, courageous, Hippies and drug addicts”
See various viewer mail (JHCA Youth ’68 box). Also R. L. Conner to KNBC, April 21, 1968 (JHCA 14-0886).

137
“a novelty act”
Jerry Nelson interview.

138
“a few larger projects,” “attempt a feature film”
Barry Clark to David Granahan, May 7, 1968 (JHCA 14-0882).

139
“a weird kind of dark ritual look”
JJ, archival interview.

140
“original, surrealistic comedy”
See JH, JJ original screenplay for
The Cube
.
Also “ ‘The Cube,’ Original Surrealistic Comedy by Jim Henson and Jerry Juhl, Set for ‘NBC Experiment in Television,’ ” NBC Press Release, January 21, 1969 (JHCA
Cube
production box).

141
“I see no hope for it”
Tom Egan to BB, November 4, 1966 (JHCA
Cube
production box).

142
“After
Time Piece
,
Jim often got frustrated”
FO interview.

143
“[Jim’s] inspiration”
WAMI
, 44–45.

144
“Congratulations”
A. Kleihauer to KNBC-TV, February 25, 1969 (JHCA
Cube
production box).

145
“We were in an era”
JJ, archival interview.

146
“A dramatic highlight of the season”
Ben Gross, “A Fascinating TV Play, ‘The Cube,’ Makes a Hit,” New York
Daily News
, circa February 1969.

147
“excellent,” “provocative,” “a challenge and a pleasure”
See assorted correspondence, JHCA
Cube
production box.

148
“it must have been intended”
“Television Reviews,”
Variety
, February 25, 1969.

149
“the most disciplined attention”
F. Dionne to JH, February 22, 1969 (JHCA
Cube
production box).

150
“Dear Mr. Dionne”
JH to F. Dionne, March 13, 1969 (JHCA
Cube
production box).

151
“That’s actually very Jim!”
FO interview.

152
“work Jim”
LH interview.

153
“That isn’t something”
Jane Henson interview.

154
“I used to always think”
JH Quotes.

155
“demonstrate the technique and approach”
Robert Reed to JH, January 13, 1968 (JHCA 14-0874).

156
“just decided he didn’t want to do it”
“The Greenwich Years” exhibit.

157
“This is completely wrong”
See draft contract with Young & Rubicam, March 3, 1969 (JHCA 14-0190).

158
“Tape Pilot Shows”
JH RB, July 9–18.

1
“I think there was a kind of collective genius”
WAMI
, 74.

2
“We discovered we had a tremendous empathy”
JS, archival interview (Henson Family Properties).

3
“to create a successful television program”
Borgenicht, 9.

4
“I want this show to jump and move fast”
Beatrice Berg, “Goodbye Bang, Burn, Stab, Shoot,”
New York Times
, November 9, 1969.

5
“I talked to [Joan Cooney] for fifteen minutes”
JS, archival interview.

6
“I hadn’t remembered the name at first”
Davis, 150.

7
“There was a huge ambivalence there”
JJ, archival interview.

8
“Jim got involved right away”
“Jim Henson Productions Legacy Meeting—Jon Stone and Jerry Nelson Discuss the Beginnings of Sesame Street, May 26, 1993” (JHCA interviews box).

9
“This was an educational children’s show”
JJ, archival interview.

10
“this future amorphous television show”
“Jim Henson Productions Legacy Meeting.”

11
“He said, ‘So, Brian’ ”
BH interview.

12
“I fought like hell”
JS, archival interview.

13
“if nobody came up with a better idea”
Davis, 156–57.

14
“The design was so simple”
WAMI
, 61.

15
“We played with who did what”
FO interview.

16
“it’s a total coincidence”
“Jim Henson Productions Legacy Meeting.”

17
“I don’t like it”
John Culhane, “Report Card on Sesame Street,”
New York Times
, May 24, 1970.

18
“We had been told by all our advisors”
WAMI
, 71.

19
“to have a character that the child could live through,” “Big Bird, in theory, is himself a child”
JH,
Henson’s Place: The Man Behind the Muppets
(documentary).

20
“Oscar is there”
JS, archival interview.

21
“an experimental production”
Spinney, 20.

22
“I couldn’t see my films”
Ibid., 21.

23
“Jim never just wanted to chat”
Ibid.

24
“I saw your show”
Ibid., 25.

25
“I wasn’t in California very long at all”
Eide, “In the Company of Genius,” 5.

26
“When Big Bird was being developed”
WAMI
, 57.

27
“Fortunately”
Spinney, 41.

28
Oscar’s Salt of the Sea
Located at 1157 Third Avenue, just around the corner from the Muppet office. The name of the restaurant has often been mistakenly recalled as “Oscar’s Tavern.” The Jim Henson Company Archives contains a number of doodles drawn on napkins from the restaurant. Borgenicht, 107–8.

29
“It would lift up”
JS, archival interview.

30
“Left hands are much stupider”
Davis, 187.

31
“I hoped I had the right voice,” “That’ll do fine”
Spinney, 53.

32
which Jim later admitted
Ted Gottfried, “The Mastermind of the Muppets,”
Plain Dealer
(Cleveland), September 11, 1975.

33
“stocking puppets”
Jack Gould, “This ‘Sesame’ May Open the Right Doors,”
New York Times
, November 23, 1969.

34
Washington, D.C., City Council approved a resolution
Elizabeth Shelton, “Sesame Street Opens,”
Washington Post
, November 11, 1969.

35
“It’s clever and witty and charming”
“Sesame Street Swings,”
Detroit Free Press
, November 24, 1969.

36
“an undisputed hit”
Jack Gould, “TV: Important Breakthroughs for Sesame Street,”
New York Times
, December 10, 1969.

37
“I didn’t know what success meant”
Joan Ganz Cooney, archival interview.

38
“only Jim”
FO interview.

39
“Apparently, the Children’s Television Workshop”
Jack Gould, “ ‘Hey, Cinderella’ Given as A.B.C. Classic,”
New York Times
, April 11, 1970.

40
“For the past ten or twelve years”
Davis, 212–13.

41
“extreme sensitivity to commercialization”
Irving Schlessel to Richard C. Waldburger, Esq., August 14, 1970 (JHCA 14-0190).

42
“We were really checking the clocks”
DL, archival interview.

43
“The attitude you have as a parent”
Being Green
, 113.

44
“Jim was intrigued with his children”
Ibid., 109.

45
“Lisa has great taste”
Harry Harris, “Muppet Master Lauds Sesame Street,”
Philadelphia Inquirer
, November 9, 1969.

46
“odd, because we’re really not kid oriented”
Frank Langley, “The Moog Makes the Muppets,” undated clip,
Sesame Street
early publicity folder (JHCA 06-0389, folder 2).

47
“I forgot about the party”
“Jim Henson Productions Legacy Meeting.”

48
“Puppetry is different”
“He’s His Own Best Audience: Muppeteer Jim Henson Watches TV While He Works,”
TV Guide
, August 6, 1972.

49
“We look for a basic sense of performance”
Harris.

50
“but puppeteers do their own voices”
Srianthi Perera, “An Interview with Fran Brill,”
Arizona Republic
, January 8, 2008.

51
“That was very much criticized”
Joan Ganz Cooney, interview on Archive of American Television website,
http://www.emmytvlegends.org/interviews/people/joan-ganz-cooney
.

52
“She brought a sharpness”
FO interview.

53
“analogous to a family of boys”
Fran Brill, email to the author, July 24, 2011. 156
“When I was eighteen”
Richard Hunt, archival interview.

54
“God, he was a comedic force”
FO interview.

55
“It was one of the most exhausting times I ever had”
Caroly Wilcox, archival interview (JHCA 10356).

56
“He’d be in the back working”
FO interview.

57
a beautiful short film
A perpetual
Sesame Street
favorite, the song in the film—sung by Juli Christman—was written by Alan Scott, Marilyn Scott, and Keith Textor.

58
“My dad made the whole thing himself”
LH interview.

59
“I like both a lot”
Maurice Sendak to JH, September 15, 1970 (JHCA 14-0787).

60
“Yanked by the suits at CTW,” “the representative of the audience”
JS, archival interview.

61
“Jim never considered anything to be ‘done’ ”
Spinney, 41.

62
“What the hell is that?”
Spinney, 59.

63
“He’s not a villain, not horrible”
Ibid., 54.

64
“There’s no heart of gold”
JS, archival interview.

65
“he didn’t really enjoy it”
“Jim Henson Productions Legacy Meeting.”

66
“they’re just handed to me”
Robert Higgins, “The Muppet Family and How It Grew,”
TV Guide
, May 16, 1970.

67
“There was a big three-hole binder”
JJ, archival interview.

68
“two weeks to a month”
Higgins, “The Muppet Family and How It Grew.”

69
“Jim was an extraordinarily serious, yet silly man”
Gikow, 43.

70
“Ready to wiggle some dolls?”
FO interview (and verified by pretty much every Muppet performer).

71
“like a day off … that was my holiday”
“Jim Henson Productions Legacy Meeting.”

72
“He loved the one-on-one aspect of directing”
FO interview.

73
“The most sophisticated people I know”
JH Quotes.

74
“Often, the material that we were given”
WAMI
, 59.

75
“Performing the Ernie and Bert pieces”
Gikow, 46.

76
“We respected the writers’ jokes”
FO interview.

77
“The best thing of all”
Borgenicht, 183.

78
“And what are we teaching?”
FO interview.

79
“I can’t imagine doing Bert now”
Gikow, 47.

80
“They’re Jim and Frank”
JS, archival interview.

81
“There are certainly elements of our own personalities”
Gikow, 47.

82
“We were two people”
FO interview.

83
“it was a magical coming together”
JS, archival interview.

84
“to be a kind of Kermit spokesperson”
Ibid.

85
“Kermit is the closest one to me”
Tom Shales, “Ta-Dahh! It’s Jim Henson, Creator of Kermit the Frog and King of the Muppets,”
Washington Post
, January 25, 1977.

86
“I live kind of within myself”
ABC Television Network promotional materials, February 10, 1975 (JHCA
Sesame Street
box).

87
“an explosion of energy”
FO interview.

88
“On
Sesame Street
,
the monsters”
JH Quotes.

89
“Blue Monster”
“In Just an Hour a Day, Fewer Learning Cavities,”
Life
, October 31, 1969.

90
“I noticed the purity of the dog”
FO interview.

91
“really enabled me to get a real feel”
“Jim Henson Productions Legacy Meeting.”

92
“Jim
loved
complicated puppetry”
Joan Ganz Cooney, Archive of American Television interview.

93
“Every time we built”
JH Quotes.

94
“It wasn’t much fun for Richard”
Jerry Nelson, interviewed by Jessica Max Stein,
http://jessicamaxstein.com/2010/05/jerry-nelson-interview-part-i
.

95
“He was like a puppy”
Ibid.

96
“I always used to do Jim’s right hand”
Richard Hunt, archival interview (Henson Family Properties).

97
“blue sky!”
Fran Brill interview.

98
“we’d give the puppeteer a concept or a problem”
“Jim Henson Productions Legacy Meeting.”

99
“I’m working with Ernie”
Gottfried, “The Mastermind of the Muppets.”

100
“Family, school and television”
Higgins, “The Muppet Family and How It Grew.”

101
“TV is frustrating”
Foxy Gwynne, “Jim Henson and His Muppets,” circa 1972 (JHCA
Sesame Street
box).

102
“Kids love to learn”
Higgins, “The Muppet Family and How It Grew.”

103
“It’s why the show is a success”
JJ, archival interview.

104
“He loved to perform with Frank and Jerry”
Gikow, 183.

105
“destroyed God knows how much”
“How Cookie Monster Destroys Work Habits of George Plimpton,”
Wall Street Journal
, April 22, 1971.

106
“profusion of aims”
“Who’s Afraid of Big, Bad TV?,”
Time
, November 23, 1970.

107
“nondemocratic and possibly dangerous for young Britons”
“BBC Finds Sesame St. Not Ducky,”
New York Post
, July 7, 1971.

108
“
Jim’s contribution was absolutely essential”
“Jim Henson Productions Legacy Meeting.”

109
“Jim Henson’s Muppets”
Jack Gould, “TV: ‘Sesame Street’ Begins Its Second Semester,”
New York Times
, November 11, 1970.

110
“I think it wasn’t until
Sesame Street
” JH Quotes.

111
“When
Sesame Street
came on”
Harris.

112
“I just stopped doing that stuff”
Ibid.

113
“my goals have changed”
JH to Robert H. Steen, Quaker Oats Company, May 18, 1971.

114
“hauled in $350,000 in ’69”
Higgins, “The Muppet Family and How It Grew.”

115
“really ugly”
Gwynne, “Jim Henson and His Muppets.”

116
“Foundation support is impermanent”
Gikow, 264.

117
“If I have a song to sing”
JH, “The Producer’s Point of View,”
Action for Children’s Television
(Avon, 1970), 25–26.