3/28/1973 – ‘Signed lease on shop space 201.’

Topics: 03-March '73, 1973 | Tagged , ,
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3/27/1975 – ‘Auditions B’way Show for Shuberts.’

After Jim’s deal to create a live show at Lincoln Center featuring an array of specially designed puppets fell through, he continued to pitch his idea. He had developed a script with Marshall Brickman called The Muppets Get It Together and a related script for a companion television special called An Evening with The Muppets, and Jim was eager to try again. While the records are thin, it is apparent from Jim’s journal that he gave this idea another chance by auditioning for the Shuberts, the renowned Broadway producers. More auditions followed in May, but as Jim did numerous guest appearances that spring and summer and prepared for the premiere of his new characters on Saturday Night Live that fall, the Broadway Show project was set aside.

Doing a live show continued to intrigue Jim, and his son Brian took up the mantle in the 2000s, launching his take on live show ideas for the Jim Henson Company. After having the Henson performers take improv classes, Brian got the idea to create an impov comedy show with puppets. First called Puppet Up! Uncensored, the show premiered at the Aspen US Comedy Festival in 2006 and was reprised at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival and the Las Vegas Comedy Festival, taping as a television special for TBS at the end of the year. The following year, Brian and his teamed performed regularly at the Avalon Hollywood and participated in the Melbourne International Comedy Festival in Australia. In 2010, a reworked version of the show with both improv and rehearsed elements premiered under the title Stuffed and Unstrung, touring and enjoying an extended run in New York. The show continues to tour and delight and surprise audiences around the country.

Another live show project brought to life by Brian Henson was the stage version of Jim’s classic television special, Emmet Otter’s Jug-band Christmas. Working in collaboration with Goodspeed Musicals, co-writers Timothy A. McDonald and Christopher Gattelli, and composer Paul Williams, Brian oversaw the creation of stage-appropriate puppets and costumes, adapting the screen version for a live audience. The show opened to great critical acclaim at the Goodspeed Opera House in East Haddam on Dec 7, 2008, and the sold out run was repeated there the following holiday season.

Learn more about Jim’s efforts to create a Broadway Show.

Learn more about and see clips from Stuffed and Unstrung.

Brian Henson performing in Stuffed and Unstrung.

Chelsea Carter’s design for the Gretchen Fox headpiece for the stage version of Emmet Otter’s Jug-band Christmas.

Topics: Muppet Specials | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,
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3/–/1980 – ‘Begin Season 5 – Muppet Show’

Topics: Muppet Show | Tagged
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3/25/1988 – ‘Breakfast with Ted Turner. He takes both Muppet Show and Fraggles for TNT – to go on air in Oct.’

At the start of 1988, Henson Associates bought out the remaining distribution rights to the Muppet Show held by ITC Entertainment. That meant that Jim was free to pursue his own deals for re-running the show. He made a deal with Ted Turner’s TNT for the exclusive US rights to re-run Fraggle Rock and The Muppet Show for four years. The shows went back on the air, and Jim and Ted Turner started talks about other projects.

The following year, Kermit became the spokesfrog for The Better World Society, a not for profit organization created by Ted Turner and others to encourage the media business to use television to (according to its press kit) “…instill in citizens of all nations a sense of common responsibility for the fate of life on Earth.” The Muppets starred in two public service announcements. Kermit asked “What if everyone in the world lived in one house?” He concluded, after scenes of many different types of monsters sharing a home, that, metaphorically, “We do.”

Jim saw his involvement in The Better World Society as a way to share his message about the power of television to change attitudes on a global level. At a presentation hosted by Turner’s group, Jim acknowledged that television is a business, “…a ratings-driven for-profit industry,” but he also warned his audience that they must remember that, “… television is a cultural force…and can do things for the betterment of the entire culture.” He continued, “That has enormous value, value that maybe you can’t factor in the number of soap bars sold, but value that can make a difference in the quality of the lives we lead. We have to appreciate that, and make sure that the medium offers more than just ‘what sells this week’.”

Jim’s idea for the Better World Society PSA.

Kermit as he appeared in the Better World Society PSA.

Topics: 03-March '88, 1988, Fraggle Rock, Muppet Show | Tagged , , ,
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3/24/1980 – ‘Shirley Bassey (MS)’

Topics: 03-March '80, 1980, Muppet Show | Tagged
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