Jim Henson: The Biography (90 page)

117
“The show was a big smash hit”
“Interview with Jerry Nelson,” the Muppet Mindset website.

118
“rendezvous secretly”
Cook, “The Muppets Rule OK.”

119
It was even reported
Rook, “Jean Rook Meets Miss Piggy.”

120
“It’s fantastic the way the Muppets”
Marks, “The Muppet Men.”

121
“I don’t think or talk about superstars”
Rook, “Jean Rook Meets Miss Piggy.”

122
“Really, money doesn’t concern me at all”
Joe Irwin interview.

123
$25 million
Bill Kaufman, “A Prince of a Frog,”
Newsday
(New York), August 14, 1977.

124
“shabby”
Cook, “The Muppets Rule OK.”

125
“I feel I owe it”
Rubis Saunders, “The Man Behind the Muppets,”
Young Miss
, April 1977.

126
“there were times”
JJ, archival interview. Emphasis in original.

127
“I love that show!”
High Fidelity
, September 1977 (JHCA
Muppet Show
box, press clippings).

128
“Bernie was a rock”
DL, archival interview.

129
“a great fan of the show”
Carol Ross to DL, January 19, 1978 (JHCA TMS Guest Correspondence 11318).

130
“As the show kept gaining in popularity”
BB, Archive of American Television interview.

131
“He
loved
all that James Bond kinda stuff”
CH interview.

132
“It’s a kind of equanimity”
LH interview.

133
“every single restaurant in Hampstead”
Ibid.

134
“What’s that thingy”
FO interview.

135
“There was no question”
Jane Henson interview.

136
“was his absolute favorite”
DL, archival interview.

137
“We all enjoyed being around him”
Stephanie Harrigan, “It’s Not Easy Being Blue,”
Life
, July 1990.

138
“That’s great fun for me”
JH, private diary, 1977.

139
“Up for 3”
JH RB, September 10–11, 1977.

140
“If some people recognize me”
Harry Harris, “Henson Speaks for Kermit the Frog,”
Philadelphia Inquirer
, July 24, 1977.

141
“Dumb, dumb, dumb”
Eliot Wald, “Channel 11’s Fall Shots: Late but with Some Power,”
Chicago Sun-Times
, October 14, 1977.

142
“the most elegant and sophisticated creation”
Harris.

143
“most creative, entertaining”
“KXAS Focuses on Family,”
Dallas Times Herald
, September 6, 1977.

144
“[Critics] didn’t feel this show”
David Hawley, “Muppets Pull the Strings on the Children in All of Us,” Milwaukee area newspaper, circa 1977.

145
“I guess the reason for this letter”
BB to JH, November 29, 1977.

146
“He was restless”
JS, archival interview.

147
“He’d want to move on to another phase”
DL, archival interview.

1
“Did you ever, in your wildest dreams,” “The honest answer to this”
JH, private diary, 1977.

2
“Jim’s way of operating”
Jane Henson interview.

3
“Jim was the hardest working man”
Spinney, 133.

4
“
The
Muppet Show
on film”
James Frawley, “Directing ‘The Muppet Movie,’ ”
American Cinematographer
, July 1979.

5
“Jim was a dreamer”
Being Green
, 18.

6
“Lew Grade, being a true gentleman”
BB, Archive of American Television interview.

7
“I saw Brian Froud’s work”
JH Quotes.

8
“The thought of being able”
Ibid.

9
“Make deal with B
RIAN
F
ROUD
” JH RB, August 1977.

10
“When I talked to Brian”
JH Quotes.

11
“a pantheistic world”
Finch,
The Making of The Dark Crystal
.

12
“I was trying to figure out”
JH, private diary, 1977.

13
“looked like he belonged”
DL, archival interview.

14
“Unlike other TV studios”
Stephen Cook, “The Muppets Rule OK.”

15
“fondle, molest, handle, touch or tweak”
Hawley, “Muppets Pull the Strings on the Children in All of Us.”

16
“They
hate
being tweaked,” “They’re
all
the real one”
Shales, “Muppets Make Merry and Money.”

17
“hadn’t meant”
Spinney, 135–36.

18
“I cried; Jim didn’t”
Bonnie Erickson interview.

19
“Jim always said”
Being Green
, 94.

20
“Don was extremely private”
Dave Goelz interview.

21
“He just stared at me”
DL, archival interview.

22
“I was standing there crying”
FO interview.

23
“He thought maybe showing feelings”
DL, archival interview.

24
“Jim said, ‘It’s okay’ ”
FO interview.

25
“In some ways”
Jane Henson interview.

26
“I’m sure he will go on”
JH, private diary.

27
“was a huge, massive impact”
FO interview.

28
“Frankie Fontaine voice”
Jerry Nelson interview.

29
“Everyone here’s lovely”
Richard Tippett, “Muppets’ Heart of Gold!”
Look-In
(U.K.), circa 1977.

30
“She was just out there”
BH interview.

31
“there was really no place [to talk]”
Jane Henson interview.

32
“Muppet operators must be good actors”
Moss, “Muppet Man Henson Tracks Puppets’ Humor to Source.”

33
“One thing about being a puppeteer”
OMAM
.

34
“I had other characters to do”
FO interview.

35
“probably the person most responsible”
OMAM
, 72.

36
“distancing themselves”
Richard Hunt, archival interview.

37
Nelson had even confronted Jim
Ibid.

38
admittedly drinking too much
Jerry Nelson interview.

39
“freeze a little bit”
DL, archival interview.

40
“I knew I was a great supporting player”
Richard Hunt, archival interview. 280
“I was the workhorse,” “I didn’t write”
FO interview.

41
“He would sit right with the writers,” “The other people resented it”
DL, archival interview.

42
“There’s a sub-level”
Richard Hunt, archival interview.

43
“[The Muppets] may be fighting”
DL, archival interview.

44
106 countries, with a total audience of 235 million
Rick Dubrow, “Muppet Show World’s Most Successful Show,”
Herald Examiner
(Los Angeles), circa 1978.

45
“I hope they manage to make the jokes funny”
Shirley Eder, “Diane’s off to the Cabaret,”
Detroit Free Press
, September 24, 1977.

46
“[It’s] almost certainly”
John Skow, “Those Marvelous Muppets,”
Time
, December 25, 1978.

47
“the new Walt Disney”
Times News Service Report, “Henson’s Muppets Bridge Even Barriers of Language,”
Banner Graphic
(Greencastle, Indiana), February 3, 1978.

48
“Working with Jim Henson”
“Behind the Scenes Documentary,”
Emmet Otter’s Jug-Band Christmas
, HIT Entertainment, 2005.

49
“hear them in the studio”
Ibid.

50
“Up until that time”
Peter Hertlaub, “Q&A: ‘The Muppet Movie’ Director James Frawley,”
San Francisco Chronicle
(online version), March 2, 2007,
http://blog.sfgate.com/parenting/2007/03/02/qa-the-muppet-movie-director-james-frawley
.

51
“[It] was actually a very frustrating experience”
JJ, archival interview.

52
“He felt pretty good”
Hertlaub, “Q&A: ‘The Muppet Movie’ Director James Frawley.”

53
“We’re taking the characters”
“On the Road with the Muppets,”
Variety
, August 20, 1978.

54
an accomplishment Jim noted
See JH RB, September 10, 1978.

55
“If you don’t dig sore arms”
“Sore Arms with Puppet Work,”
Kansas City Star
, March 12, 1978.

56
“[The Muppets] had never been shot outdoors”
Frawley, “Directing ‘The Muppet Movie.’ ”

57
“the single most difficult sequence”
Ibid.

58
“Well, if I can fit”
American Cinematographer
, July 1979.

59
“no place for someone with claustrophobia”
Webbe, “Muppet Mania.”

60
“it was a bit frightening”
John Henson interview.

61
“[He] would never ask us to do anything”
Dave Goelz interview.

62
“We always used to kid Jim”
Being Green
, 27.

63
“Everybody was eagerly awaiting him”
DL, archival interview.

64
“right back to our childhoods”
JJ, archival interview.

65
“We take up where he left off,” “Dear Jim—Keep the Magic Alive”
Culhane, “The Muppets in Movieland.”

66
“Even the most worldly of our characters”
Being Green
, 25.

67
“Received EMMY”
JH RB, September 17, 1978.

68
“Bullshit”
FO interview.

69
“to take a look at the lore”
OMAM
, 101.

70
“sheer joy”
See correspondence (JHCA
Muppet Show
box).

71
“darling little castle”
Jane Henson interview.

72
“I want to have a place”
JH, private diary, November 1977.

73
“I didn’t want a pretentious space”
“Home of the Muppets,”
Interior Design
, February 1980, 198–205.

74
“could cause us embarrassment”
Joan Ganz Cooney to JH, March 23, 1979 (JHCA
Muppet Movie
box).

75
“running around screaming,” “wandering around in the middle of it all”
Culhane, “The Muppets in Movieland.”

76
“I love my work,”
Being Green
, 73.

77
“You had to try to keep up”
Ibid., 57.

78
“For such a giving”
Richard Hunt, archival interview.

79
“It isn’t that Jim didn’t have friends”
JJ, archival interview.

80
“and that’s when”
Richard Hunt, archival interview.

81
“[Jim] was very close to us all”
JJ, archival interview.

82
“a great house”
Jane Henson interview.

83
“Great evening”
JH RB, May 31, 1979.

84
“I cried in the opening”
John Henson interview.

85
“everything follows production”
DL, archival interview.

86
“He’d been used to running”
WAMI
, 153.

87
“Al [Gottesman] was in New York”
DL, archival interview.

88
“Sure, the more Jim was in New York”
FO interview.

89
“We are primarily a company”
Being Green
, 87.

90
“It seems that I’m bigger now”
Culhane, “The Muppets in Movieland.”

91
“wanted to be part of the family”
DL, archival interview.

92
“Jim was not preoccupied”
Al Gottesman interview.

93
“He could
not
handle it”
DL, archival interview.

94
“I think Jim felt”
Richard Hunt, archival interview.

95
“Stop calling this company,” “It was a major thing”
DL, archival interview.

96
“we’ll all lose our shirts”
“Muppets, TV Syndicate Boffo, Readying for Their Invasion,”
Variety
, October 4, 1978.

97
“Piggy’s become a phenomenon”
OMAM
.

98
“Great!”
JH RB, June 22, 1979.

99
“unbridled amiability”
Vincent Canby, “The Screen: Muppets Go to Hollywood,”
New York Times
, June 22, 1979.

100
grossing over
$65
million:
See Box Office Mojo at
http://boxofficemojo.com/movies/?id=muppetmovie.htm
for additional details.

101
“that brings tears to your eyes”
Webbe, “Muppet Mania.”

102
“I guess you could say”
JH Quotes.

103
“clan of whackos”
JJ, archival interview.

104
“Kermit was Jim”
BB, archival interview.

105
“I’m in particular awe”
Canby, “The Screen: Muppets Go to Hollywood.”

106
“trying to fool the audience”
OMAM
.

107
“The reason those characters are appealing”
Richard Hunt, archival interview.

108
“If you can figure out”
Roger Ebert, “The Muppet Movie,”
Chicago Sun-Times
, November 14, 1979.

109
comparisons with Walt Disney
The Washington Post
hailed
The Muppet Movie
as “the latest in a progression of accomplishments which eventually should put the Muppets on par with Mickey Mouse.” Samuel Allis, “Mon Dieu! Mogul Meets the Muppets; Will Success Spoil Their Innocence?,”
Washington Post
, June 7, 1979.

110
“I’m slightly uncomfortable”
Culhane, “The Muppets in Movieland.”

111
“It’s important to me”
Skow, “Those Marvelous Muppets.”

112
“We were the best party givers”
DL, archival interview.

113
“the electricians broke for tea”
Bonnie Erickson interview.

114
“[My dad] was very intrigued”
BH interview.

115
“delightful weekend”
JH RB, September 21–23, 1979.

116
“It would look so otherworldly”
CH interview.

117
“Neat!”
JH RB, October 19, 1979.

118
viewers slow to return
Glenn Aylett, “Strike Out,” Transdiffusion Broadcasting System,
http://www.transdiffusion.org/tmc/thames/strikeout.php
.

119
mumbling only half-audible responses
Elisabeth Bumiller, “Homecoming: Muppets and Memories at Maryland,”
Washington Post
, November 5, 1979.

120
“I can honestly say”
See John Denver’s note to the 1996 Laserlight CD rerelease of
John Denver and the Muppets: A Christmas Together
(Laserlight 12 761).

121
“It’s discouraging to see”
Tom Shales, “Fluff That Satisfies,”
Washington Post
, December 5, 1979.

122
“He was easily proud, actually”
BH interview.

123
“lovely”
JH RB, December 1979.

124
“
The Muppet Movie
has grossed around
75
million”
JH RB, last entry for 1979.