Jim Henson Essay

The lights, camera, and audience of television success may seem like a fascinating lifestyle one could have, but Jim Henson wanted more than the fame. Jim Henson wanted to inspire the youth and new generations of entertainment to come. Henson’s characters, the muppets, gave life lessons and inspirational sayings to his audience. Because of his work, Henson was able to create a connection between him and his viewers like no other. James Maury Henson, better known as Jim Henson, (“Jim Henson”) was born on September 24, 1936 in the small city of Greenville, Mississippi (Sansing and Binford 430). From a young age, Jim Henson admired the arts. His grandmother from his mother’s side reassured Henson’s original fascination of the arts. By local audiences, mainly his peers from Cub Scouts, Henson became well known for his puppetry at an early age. Henson’s inspiration for his puppetry was adapted from the famous TV puppeteer, Burr Tillstrom, from the show Kukla, Fran and Ollie. Other television shows that Henson admired also played into his lust of puppetry and performing. Henson fiddled with a variety of visual elements, including television (“Jim Henson”). Henson wanted create a

The Muppet Show became the most beloved show throughout the world (“The TV Creator”). Despite the show’s success, Henson had a troublesome time to have the show financed in the United States (“Jim Henson”). Although Henson had this set back, the show ending up being a major hit, reaching almost 235 million viewers from over 100 different countries. After all of this success, The Muppet Show also received three Emmy Awards (“Jim Henson”). Along with the accomplishments from The Muppet Show, Henson’s muppets participated in multiple different movies. Henson also created new characters when elaborating with different shows and movies (“Jim