Jim Henson’s CT years: Experimental films and the rise of 'Sesame Street'

According to the The Jim Henson Company Archives, Henson, his wife and collaborator Jane Henson and their children moved to their home on Round Hill Road in Greenwich in 1964. The home, which formerly belonged to American impressionist John Henry Twachtman, would be their primary residence until 1971, when they moved to Bedford, NY. 

“They loved Connecticut, particularly Greenwich," said Karen Falk, Director of Archives for the The Jim Henson Company. “Finding the house on Round Hill Road was inspiring to them, especially because of the artistic pedigree of the house and the fact that it was a Twachtman house, I think, was very meaningful to them.”

Though the home had previously been remodeled by the iconic American architect Stanford White, Henson went to work making the home yet another artistic project for himself, "designing and installing whimsical tile work in a bathroom and adding decorative paint to built-in fixtures; both remain in the house today," according to the Archives. 

When not at home, Henson was finding his footing in the world of entertainment after establishing Muppets, Inc. in 1958, which eventually would become the The Jim Henson Company.

Before his move to Greenwich, Henson had already created characters like Kermit the Frog and Rowlf the Dog, according to the National Museum of American History. Henson made appearances on talk shows with his Muppets due to popularity of his TV show "Sam and Friends." His roster of talk show appearances with his creations included shows like "The Jimmy Dean Show" and "The Ed Sullivan Show."

"He got into puppetry as a way to get into television, but he was really interested in the overall visual medium," Falk said about his initial work. "He started off painting and cartooning, but 2-D art — still art — was too confining for him. He needed his images to move and dance, and he was fascinated with the technology that was developing for television and film."

Between the popularity of his commercials for products like Wilkins Coffee, his TV appearances and the establishment of Muppets Inc., Henson was becoming a household name with his wacky and wild creations.

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'How to get to Sesame Street'

In 1968, Jim and Jane Henson were invited to a seminar hosted by the Children’s Television Workshop, which later became known as Sesame Workshop. It aimed to answer the question: "Can television be used to teach young children?"

CTW's co-creators Joan Ganz Cooney and Lloyd Morrisett wanted to revolutionize educational TV. Jon Stone was tapped to co-create what would become "Sesame Street," and eventually,  Henson's Muppets were brought on to interact with the human cast, according to a column co-authored by Falk in Connecticut Explored.

"One of the concepts of Sesame Street was to mimic advertisements in terms of 'selling' letters and numbers to children," Falk said, adding that Henson already had plenty of experience in advertisement with his Muppets.

Larger-than-life characters like Big Bird, Cookie Monster, Bert and Ernie and Oscar the Grouch were among some of the first Muppets to join the "Sesame Street" cast when it aired in 1969. 

As programming began to expand for "Sesame Street," Henson began to utilize his love for experimental film making two dozen short films for "Sesame Street." Each short touched on areas of learning — for example, how to count. By the time the show came around for its second season, a number of animated styles were also being used, including stop-motion, Scanimate and traditional cel animation, according to Falk's column.

While at home, the Henson family brought the fundamentals of "Sesame Street" to their local community by performing at school fairs and helping found the The Mead School for Human Development, Inc, which opened in 1969 in Greenwich. The revolutionary school emphasized that the study of the humanities was just as important as subjects like math and writing, and it also stressed that each student learns in a different capacity, according to Falk's column.

Over time, five of the Henson's children were enrolled at the school and Jane Henson was eventually enlisted as a first art center assistant for the school. The school is still operational and currently located in North Stamford. 

"I think the period he lived in the 1960s was really one of exploration into creative education; it was a big part of their family life,” Falk said. 

Experimental Films 

As the world became acquainted with Henson's puppets, they also saw him through the lens of  filmmaker — a passion that he further explored while living in Greenwich.

During this time, Henson created a number of short films, many of which can be described as experimental art.

“During the 1960s, which was the period that they were in Greenwich, he really had sort of parallel careers going," Falk said. "He was doing the Muppets. He had found success with them on local television. That was really able to support his artistic work…so he could then explore films. He really saw himself as a filmmaker and somebody who was going to tell stories with moving images."

Henson's most famous film work from this period, "Time Piece," earned him an Academy Award nomination in 1966 for Best Live Action Short Film. Though he did not win the award, Henson crafted a nine-minute tale that depicted a man looking to get out of the flow of time.

The hallmark experimentalism of his work was also be on display with the 1965 short "Run Run," which follows two of his young daughters, Lisa and Cheryl, as they play around his Greenwich home, according to Falk's column. Shooting the film alongside Henson was his frequent collaborator Frank Oz, who is best known as the original voice for a number of "Sesame Street" and "The Muppets" characters as well as the man behind Yoda in the "Star Wars" series. 

One experimental feature pushed Henson to explore what goes through the mind when coming up with ideas, according to Falk. The idea lead to the "The Organized Mind" in 1966, a short film that toured the thoughts inside of a human brain. With music produced by Raymond Scott, the trippy visuals guide the audience through both the good and bad thoughts that go through one's brain.

This interest in the idea of thoughts opened the door for Henson to explore newfound outlets of creativity in the late 60s and early 70s when ideas for new creatures led to a creative renaissance for him. 

A legacy of puppetry in Connecticut

After his move from Greenwich to New York in 1971, Henson went on to have a storybook career that included launching of "The Muppet Show" in 1976 and the box-office powerhouse "The Muppet Movie" in 1979. Henson also went on to create fantastical worlds in tales like "Labyrinth," "Fraggle Rock" and "The StoryTeller."

From Henson's creative influence, there has emerged a fruitful legacy of puppetry in the state of Connecticut. Puppeteers like "Avenue Q" and "Sesame Street" star  Jennifer Barnhart and Bart Roccoberton Jr., founder of the Eugene O’Neill Theater Center’s Institute of Professional Puppetry Arts, got their starts in Connecticut and have gone on to shape the landscape of puppetry for modern audiences.

Perhaps the epicenter of puppetry in Connecticut is found at the UConn Storrs campus where the Ballard Institute and Museum of Puppetry and the revered Puppet Arts Program have their home.

Jane Henson was involved with the Puppet Arts program at UConn; she taught in the program, sent guest artists to the school and even served on the board of the Ballard Institute and Museum of Puppetry.

“[She] was quite wonderful. She was a very quiet person but very thoughtful and receptive, and dedicated to the form," John Bell, Museum Director of the Ballard Institute and Museum of Puppetry, said. “We’ve had this long-standing relationship with the Hensons. Especially Jane.”

Shortly before her death in 2013, Jane Henson gifted the University $100,000 in order to support the university's Puppet Arts Program, according to the Associated Press. Beyond Jane's contributions to UConn, Bell believes that the Hensons' Connecticut roots created what he calls a “nexus of puppet activity" in the state.

Remnants of those roots are on display at the Ballard Institute and Museum of Puppetry, including a prototype wizard puppet from the unaired "The Wizard of Id" pilot.  

Bell said that the Institute still keeps in touch with Henson family, including two of Jim and Jane's daughters; Cheryl Henson serves as President of the Jim Henson Foundation, and Heather Henson, who is involved in the Puppet Slam Network.

“There is this very strong Connecticut puppet community that the Hensons were part of," Bell said. “Jim Henson had a very wide range of interests in puppetry and a very broad perspective about the importance of the field.”