HENSON

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HENSON ON PUPPETRY:

'not a career that one would plan'

'when I went into puppetry, I found that I could combine all that stuff.'

JIM DIDN'T WANT TO BE A CHILDREN'S PUPPETEER

we're all seeing ourselves in all of this work

THE DESIGN IS IMPORTANT - that feeds you, how the character looks

characters do not work in a vacuum - they need another character to play against

character building

The original Kermit was made from Henson's mother's old spring coat and a ping pong ball cut in half.  Harrison Rainie in U.S. News & World Report quoted Henson as calling Kermit "literally my right hand."

Disney merger: Henson had doubts about the merger because Disney's corporate policies were quite the opposite of his.

HENSON'S PERSONALITY:

'he believed in the people he worked with'

extraordinary leader - so quiet

does not like to be told what to do - not rebellious but a free spirit

couldn't contain his energy

not a rule breaker but saw the rules as being questionable and absurd

there never was enough time for Jim - he knew that

instigator of silliness, instigator of fun -we allowed our looney selves out

he was the fellow who uncorked the bottle

real craft - taken years and years to learn

Harrigan of Life magazine described him as "a quiet, authoritative, beloved man without a trace of aggression but with a whim of steel.'

A kind and patient man, Henson did not alert a doctor or visit a hospital because he did not believe he was sick; nor did he want to bother anyone. 
"Through his work, he helped sustain the qualities of fancifulness, warmth and consideration that have been so threatened by our coarse, cynical age."

MY IDEAS FOR MAKING ARTWORK:

Make my own RED BOOK diary

BEING JIM - call myself Jim, talk like him, dress like him, write like Jim

Open my own Creature Shop

Use his techniques - casting and moulding, puppetry