James Maury "Jim" Henson was an American puppeteer, cartoonist, and producer and was also the creator of The Muppets. Jim Henson was born on September 24, 1936 in Greenville Mississippi. At a young age, he really liked art. His grandmother encouraged him in many ways including puppetry.
He performed puppetry for people at a young age before his teen years. A major influence of his childhood was TV puppeteer Burr Tillstrom, of the show Kukla, Fran and Ollie. He was first involved with televised puppetry while still in high school. He began performing with his puppets on a local Washington, D.C. Saturday morning program. By his freshman year he had scored a bi-weekly part on a local NBC show, Sam and Friends. In 1958 he founded the Jim Henson Company. The Muppets were then born from the show Sam and Friends. The Muppets’ popularity continued to grow, and they were soon making appearances in TV commercials, including one for Wilkins Coffee. He began experimenting with short films, including 1965's Academy Award-nominated Time Piece. Then, in 1969, Henson teamed up with Children’s Television Workshop to produce the now-classic children's show on PBS, Sesame Street.
“When The Muppet Show ended, we all sat around and said, what kind of
…show more content…
It was first broadcasted on November 10, 1969 in the U.S. on the National Educational Television network which later became the Public Broadcasting System (PBS). The TV show uses a mixture of puppets, and animation to teach young children basic reading, colors, letters, numbers and the days of the week. It also has episodes focusing on basic life situations, such as how to cross the road safely or the importance of basic hygiene. When the actor playing Mr. Hooper died in 1982, instead of writing him out, the producers decided to have him die on the show. On this episode, Big Bird has to come to terms with the loss of his friend. This also won the show an