Jim Henson: The Biography

This may be the best biography I’ve ever read, well-researched and beautifully written. While under its spell, I felt immersed in creative energy. I experienced being in the zone—felt my synapses firing, my imagination blazing; what I would have thought incomprehensible was suddenly possible. That sensation never left me while reading this book; I was never bored, even though the epic is nearly 600 pages long. Jones conducted extensive interviews with Henson’s family and colleagues to research Jim Henson: The Biography. He also consulted Henson’s personal journal, and reviewed pertinent documents and footage. Best of all, as I read, I got to know the real Jim Henson, and he was just as funny, kind, imaginative, intelligent, and crazy as the little glimpses of him that I caught occasionally on television through the years. When my husband and I became parents, Sesame Street became part of our daily routine (how I miss it!) and later, we enjoyed The Muppet Show and multiple Muppet movies. I didn’t realize Henson’s body of work went much further than that. Jim Henson left behind an incredible legacy in his creations. But he also generously gave of himself to his family and his colleagues. His positive example continues to be a frame of reference that people who knew him well emulate in their own lives. Brian Jay Jones devoted five years to researching and writing his biography of Jim Henson, which he calls his “dream project.” He also includes many photographs and meticulous notes. There are so many moments of beauty in this book, so many anecdotes, so many belly laughs, and a few tears. I read Jim Henson: The Biography during the months before and after hip replacement surgery. Living in Henson’s world helped me escape my pain. Even if you’re not recovering from surgery, this book is well worth the time to read.

Jones demonstrates beyond a shadow of a doubt, that without Jim Henson, there would not have been a Sesame Street phenomenon. Henson not only did the Muppets, he also made the short educational films like "1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9,10..." and "3". Everything exciting, innovative and memorable about that program can be credited to Henson. The live-action was just a bunch of Captain Kangaroo producers and directors doing their live kid-show stuff, which CBS did better with Bob Keeshan and Mr. Green Jeans. And Jones reveals that Henson was a genius businessman as well as a genius muppet performer...he was a hit here in DC on WTOP and WRC as a teenager, and made money all his life from TV commercials--Kermit and Cookie Monster and others came from commercial TV...Jimmy Dean and Wilkins Coffee and Big Bird has his origins in the La Choy Dragon. In other words so-called non-commercial PBS was airing a Jim Henson commercial aimed at kids all along. Not surprisingly, Jim Henson retained his rights to merchandise based on Muppet characters sold by non-commercial PBS. And in the end, Henson sold his empire to Disney (CTW bought back their muppets from a German company in a complicated post-mortem deal Jones explains pretty well). Everybody was making money all along... It is all documented in the book which has scoop after scoop after scoop.He literally knows where the bodies are buried--and the Muppets had a body count with a number of sudden deaths, including an unsolved murder mystery...not to mention Henson's premature demise at age 53. All of which is to say, Jones' story is a pleasure to read. He is a gifted writer, and the fast-paced biography reads like a novel. I could not put it down. The author has written a book that I would have liked to write.. Because Jim Henson is also Washington story. His father worked for the Department of Agriculturel. He began the Muppets on Washington television with Sam & Friends and Wilkins Coffee. He went to the University of Maryland. He lived in Hyattsville. And the Muppets made Sesame Street, which made PBS... One of the insights in this book is that the success of Henson's Fraggle Rock helped launch HBO. It was the first original series made for Cable. And of course The Muppet Show was a hit in syndication, thanks to Britain's Lord Grade and President Nixon's syndication rules. In any case, I can't recommend Brian Jay Jones' book highly enough.

I enjoyed most of this book. Was a little tedious at times. Author completely covered behind the scenes which was a little much. I enjoyed the information about the Jim Henson himself. A person who was very good to his employees & whoever he met. He was the type who attracted people & made them feel important. The paperback version I read had very small lettering which mad it hard to read sometimes. Would have been nice to have some color pictures. I'm glad i read this book. Jim Henson was an amazing man.

This is a must for any serious fan of the Muppets. I am not sure non Muppet fans will enjoy this. If you ever wondered how it all got started this book is for you. The overall story is inspirational. You can see the power of an idea and a dream. This book takes you deep into this world. After this you will feel that you personally knew Jim and the crew. The book will give you everything you can think of about the Muppets you can think of. The book gives you not only the business aspect as well as little tips about the various characters. The book is full of information you won't find anywhere else. I was memorized by the little stories about Jim and his work. I learned a great deal. To think of the empire all started with an idea. He started the Muppets on a Maryland afternoon TV show. He had an idea to make his puppets differently than what was the normal mode back then. The norm was to make them out of wood like Howdy Duty. Jim came out with a foam pattern that made him different. That difference rocked the Muppets to the start. The Muppets grew from that. Did you know that Rolf the Dog was on the Jimmy Dean show in the early 60s. He got more fan mail than Jimmy Dean. Jim and the Muppets started slowly appearing on all kinds of shows. That lead to the famous Muppet show. That show became the most popular show in the world at the time. The movies grew after that. As you read these stories you get some insight on how they did their Magic. He had quite a crew just for Muppet construction in later two studios. I found the stories of you they made the Muppet movies really interesting. They put the puppet operators like in holes in the ground. Jim himself was partially underwater during the famous swamp scene in the first movie. His company made great advances in the field of robotics. That is how they got Kermit to operate a bike. Jim's staff made Yoda from Star Wars. The book doesn't stop there. You will get a ton of information on the business side. That brings texture to the whole epic story. The average reader will realize several of their productions were more successful than most thought. The famous merging with Disney is discussed in some detail. That went on for years and years, back and forth. Overall it was a great book for the fan.

Like many other people my age, I grew up with The Muppets. I spent a good part of my young childhood watching Sesame Street and so many other Muppet related shows and movies. I have so many fond memories of all those terrific shows and movies that came from the genius of Jim Henson. But like all but the most cynical kids...and many adults...never once did I really consider that those lovable Monsters were mere cloth puppets at the helm of some of the most creative geniuses in the entertainment history. At 31 years old, I still love The Muppets, as does my husband. Despite the fact that we are childless, we had no problems being the only childless adults in the movie theater for the last Muppet movie and we are both counting down the days until the next Muppet movie is released. At a craft fair I bought my husband a Kermit the Frog pillow and last night I bought myself a copy of The Muppet Christmas Carol. So yeah, can you tell that we are huge fans over here? So back in October when we found out that there was a Jim Henson biography...I knew I had to get a hold of it. As much as I loved The Muppets...I honestly did not know much of their backstory...or rather, the back story about Jim Henson. Initially I thought the book was kind of a snore fest. It starts out with Jim Henson's family history (back to like his grandparents!) and well, it was not all that interesting. I probably could have done without any of that back history. It got a little more interesting once Jim Henson starts with his television career and just keeps escalating from there. By the time the Muppets in their current form (or at least the form from the 80's) I was completely enthralled and for days, it was all I could talk or think about. Jim Henson was just that fascinating of a character. I stayed up late on Tuesday night finishing up. I was at work, and knew that I had to be up before six a.m. but that did not stop me from staying up until almost 11:30 reading. I seriously almost lost it. Reading about Jim Henson's death and memorial service was heart breaking. I had invested so much time into reading the biography, and has so many memories of The Muppets that I honestly felt as though I was losing a friend. Just writing this right now is bringing tears to my eyes... It's rare to find a "celebrity" nowadays that honestly deserves the kind of love and respect that we endow on them...but Jim Henson is definitely one of those celebrities that deserve it. Truly inspiring man.

The author of this book spent five years writing his manuscript. In meticulous detail, Brian Kay Jones interviewed Jim Henson's family members, creative partners, and business colleagues to inform the public what a remarkable human being Jim was, how driven he was to make the creative process "fun," and how devoted he was to the Children's Television Workshop and to the Muppets. Fully twenty percent of the manuscript consists of footnotes and photographs. In my opinion, the greatest strength of this book is also its greatest weakness: too much fascinating information about how each Muppet was created, how Sesame Street came to be, and how television technology evolved. Mr. Jones reveals how Jim's ancestors influenced his love of family stories, how the death of his older brother, Paul, in an automobile accident, affected the entire family, and how Jim meets and marries Jane Nebel, a fellow puppeteer. They will have five children, and they will support Jim through his huge successes with the world-renown Muppets and his less-than-successful movies, "Labyrinth" and "The Dark Crystal." As the years pass, the reader sees just how running a business saps the creative energy needed to develop new ideas and projects. I dreaded reaching the end of this very long book. I didn't want to hear how Jim would die and how his death would affect his family and business colleagues. As I expected, I was in tears long before I reached the end of this book. I choose to remember Jim Henson from these two quotations. "When I was young, my ambition was to be one of the people who makes a difference in this world. My hope is to leave this world a little bit better for my being here." "I know it is easier to portray a world that's filled with cynicism and anger, where problems are solved with violence. What is a whole lot tougher is to offer other alternatives, to present other ways conflicts can be resolved, and to show that you can have a positive impact on your world. To do that, you have to put yourself out on a limb, take chances, and run the risk of being called a do-gooder." For anyone who wishes to learn how the Muppets came to be, how they evolved, and how they have changed the world, I would recommend reading this book. But be forewarned, there will be pain as one learns how human this genius was and how he left this world. He is sorely missed.

If you can judge the quality of a book by the amount of time you spend afterward on YouTube looking up clips of the subject matter, then "Jim Henson: The Biography" must have been a perfect book. Jim's life story seems like something you'd be able to guess without doing much research. He was a kid who was fascinated by puppets, probably made his own, and decided to pursue fame and fortune as the world's greatest puppeteer, right? Wrong. He actually wanted to work for advertising agencies when he grew up. He became a puppeteer because when he came of age and went hunting for his first job, it was the only job opening he could find. And for years afterward, even after his characters became variety show and talk show mainstays in high demand for TV commercials, Jim repeatedly insisted that it was just a temporary stop on the way to what he really wanted to do with his life. It was a perspective-altering vacation in Europe (where puppetry is taken VERY seriously and regarded as art) that Jim came to realize that the work he was already doing was something of value, and worth pursuing. The book is very willing to discuss flaws, personal and professional. On a personal level, Jim had a strangely emotionless way about him. We learn of "arguments" he had with his wife where Jim registered no reaction and walked away without firing anything back. Professionally speaking, we learn of Jim's tendency as the years went by to fall in love with technology and build projects around it without putting enough thought into actual substance. Numerous members of Henson's staff, who otherwise spend the text speaking of him in glowing terms, bluntly admit that they strongly disliked "The Dark Crystal" and "Labyrinth," blaming the problems with both productions on Jim's preoccupation with new technology developed for the films. The book leaves out nothing and no one. By the time this is over, you'll feel like you knew Jim Henson, and you'll feel like you were awfully fond of him. And he probably would have been fond of you, too.

As exhaustive a biography as I've ever read (or listened to), Brian Jay Jones' comprehensive work serves as the first stop and the last on the road of getting to know the magical, inimitable Jim Henson. Jim, the worlds and characters he created, and many of the people that he surrounded himself with, were all integral in the formation of the stuff which my imagination is made of. From Sesame Street to The Dark Crystal, The Muppets to Labyrinth, Jim was a curator of wondrous experiences that ignited the mind of a young Bryan, and I'm of the opinion that instances that formative cannot be overstated.

I grew up with Sesame Street and the Muppets and Fraggles, with their music on the record player, always knowing Jim Henson was the gentle, bearded genius behind them, but not until recent years has it hit me what a huge impact the man has had on my life, not to mention the lives of millions worldwide. Jones's biography delves deep into Jim's roots and so much obvious care was taken to handle the presentation of Jim's life with accuracy. It was fabulous to read quote after quote from Jim's family, friends, and Muppet family about how Jim lived, and how much love and dedication he put into his work, and into making the world a better place with his own, truly unique stamp. Of course, the end had me weeping, and wondering what other amazing things Jim might've brought to life had his time not ended when it did, but of everything I took away from this book, what stands out most is the contagious inspiration in Jim's unapologetic optimism and wonder. He was truly one of a kind, and Jones has done an incredible job with the interviews, research, chronology, and facts without getting bogged down in sentimentality or opinions. And what's left is a picture of humanness, kindness, generosity, and determination Jim had to keep bringing his vision to life, regardless of what the critics or networks said. Given that Jones managed to interview not just members of Jim's Muppet family, but also Jane Henson and their children, I don't believe there could exist a more thorough and accurate depiction of Jim's life and work. Grateful.

Excelente

I worked with Jim on Fraggle Rock back in the 80's and as I was then, as I am now, I'll never stop being in owe of Jim. I remember how Jim always knew and remembered everyone's name and how always kind he was. I was so struck with the first time I saw him perform. When the cameras where not rolling he was quiet but when the word ACTION was heard Jim became a dynamo, he was all over the place yet when you looked on the monitor it all looked great and right. This book told me a lot of what I didn't know as well as things I did know. It's a great book and I think everyone who knew Jim or knew of him will enjoy it. Terry Angus AKA The Storyteller Fraggle and more.

Extensísima biografía sobre el creador de los Muppets y de Barrio Sésamo. Interesará a todos aquellos que sean seguidores de su obra dado que explica sus orígenes, como es que llegó a usar marionetas y por qué hacía las películas.

Very interesting read, lots of childhood nostalgia