The offbeat humor and the novelty of using puppets in television ads appealed to other companies, and the Wilkins and Wontkins puppets were used to sell more than a dozen other brands across the country.
UMD JIM HENSON PUPPETRY SERIES
In 1957, Henson made a series of eight-second commercials for Washington, D.C.–based Wilkins Coffee Company, featuring Wilkins, an obliging, coffee-loving character, who often cheerfully blows up the obstinate Wontkins. These ads helped him reach a large audience, and the income from this work made it possible for Henson to develop experimental film projects and long-form television shows. He also married Nebel, and became a father.īeginning in the late 1950s, Henson and his company created hundreds of unconventional television commercials and corporate films, all of which showcase Henson’s characteristic humor, irreverence, and inventiveness. As he continued to work on Sam and Friends, Henson finished college, took an extended trip to Europe, and started making television commercials featuring his puppet characters. This period also saw the fledgling company he started with Nebel grow to include a core group of talented designers, builders, writers, and performers, who shared his willingness to experiment and his commitment to creative collaboration. Sam and Friends, which aired until 1961, was a tremendous success and marked the beginning of Henson’s career.
As they performed, Henson and his fellow puppeteers watched themselves on a monitor and tailored their performances to the screen. Henson’s approach to puppet performance used the television screen as if it were a stage. Puppets on early television shows typically appeared much the same way as they did in live theater, with puppets framed by a proscenium. In addition to performing at WRC-TV, Henson designed and built sets, and studied the work of the station’s directors, camera operators, and editors. A year later, Henson and his college classmate Jane Nebel-whom he had met in a puppetry class at the University of Maryland in 1954 -created a five-minute puppet show for WRC-TV called Sam and Friends, launching Henson’s career when he was just 18 years old, and earning an Emmy Award for Best Local Entertainment Program of 1958. His work attracted the attention of one of the producers, who invited him to perform his handmade puppets on several variety shows on WRC-TV, the local NBC affiliate. I came back from that trip all fired up to do wonderful puppetry.” In his senior year of high school, Henson successfully auditioned for a job as a puppeteer on an upcoming local television series, The Junior Morning Show. His appreciation of the history and craft of puppetry deepened when he saw puppet shows during his European travels in 1958: “It was at that point I realized that puppetry was an art form, a valid way to do really interesting things. Puppetry was initially a way for Henson to start working in television. Throughout his teenage years, Henson created cartoons, made posters and sets for his high school’s theater productions, and studied art and graphic design at the University of Maryland, where he started a successful poster business. Henson’s maternal grandmother, an accomplished amateur painter who also made clothes, needlepoint, and quilts, encouraged his early efforts to be a visual artist. His sense of humor and love of storytelling were rooted in his close-knit family life. Jim Henson was born on Septemin Greenville, Mississippi, and was raised in Leland, Mississippi, and Hyattsville, Maryland, near Washington, DC. The following online MoMI Story delves into the history, craft, and vision of this iconic figure, whose iconic puppet characters and stories for film and television left an indelible mark on popular culture, and which continue to captivate audiences of all ages long after his untimely death. With his gently subversive humor, restless curiosity, and innovative approach to puppetry, Henson built the Muppets into an enduring international brand, contributed beloved puppet characters to Sesame Street, and applied his vivid imagination to stories for the big screen. The exhibition explores Henson’s unique contributions to the moving image, and how he and a talented team of designers, performers, and writers created an unparalleled body of work. Since July 2017, Museum of the Moving Image has been proud to present The Jim Henson Exhibition, a permanent showcase of nearly 300 objects from the career of the beloved and revolutionary American artist.
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