Jim Henson: The Biography (89 page)

1
“British Louis B. Mayer”
FO interview.

2
“talking around ideas”
JJ,
Puppetry Journal
(Fall 2005), 6.

3
“[none] of us were convinced”
JJ, archival interview.

4
“very, very little money”
DL, archival interview. See also Guests folder (JHCA 14-0661).

5
“The first … guests were”
BB, Archive of American Television interview.

6
“We got a blood bath,” “too British”
DL, archival interview.

7
“Grade had told us, ‘Don’t be British’ ”
FO interview.

8
“were all wrong”
JJ, archival interview.

9
“Jim was pissed at them!”
DL, archival interview.

10
“It’s not the end of the world”
Ibid.

11
“We knew we wanted to have a stand up comedian”
“Jim Henson’s Self-Imposed Fantasyland.”

12
“Fozzie was a disaster”
JJ, archival interview.

13
“Fozzie did help make Statler and Waldorf”
OMAM
, 39.

14
“Frank was dying,” “working in a vacuum,” “find that bear”
JJ, archival interview.

15
“real shower”
Living arrangement memos (JHCA 20216).

16
“[Jim was] accused of spoiling everyone”
DL, archival interview.

17
“We were setting up with this room”
Bonnie Erickson interview.

18
“slightly sticking their necks out”
Stephen Webbe, “Muppet Mania,”
Christian Science Monitor
, December 1976.

19
“Let’s leave that in”
Richard Hunt, archival interview.

20
“[Jim] worked the hardest of anybody”
DL, archival interview.

21
“a light day”
JJ, archival interview.

22
“I’m really enjoying it”
Ruth E. Thompson, “Lavish New Muppet Series Product of Henson’s Wizardry with Puppets,”
The Leader
, October 31, 1976.

23
“We phased out that ballroom dancing thing”
JJ, archival interview.

24
“What he always seemed to do best”
Richard Hunt, archival interview.

25
“these puppets are not just characters”
JH Quotes.

26
“How the characters play”
Ibid.

27
“He would drive [the writers] crazy,” “the implied joke,” “We can show that!,” “There would be fairly heated arguments”
JJ, archival interview.

28
“Most TV humor is verbal”
Morton Moss, “Muppet Man Henson Tracks Puppets’ Humor to Source,”
Herald Examiner
(Los Angeles), September 30, 1976.

29
“Fozzie’s ineptness”
JJ, archival interview.

30
“a simple guy who wants to be funny and loved”
Jean Rook, “Jean Rook Meets Miss Piggy,”
Daily Express
(London), August 19, 1977.

31
“We sent the material down on the floor,” “They just played the hell out of it”
JJ, archival interview.

32
“funny not because of what he does”
Bill Marvel, “TV’s Captivating Muppets Are … The Adult Kids’ Show,”
National Observer
, May 1977.

33
“He relates to the other characters”
WAMI
, 33.

34
“There’s a bit of me in Kermit”
Cordell Marks, “The Muppet Men,”
TV Times
(U.K.), undated article.

35
“I suppose he is not unlike me”
Martin Jackson, “Now Cool It, Miss Piggy,”
Daily Mail
(London), August 1977.

36
“Me not crazy?”
The Muppet Show
, Season 3, Episode 15.

37
“a bunch of goddamn lunatics!”
FO interview.

38
“It’s
The Mary Tyler Moore Show
” JS, archival interview.

39
“Sometimes a character will start”
David Hawley, “Muppets Pull the Strings on the Children in All of Us,” untitled clip, Milwaukee, circa 1977 (JHCA
Muppet Show
box).

40
“I was working as Miss Piggy with Jim”
Culhane, “The Muppets in Movieland.”

41
“The place fell apart”
JJ, archival interview.

42
“Miss Piggy was to have been a minor character”
“Henson Muppets Bridge even Barriers of Language,”
Greencastle Banner Graphic
(Indiana), February 3, 1978.

43
“Rowlf could have been one of the stars”
WAMI
, 119.

44
“Poor Rowlf”
Jane Henson interview.

45
“She takes over”
“The Muppets: TV’s Unlikely Superstars,”
Knickerbocker News
(Albany, New York), June 15, 1978.

46
“But let’s get it straight”
Rook, “Jean Rook Meets Miss Piggy.”

47
“It’s a man?!?”
FO interview.

48
“real, real tough,” “The whole
Muppet Show
conceit”
JJ, archival interview.

49
“She grew up on a small farm”
FO interview.

50
“She’s sensuous and she’s been hurt a lot”
Rook, “Jean Rook Meets Miss Piggy.”

51
“endless [and] fairly pointless,” “He was this little, little kid,” “Richard, shut up and go away!”
Richard Hunt, archival interview.

52
“I was so upset”
Bonnie Erickson interview.

53
“I was very insecure”
Dave Goelz interview.

54
“Gonzo believes he is a worthless creature”
Marks, “The Muppet Men.”

55
“a loser who did these horrible acts”
Dave Goelz interview.

56
“This could be Gonzo,” “this little dark frightened character”
Ibid.

57
“They loved watching Jim and Frank work”
Dave Goelz, interviewed by Kenneth Plume, “Gonzo Puppeteerism: An Interview with Dave Goelz,” Muppet Central website, January 28, 2000,
http://www.muppetcentral.com/articles/interviews/goelz2.shtml
.

58
“Jim kept saying, ‘Well, do it again’ ”
Dave Goelz interview.

59
“Gonzo can still get very, very depressed”
Marks, “The Muppet Men.”

60
“As
I
got confidence
,
he
got confidence”
Dave Goelz interview.

61
“is an aspect of my own personality”
The Muppet Show
newsletter, 1978.

62
“really tough” “Some [guests] relate to us”
Webbe, “Muppet Mania.”

63
“to work in a sort of fun land”
“Jim Henson’s Self-Imposed Fantasyland.”

64
“Although he never told people what to wear,” “The women stars fell in love with Jim,” “Listen”
DL, archival interview.

65
“I’ve heard stories,” “Unless our guests go home”
OMAM
, 24.

66
“as the show kept gaining in popularity”
BB, Archive of American Television interview.

67
“The calls started coming in”
DL, archival interview.

68
“The atmosphere and excitement”
WAMI
, 84.

69
“Everything all right, boys?”
Jerry Nelson interview.

70
“everybody has to see a monitor”
Of Muppets and Men: Behind the Scenes of The Muppet Show
, television documentary, 1981.

71
“I settle for a set of headphones”
John Archibald, “Frog in His Throat,”
St. Louis Post-Dispatch
, September 16, 1976.

72
“Everything was play for him”
JJ,
Puppetry Journal
(Spring 2001): 11.

73
“Jim wasn’t a workaholic”
FO interview.

74
“We know each other so well”
OMAM
.

75
“Even when they’re not shooting”
Richard K. Shull, “Rich Little Amazed by TV’s Muppets,”
Muncie Press
(Indiana), June 28, 1977.

76
“Sorry, Jim, we have to go again”
Peter Fiddick, “All Hands on Deck,”
Guardian
(U.K.), May 23, 1977.

77
“If he was driving to work”
Dave Goelz interview.

78
“He laughed until he cried”
FO interview.

79
“Frank and Jim were incredible”
DL, archival interview.

80
“The combination of Jim and Frank”
Dave Goelz interview.

81
“the 70s and 80s Laurel and Hardy”
Richard Hunt, archival interview.

82
“this very intimidating figure”
BH interview.

83
“incredibly moody,” “Frank has this incredible thing,” “That’s just such a shame”
JJ, archival interview.

84
“the way they could second-guess each other”
Richard Hunt, archival interview.

85
“We could be in the middle of a number,” “probably ten times”
DL, archival interview.

86
“once [the meetings] started,” “we have to eat anyway,” “he’d start improvising this piece of material”
JJ, archival interview.

87
“One of Jim’s real talents”
Ibid.

88
“Oh well,” “fantastic”
BH interview.

89
“a little bit burdened”
CH interview.

90
“one of the fastest selling half-hour series”
“Muppets Multiply in ’83,”
Backstage
, April 9, 1976.

91
“Seeing was believing”
Mandell, “Creative and Marketing Talents Wed in Selling ‘Muppet Show.’ ”

92
By the beginning of the 1976 television season
Backstage
, September 24, 1976; “Muppet Access Show on 162 Stations,”
Variety
, September 8, 1976.

93
“If you have a child,” “Long Live the Muppets!”
See
Chicago Tribune, Louisville Times
clips, circa 1976 (JHCA
Muppet Show
box).

94
“bore more of the [head writer] Jack Burns touch”
Variety
, September 22, 1976.

95
“We are well on our way”
Jack Burns, memo to JH, July 9, 1976 (JHCA
Muppet Show
box).

96
“was hard for Jim”
DL, archival interview.

97
“gives me a stomachache”
Brillstein, 150–51.

98
“it was never personal”
FO interview.

99
“It felt like the warmest, funniest thing”
“Behind the Scenes Documentary,”
Emmet Otter’s Jug-Band Christmas
, HIT Entertainment, 2005.

100
“Oh, I
love
this thing!”
Tom Shales, “Muppets Make Merry and Money,”
Washington Post Radio Week
, February 20, 1977.

101
“When [Jim] chose Paul Williams”
Ibid.

102
“We all
love
the music”
JH to Paul Williams, April 7, 1977. Emphasis in original (JHCA Misc Files,
Emmet Otter
JBC Prod 15689).

103
“I think there’s some little piece”
“Behind the Scenes Documentary.”

104
“That was the most elaborate production”
JH Quotes.

105
“This was a way of working”
“Behind the Scenes Documentary.”

106
“so perfect and so beautiful”
Ibid.

107
“we were looking for realistic movement,” “Working as I do”
JH Quotes.

108
“Very nice”
Emmet Otter
camera notes (JHCA 21473 VT Reel Breakdown #1).

109
“Everything about that production was magic”
“Interview with Jerry Nelson,” the Muppet Mindset website,
http://themuppetmindset.blogspot.com/2010/11/interview-with-legendary-muppeteer.html
et seq.

110
“one of the highlights of my career”
Dave Goelz interview.

111
“I don’t think he ever rode the bike!”
BH interview.

112
“It was such a good time for him”
JJ, archival interview.

113
“we needed time”
Webbe, “Muppet Mania.”

114
“Muppet Murderers”
Stephen Cook, “The Muppets Rule OK,”
Evening Mail
(London), March 9, 1977.

115
15 million faithful Britons
Rook, “Jean Rook Meets Miss Piggy.”

116
“It’s like they’re creating”
JH, private diary, circa 1977.