Imagination Unlimited

It's time to play the music
It's time to light the lights
It's time to meet the Muppets
On the Muppet Show tonight

Theme song lyrics, The Muppet Show

As you enter the Jim Henson exhibition at Seattle's Museum of Pop Culture, you're greeted by a gently smiling Kermit the Frog, his arm raised in greeting.  Who better to welcome visitors to a retrospective of Henson's creative catalogue than his affable green alter ego?  As Henson observed, "Kermit's function on the (Muppet) show is very much like my own, in that he is trying to hold together this group of crazies, which is not unlike what I do."

"Hi ho, Kermit the Frog here..."

The exhibition is aptly titled Imagination Unlimited, and it’s difficult to think of a better description of Henson’s unique creative abilities.  It’s a treasure trove of concept sketches, models, puppets, short films, storyboards, production notes, cartoons, costumes and film clips that beautifully demonstrate the astonishing range of Henson’s imagination. At the time of his unfortunate death in 1990 at the age of 53, Henson’s fertile mind had created an epic catalogue of characters such as Kermit the Frog, Miss Piggy, Rowlf the Dog, Bert and Ernie, Big Bird, the Fraggles, the Storyteller, the Skesis and the Mystics, Jared the Goblin King, Hoggle and Ludo.

Rowlf might have been a less approachable character with fangs.

Some of those characters, such as Kermit and Rowlf, have remained essentially unchanged since their creation in the late 50s and early 60s, which clearly illustrates the versatility and durability of the basic concept behind the Muppets.

Wilkins and Wontkins.  This will end badly for Wontkins.

It's fascinating to follow the development of that concept through the exhibition as the Muppets become increasingly sophisticated over time, changing from the simple, primitive Wilkins and Wontkins characters from the Wilkins Coffee commercials that Henson produced in the late 50s and early 60s, to the elaborate radio-controlled mechanisms originated for The Dark Crystal in 1982 and The Fraggles in 1983.

Regardless of their success elsewhere, the Muppets were most clearly defined by two showcases:  Sesame Street, which began in 1969 and continues to be produced, and The Muppet Show, which ran from 1976 to 1981.*

These two programs firmly established the Muppets on an international level.  The unique approach taken by the Children's Television Workshop in the creation of Sesame Street was the perfect vehicle for both the Muppets and Henson's innovative creativity.

However, over time Henson became concerned that he and the Muppets were being categorized as children's entertainment, and in the 1970s he began work on a variety program aimed at family audiences.  The result, of course, was The Muppet Show, which added to the existing cast of characters and completed the process of making the Muppets into household names.

The exhibition also acknowledges the many people who assisted in the creation of the Muppets.  Part of Henson’s brilliance was in finding other brilliant people with whom to collaborate, starting with his early work with Jane Nebel, who became his wife in 1959, and later with luminaries such as Frank Oz, writer Jerry Juhl, musician Paul Williams, artists such as Brian Froud, and technical genius Faz Fazakas.

Ultimately, though, the driving force behind the success of the Muppets was Henson's incredible creativity.  One of the reasons that his legacy has been able to continue in his absence is the strength of the characters that he created or helped to create.  It's impossible not to see Kermit, Miss Piggy, Fozzie and the other Muppets as people rather than puppets, with likes, dislikes, fears and hopes all of their own.

 

There are people who represent uniquely irreplaceable talents – visionaries, thinkers, artists, creators of all different types who make a unique contribution to the world before they leave it. Jim Henson shared his personal dream with as many people as he could before he left, and his dream is still being shared.  As Kermit says in 1979's The Muppet Movie:

"I've got a dream too, but it's about singing and dancing and making people happy. That's the kind of dream that gets better the more people you share it with."

Or, as Walter the Muppet points out 32 years later in The Muppets:

 "As long as there are singing frogs and joking bears, Swedish chefs and boomerang fish, the world can't be such a bad place after all."

  - Sid

* There have been a couple of attempts to reboot the concept, which, let's face it, have not done well.  Some phenomena just aren't repeatable.