Jim Henson’s Memorial


Following the Young@Heart stuff, I was reminded of something else I’d been meaning to blog for a while.
A few weeks back I stumbled across some videos on YouTube from Jim Henson’s memorial service in New York, from 1990. I watched them with my heart in my mouth – these were moments I’d heard about years ago but had never seen. Henson was an inspiration and an example to me when I was a kid, and he is even more so now, and the story of his memorial always seemed to sum up his legacy: open to the public, full of performances from friends and Muppets, equal parts laughter and tears.
So I finally got to see Big Bird doing “Being green”. I made it through the whole song without losing it, but right at the end, Big Bird looks up and says in a quiet voice, “Goodbye Kermit”. That tipped me over. So sad.
There were many other great moments – Harry Belafonte doing “Turn the World Around” was a highlight – and I was eager to share them. But I waited too long, for all of those videos are now gone from YouTube. It bothers me a little – surely Jim Henson would have wanted his memorial out in the public domain? – but it seems silly to make a cause out of this.
Simply mark this, that the internet is a big and wild place and you will certainly have the chance to see this memorial some time in the future. When the chance comes, grab it. And maybe flip me an email so I can give it some linky…
(Also disappeared from YouTube: Henson’s wonderful Time Piece short. If you get the chance, watch that.)

7 thoughts on “Jim Henson’s Memorial”

  1. I remember seeing a special episode of the Muppets about Jim’s death. I can’t remember the details of it but I think it involved them not being paid or something or other. Anyway they’re all trying to find out what the problem was and they came across Jim’s office and inside are all these letters from fans about Jim’s death.
    Needless to say I was in floods of tears over that. Even now just thinking about it gets me teary.
    Cheers,
    Dave

  2. Stayed tuned for exciting Henson- and Muppets-related activity coming to Wellington in the next year or so.

  5. I saw Time Piece (and the original storyboards) at the recent Jim Henson exhibit at the Smithsonian, among early puppet performances and commercials that predate the Muppet Show. As someone with a theatre costuming background, it was particularly satisfying to see exhibits of his scribbled designs next to the actual puppets, and costumes/props from Dark Crystal and the Labyrinth. It all brought my childhood memories to a whole new level.

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