SamuraiFrog reminds us that yesterday, May 16, was the 20th anniversary of Muppet-master Jim Henson’s sad and far-too-early death. Twenty years since that spooky day when my entire university campus seemed to fall into a deep depression. Few individuals have that kind of effect on an entire generation. And the thing I admire so much about Jim is that he did it with nothing more than whimsy and sly humor, and the imagination to turn feathers and foam and random bits of stuff into characters that still seem to live and breathe in our collective consciousness.
Still… twenty years? I’m really having a hard time wrapping my mind around that one!
Incidentally, the photo above is one I ran across quite a while ago; I’ve been waiting for a good reason to post it, and this seems as good a time as any. I’m sorry to say I don’t know who the man on Jim’s left is; the gentleman to his right is, of course, Frank Oz, Jim’s friend and co-conspirator during what I would call the “golden age” of The Muppets: the pre-Elmo Sesame Street, The Muppet Show, and The Muppet Movie. It seems to me that Frank, like Dan Ackroyd after Belushi, lost some minuscule but crucial animating spark after Jim’s death. Perhaps that’s presumptuous of me, considering I don’t know the man, but that is nevertheless the sense I get when he talks about the old days.
I think a lot of us feel that way, actually…
It’s so strange to see pictures of people operating those muppets. Having grown up on Sesame Street, I find those characters perfectly believable from the waist up. It would never have occurred to me that it took two people to operate Ernie when both his hands were moving.
The really weird thing is, like we’ve discussed before, Ernie still seems alive even when you’re seeing the two guys who are making him move. That‘s the thing that amazes me.
I feel the same way about Chewbacca, Threepio, and Artoo-Detoo. I know perfectly well that they’re only guys in costumes, but… they’re real.
I feel the same way about Mickey Mouse and all his friends when I take the kids to Disneyworld.
Imagination: the secret porthole from our adult lives back to our childhoods. Only accessible when you’re not trying to find it…
Heh – nicely said, Brian. The last time I was at Disneyland (2007, I think?), I don’t recall feeling that Mickey and the assorted cartoon characters were “real,” but the guy playing Jack Sparrow was another story! He was very good with the role, and it was… strange… interacting with him.
…a different experience when you’re with kids, I think. The kids will have long, involved conversations with Mickey & friends, and those characters will nod & smile (literally) endlessly…
Makes them seem very real.