There is no doubt in Frank Oz's mind that Jim Henson was a creative genius. According to the model of creativity proposed by Howard Gardner, Henson can be considered creative in five of the seven intelligences: interpersonal, spatial, music, verbal, kinesthetic. He became a master at combining these intelligences to create Muppet productions full of wit, music, sight gags, bright colors, and meaningful messages. He also had the ability to coordinate all of the people who worked with him. Before, discussing how Henson's life fits into Gardner's model, I will present some influential events in Henson's life and his major creative works.

James Maury Henson was born September 2, 1936 in Leland, Mississippi as the second son in the Henson family. During his childhood, Jim's maternal grandmother, a prolific painter and master of needlework, encouraged Henson to appreciate imagination, visual imagery, and creativity. She was a steady emotional support for him, constantly listening to his adventures and dreams. When Jim was fourteen, his parents finally acquiesced and bought a television set, after years of badgering from Jim. He always knew that he wanted to work in television; watching Burr Tillstrom, Bil Baird, Ernie Kovac, Spike Jones, and Walt Kelly influenced him greatly during his adolescence. In 1954, while Jim was still in high school, he began working for WTOP television station doing puppet performances on the "Junior Good Morning Show". "It was interesting and kind of fun to do -- but I wasn't really interested in puppetry then. It was just a means to an end," Henson later recalled about his first job (Finch, 9).

At the University of Maryland, he studied art and continued doing puppetry for TV with a fellow student, Jane Nebel, whom he later married. Their show, "Sam and Friends", debuted as a five minute piece aired twice a day, right before the Huntley-Brinkley Report and the Tonight Show. Jane recollected, "We were just college students amusing ourselves, and we did all these wild things with puppets...I guess it had a quality of abandon and nonsense and of being somewhat experimental." (Finch, 15) Their show became very popular, partly because of its widely-viewed time slots, and it won a local Emmy in 1958. During this time, Jim learned many technical innovations, including the use of platformed-up sets, monitors, and camera lens tricks to create spatial illusions. For example, he could make a puppet appear rush at the camera from a very far distance by using a wide angle lens and simply moving his arm a few feet. They also learned to use monitors so that they could watch what the camera was taping as they worked.

While in college, Jim went into the silk-screening and poster printing business, which became so successful that he had to quit when it began to interfere with new his television career. The financial prosperity from this business continued throughout his life, and was one of the keys to his creativity. He always had enough money to be experimental, and did not have to be concerned whether his creations would be bought or well liked. Money gave him the freedom to be creative.

He decided to dedicate his career to puppetry in 1958 when he traveled to Europe and discovered the world of traditional puppetry. Television was no longer just a means to an end; it was the medium for puppets. "The old Punch and Judy booth was a little box they [puppeteers] used to carry around on their shoulders. If you think about it, it could be very much like a television set. We used the set itself like a puppet stage, with the characters moving in free space, farmed by the television set. Everything we did was designed for television." Henson once explained in an interview (Third, 35). That is the essence of Henson's creativity -- he created a new domain by combining two symbol systems, television and puppetry. His creative activities could be categorized as "a stylized performance" and "putting forth a general conceptual scheme" -- the scheme is called "The Muppets".

According to McPharlin's "The Puppet Theater in America: A History 1524-1948", "In America, the puppet has many roles, but they are all based upon its capacity as an entertainer. Sometimes this is forgotten by those who use puppets as educational tools or advertising tricks, but it is the puppet's talent to delight, to amuse, to ridicule, and to hold up a mirror to mankind which makes it effective in its various roles" (McPharlin, 493). In that respect, Henson was not very revolutionary to the art of puppetry. But in general, Muppets are much more flexible than regular puppets, which allows essential facial expressions and interesting body contortions. There are only about fifteen basic Muppet types, almost all of which have characteristically wide and extremely overbitting mouths. McPharlin wrote, "Like no other puppets on the American scene, the Muppets are imaginative creations which suggest, but do not imitate human or animal forms, and are eminently suited to comic and satirical commentary" (McPharlin, 577). They are different from previous puppets because they follow Ludwig Mie's van der Rohe's belief, "less is more". Their faces usually center around the Magic Triangle, the placement of the eyes and nose in a triangle. With this unique style and through the use of platformed-up sets, monitors, and camera lens tricks, a new dimenson of puppetry was discovered.

In the late 50's and early 60's, the Muppets appeared on The Tonight Show, The Today Show, The Jimmy Dean Show, and The Ed Sullivan Show. They were especially prevalent in advertising on television commercials. The large number of commercial endeavors supplied more income for Henson's expanding career and family. From 1964 to 1969, he delved into experimental film, producing "Timpiece", "Youth '68", and "The Cube", and worked on plans for a multimedia discotechque called Cyclia. Henson explained, "In those days, I used to think in terms of having two careers going. One was accepted by the audience and was successful, and that was the Muppets. The other was something I was very interested in and enjoyed very much, but it didn't have any commercial success - which didn't bother me because I got so much pleasure from working on the noncommercial projects...I thought of myself as an experimental filmmaker back then, and I was interested in the visual image and all the different ways of using it" (Finch, 39).

Though Jim's career does not follow the ten year rule proposed by Gardner, the plateau model suggested by Dr. James Sheppard does applied to Henson's creative productivity. All of his work through the late sixties can be considered part of the emergence phase. The mastery phase began in 1969 when Joan Ganz Cooney contacted Jim concerning the production of a children's show, later named Sesame Street. Cooney was studying how children's television could be used to reach underprivileged inner-city children, and she met Henson at a conference of the Children's Television Workshop. Cooney, Henson, and head writer Jon Stone developed a show based on the premise that children love fast-paced, colorful commercials. Sesame Street sells numbers, letters, environmentalism, how to get along, and cultures from around the world to children in short, attention-grabbing segments. It has become such a successful program because its humor is multilayered. Names like Placido Flamingo, Monsterpiece Theater, Cereal Girl, and Salvador Dada sound funny to children, but they also are puns which adults appreciate. Sesame Street allows adults to reenter their childhood without losing their dignity. It also works under the premise that young children are complex beings who are worthy of being treated with respect. Sesame Street is now shown in over 120 countries, entertaining and teaching children and adults around the world.

Henson's second major breakthrough in the mastery phase was The Muppet Show (yeeeeaaaahhhhh...). Beginning in 1976, this program aired during evening prime time as a family show. Contrary to Sesame Street, the antics on The Muppet Show openly targeted adults. The plot centered around the mishaps and the interpersonal relations that occurred while the Muppets were attempting to put on The Muppet Show in a theater. Occasionally, routines were reminiscent of "Sam and Friends", but for the majority of the 120 shows, the writers and performers were producing sheer and unbridled invention. The humor was zany; anything could, and did, happen. During the first season, most of the guest stars were personal friends of Henson and his manager, Bernie Brillstein. Many stars were very reluctant to appear with puppets in such a silly atmosphere. The turning point occurred, however, when Rudof Nureyev guest starred and danced a pas de deux with a pig. After this, it seemed that everyone in the entertainment business wanted to appear on the show.

The natural offshoot of The Muppet Show was "The Muppet Movie" (1979), a creation that has been called a "tour de force of puppetry" and "an astonishing marriage of film and puppets" (Finch, 125). Initially, no one believed that a full length feature film could be made staring puppets and combining them effectively with human actors. The Muppets were now in the real world. Puppetry had moved from the Punch and Judy box, to the television, and finally, to the outdoors. From a technical stand point, the Muppets accomplished feats never dared before -- they rode bikes, drove cars, and walked through the middle of a county fair. The fact that these scenes are technical innovations goes unnoticed during a viewing of the movie because they are pulled off with great success. It seems normal for the Muppets to be in such escapes. In the opening scene, Kermit sits on a log in a Georgian swamp, strumming a banjo and singing. Few people in the audience wonder where Jim was during this scene or how he was making Kermit move. Actually, all six feet and three inches of Jim were cramped into a small bathysphere under the log with a hose coming in for air and the electric cables for the monitor. Similar creative challenges were mastered in the two sequels, "The Great Muppet Caper" (1981) and "Muppets Take Manhattan" (1984). Miss Piggy performs water ballet; Kermit and Piggy do a figure-eight while riding bicycles; a group of rats cook pancakes and eggs; and Miss Piggy crashes through a stained glass window on a motorcycle. Most of these scenes were not essential to the plots of the movies, but Jim included them to challenge himself and the other puppeteers.

The other piece which I consider part of the mastery phase is "The Dark Crystal", released in 1982. Jim started working on this project in 1977 with Brian Froud, a British illustrator. An entire fantasy world was created for this film, with meticulous detail given to every aspect of it. For example, little balloon-like devises were constructed into the character's cheeks so that they would look like they were taking realistic breaths. The film required many elaborate sets and puppets. Many of the characters were full body puppets, and some needed two puppeteers to manipulate them. This was also the first film in which puppeteers used radio control to help perform the characters.

After 1984, though Henson was still extremely productive, and further breakthroughs are made, the reduction stage occurred. None of his later works revolutionized the new domain as his earlier works had. As computer technology progressed, Henson began to incorporate it into his work, including interactions between Muppets and computer-animated characters, and complex, programmed, radio-controlled puppets. "The World of Puppetry", "Labrynith", "The Story Teller", "Fraggle Rock", "The Muppet Babies", "The Jim Henson Hour", "Dog City", and "Muppet*Vision 3-D" are only some of the works produced before his death. The Henson Creature Shop built puppets for many other films and television programs, including the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. The Muppets also appeared on countless television specials, and commercial products featuring the Muppets appeared everywhere. "Muppet" had become a household word.

In attempt to convey some of who Jim Henson was, I would like to share a few quotes from his colleagues which provide some insight into Jim's personality. They describe a very intense and multi-faceted man.

"He was a leader. Jim was like a Zen master...he taught by example." -- Jerry Nelson, puppeteer of Count von Count (Finch, 58)

"One of the extraordinary things about Jim was that he was a perpetual student of life. Genius as he was, he was always searching, questioning, exploring...He was judgmental about nothing - open to almost everything." -- Fran Brill , puppeteer of Prairie Dawn (Finch, 59)

"It was late, we were all tired, and sure enough, as I began a solo segment I mispronounced a word and Jim and Frank began to giggle. It was impossible for me to continue. I asked them to leave. Frank obliged me by going into the drum room behind me. Jim was sure it would be all right if he just crouched behind his music stand, which was directly in my line of sight. A music stand does not conceal much of a six-foot-three-inch man. True, I could not see his face, but his jacket, hands, and legs were wiggling as he wheezed and convulsed. Meanwhile, Frank's strangled laughter escaped from the drum room as a whining, crying sound reminiscent of a tortured Miss Piggy. I was laughing so hard there was no way that I could pull myself together. After the customary twenty minutes of reeling around the room gasping like morons, nature took its course and the three of us calmed down sufficiently to resume work." -- Dave Goelz, puppeteer of Gonzo (Finch, 95).

"He always worked harder than anyone else in the company. But he would never complain about how tired he was or how he was shouldering too much. Never. He would always find something positive about it. He loved his work." -- Frank Oz (Finch, xii)

As with many of the creative people that Gardner studied, Jim was childlike. He believed that "the most sophisticated people I know - inside they're all children... We never really loose a certain sense we had when we were kids. That sense of looking around at this big world and not knowing who we are and what we're supposed to be doing." (Culhane, 19). He would not have been able to produce successful children's shows if he were not in touch with his inner child. In two other interviews Henson commented, "You have to be able to put yourself psychologically and emotionally back to your childhood to understand its fears and joys;" (Emmens, 29) and "The enthusiasm that you have when you're an adolescent stays with you." (Jim, 135).

Throughout his life, emotional and field-related supports surrounded Jim. His grandmother, Jane Nebel, Frank Oz, Don Sahlin, and Burr Tillman were the people who gave him empathic support. When working on any of his creative endeavors, he was always collaborating and thus had the collaborators' support. For Sesame Street, Joan Ganz Cooney and Jon Stone were essential to the show's success. Jerry Juhl and David Lazer wrote the scripts for The Muppet Show and helped Henson produce it. For most of his career, Bernie Brillstein was Jim's agent, manager, and personal friend. Though Henson received the public credit for the work of the many people in his companies, he continually acknowledged the people who worked for him. Dave Goelz commented, "Jim Henson was an incredibly generous performer who was able to complement his comrades so that everyone could shine. He always gave due credit" (Finch, 121).

The final aspect of Gardner's model I would like to address is the Faustian Bargain. In researching Jim's life, I have not found any evidence of the negative interpersonal relations like those of most of Gardner's chosen creative people. The following two testimonies from fellow puppeteers show how Henson's life exemplifed an almost anti-Faustian Bargain. "I really appreciated that no matter how many dozens of projects Jim was involved with and no matter the impossible constraints on his time, he always found time to return to us. He'd be there on the floor with the rest of us - sweating, forgetting lines, sore arms and all." -- Marty Robinson, performer of Telly and Snuffleupagus, (Finch, 69)

"He was the most giving man I've ever known. He had a great generosity of spirit, of time, of money for other people. He valued quality work, but being a good human being was just as important to him. He was the head a large company with offices in three cities. He was the father of five children. He was a performer, a writer, a producer, a television director, a motion picture director, a businessman, a creator, a visionary. And with all this he always managed to have fun." -- Frank Oz (Finch, xii). Unfortunately, Jim's intense lifestyle and overzealous dedication to his work lead to his death on May 16, 1990, at the age of fifty-four. Henson admitted himself to New York Hospital several hours before he died of raging pneumonia. This sudden and premature death could be considered his Faustian Bargain. His work and his companies continue through the dedication of two of his children, Brian and Cheryl, and the others in the Muppet family.

Unequivocally, Jim Henson was a creative genius. He "made puppetry respectable in the US," according to Jon Stone (Emmens, 30). He has entertained thousands with a new domain, combining television and puppets in his own unique style. The world of puppetry will never be the same and would not be so popular, if Jim had not made us laugh and learn through Kermit and the other Muppets.

LITERATURE CITED

Culhane, J. "Unforgettable Jim Henson", Reader's Digest v 137 November 1990 p18-20.

Emmens, C. A. "Jim Henson and the people behind the Muppet Mania", School Library Journal v31 September 1984 p27-31.

Finch, C. Jim Henson: The Works, New York: Random House, 1993.

"Jim and Friends", Broadcasting v111 December 8, 1986 p135.

McPharlin, P. The Puppet Theater in America: A History 1524-1948; with a Supplement since 1948, Boston: Plays, Inc. 1969.

"Third Annual Broadcasting and Cable Hall of Fame, The", Broadcasting and Cable v123 November 8, 1993 p35.

See also Jim Henson