The Muppets – what if?

The Muppets gang

The Muppets and Sesame Street would never have evolved if it wasn’t for the sheer perseverance of Jim Henson and his group of puppeteers and artists around him. There are around 400 muppet characters, from an optimist like Kermit to a pessimist like Oscar the Grouch, and from an introvert like Big Bird to an extrovert like Miss Piggy who pokes her snout into everything. Henson’s infatuation with puppets started in 1949. Later on, he became involved in a high school puppet club just before he started college, but when he auditioned for a local television show in Washington, DC, it started slow and lasted only 3 weeks. The whole nation noticed the Muppet personalities in 1969 but was looked at as a children’s show. When Jim Henson tried strenuously to interest three major U.S. television stations for a weekly Muppet variety series, the TV executives said NO. Then England’s Lord Grade invited him to produce ‘The Mupper Show’ in England, and it was an instant success. In 1976, Henson was awarded the ‘Entertainer of the Year’ by the American Guild of Variety Artists. Jim Henson died in 1990. We are grateful for his determination and perseverance in never giving up.