I've been thinking a lot about Jim Henson lately. Babes and I have recently started watching The Muppet Show on a semi regular basis and I can't help but think back to my own child hood days watching Kermit, Ms. Piggy, and Fozzie. The magic surrounding these characters is so strong that even though I know that they are muppets, when I'm watching I think of them as real. While watching with my daughter I often try to imagine the muppeteers behind the scenes, and figure out what they must be doing, but I can't. I have occasionally watched the behind the scenes footage of the muppet movies, or the muppet show, and it seems somehow incongruous to me that these characters are not animate.
I have picked up and watched several of Jim Henson's movies since I graduated college, and most of them are even more interesting to me now as an adult than they were when I was a child. The sheer magic of his worlds and the size of the worlds is amazing. How much imagination did this man have? Even just watching The Muppet Show you have to admit the man had some imagination. How did he think of all of those muppets? I would never have thought to put some eyes in the middle of a slinky and dance it around to music on television. But it works, and it holds the attention of my dog and one year old daughter. On top of that it can be pretty funny.
I can't help but wonder where his imagination would have led him if he had lived. What new worlds lay untapped in the depths of his mind that will never be discovered. People always say that they remember exactly where they were when they heard the news that John Lenin was dead. I was thinking about it today and I realized that I can remember exactly what I was doing when someone told me that Jim Henson died. I think I can even tell you who told me. Funny how someone that you never knew can make such a big impression on your life. But to be honest, before I fell in love with Harrison Ford, or Christopher Reeve, I loved Kermit the Frog.
