September 13th, 1936 Jim Henson was born in the small town of Greenville, Mississippi where he would begin to spike an interest in television production at a young age. He started pursuing his career in highschool making a children’s educational program involving puppets. After graduation he applied to the University of Maryland, College Park wanting to work in commercials but instead got a Bachelor of Science in home economics. During college he created a short puppet show called Sam and Friends which would feature the very first Kermit the Frog. The success of this show and commercials like Wilkins Coffee with the crazy, funny, deadly muppets would carry over to late night talk shows like The Ed Sullivan Show. In 1969 Jim Henson along with Frank Oz and their team would create muppets for a television producer Joan Cooney who would create Sesame Street.

While working on Sesame Street in America over in England Jim and his crew would make a variety television show called The Muppet Show that would air for five seasons and be one of the biggest shows during its run. With the success of all the wacky muppet characters Jim would make the transition to the big screen taking part in three muppet productions, directing one of them. In between the muppet movies Jim created another kid show called Fraggle Rock and an animated series called Muppet Babies. He always expressed wanting to keep pushing himself and he did so by making The Dark Crystal and Labyrinth. In 1989 Jim was in talks with Disney to sell the rights of The Muppets but sadly, unsuspectedly would pass away on May 16th, 1990. His legacy continues to this day through Disney, PBS, HBO, and his own Henson Company carried out by most of his children. 

The transition from elementary to middle school is never easy and for me sixth grade was especially hard. Entering middle school I disconnected with both of my friends and was alone a lot of the time. I had school friends but I never saw anyone out of school. One late night I was on iTunes listening to music and looking around when I stumbled on a show called Fraggle Rock. When I clicked on the preview and watched it a filing cabinet in my brain triggered a memory of my mom and I when I was a young watching the show together. I instantly became obsessed with the show and began to dig deeper. During this time I started seeing connections with Kermit, Fozzie, and Miss Piggy. I knew who these characters were but hadn’t seen them in a while, eventually I discovered who Jim Henson was and how he was one of the main creators behind it all. 

Around the same time I found my love for cinema and eventually filmmaking. Jim Henson has always been an inspiration to me when it came to creativity. I look at all of his creations, his world building, his stories, and his passion as motivation when I am working on a project. I have a few of my own puppets that I have kept over the years and while I am not the best puppetry it’s a fun hobby of mine to practice. One of my short films RPP is about a person who’s puppets come to life and tries killing him and all his friends. That was an extremely fun project mixing puppets, horror, and comedy together. Sadly Jim died five years before I was born, if I had a chance to tell him something it would be that even after death his legacy is inspiring thousands of kids to this day, including me. I will leave you with one of my most cherished quotes from Jim.

“When I was young, my ambition was to be one of the people who made a difference in this world. My hope is to leave the world a little better for having been there.” -Jim Henson

You did Jim and thank you so much.