The Muppets was wonderful perfect. And, if like me you are a child of the late 1970s/early 80s bring lots and lots of tissues. I was choked up, teary, smiling and clapping through the whole darling thing.
A couple of years ago I had the opportunity to interview Karen Falk, head archivist at The Henson Company, about the Jim Henson Retrospective touring the country through SITES. We chatted at length about Kermit’s inception in 1955 as a glorified sock puppet, Henson’s experimental film work, and how Fraggle Rock was meant to inspire world peace.
“Jim always said that Kermit was the character he felt closest to,” says Falk. “Kermit was very much the center of things – the way Jim was – but not necessarily in control of all these people. Jim was an amazing gatherer of talent and he recognized talent in people and brought them into the fold and let them do their own thing—and Kermit of course does that very much in The Muppet Show.”