Jim Henson

A compilation of Jim Henson's fairy tale adaptations including condensed versions of Tales of the Tinkerdee, Hey Cinderella and The Frog Prince, as well as excerpts from Sesame Street and The Muppet Show.

The program follows the Muppets from their origins in Sam & Friends on local television through commercials, guest appearances, clips from the pilots for The Muppet Show, rare promos, and much more. This compilation, co-curated by late Muppets head writer Jerry Juhl, has been a centerpiece of “Muppets, Music & Magic” since it's premiere presentation in 2004 at the Brooklyn Academy of Music.

A collection of Jim Henson's commercials, industrial reels, short films and some related talk show appearances. Includes Henson's Oscar nominated short, "Time Piece," in its entirety. Part of the Jim Henson Legacy's "Muppets, Music & Magic" program that debuted at the Brooklyn Academy of Music in 2004.

Milton, a lonely golden toad whose species are on the verge of extinction, finds himself in two minds when he realizes that his only potential mate is in the captivity of a group of human beings.

This parody of film noir and gangster flicks takes us through the dangerous town of Dog City, teeming with colorful Muppet Dog characters. Rowlf the dog is your guide through the underside of canine life during the 1930s in Dog City. Our hero, Ace, enters the world of bulldog gangsters and terrier molls when he inherits a saloon from his late Uncle Harry. Unwilling to pay protection money, Ace finds himself the target of Bugsy, a bulldog bully who owns most of Dog City. Life can be ruff!

Big Bird and Gina are entertaining Ernie’s baby niece, Ernestine, by showing her Uncle Ernie’s scrapbook. When Big Bird turns the pages of the book, each picture comes to life and everyone gets to relive the hilarious adventures of Ernie and Bert.

Frustrated with babysitting on yet another weekend night, Sarah, a teenager with an active imagination, summons the Goblins to take her baby stepbrother away. When little Toby actually disappears, Sarah must follow him into a fantastical world to rescue him from the Goblin King. Guarding his castle is the labyrinth itself, a twisted maze of deception, populated with outrageous characters and unknown dangers.

As they get ready for their annual Bunny Picnic, Bean, a young, imaginative bunny eager to help, is told he's too little. Hurt, he wanders off into the lettuce patch where he comes face to face with the grumpy old farmer's junk yard dog! Bean runs and warns the others but no one believes him. Undaunted, little Bean helps the Muppet Bunnies in a big, big way!

Rocky Mountain Holiday is a one-hour musical variety special featuring John Denver and the Muppets, which aired on ABC on May 12, 1983. In the special, John and the Muppets go on a summer camping trip to the Rocky Mountains.

Gobo has not received his usual postcard from his Uncle Traveling Matt. He eventually comes to realize that he must venture out into Outer Space to look for him. Meanwhile, Red and Wembley discover a creature who is whatever you believe it is. The trouble starts when Ma Gorg believes it into being a monster in the basement of the castle. And Cotterpin Doozer decides she’d rather be a Fraggle like Red, than spend the rest of her life building with the Doozers.

A documentary which explores the making of Jim Henson and Frank Oz's 1982 fantasy film 'The Dark Crystal', which originally aired on PBS in the United States on January 9, 1983. This one-hour documentary details the technological innovations in the field of animatronics, art design, film making, and Henson's own brand of magic. Requiring 5 years of production, including over two years of pre-production, The Dark Crystal was inspired by the imagination of artist Brian Froud and conceived by scores of talented designers, builders, technicians, and performers. The World of the Dark Crystal shows how Jim Henson's Creature Shop in London and the Muppet Workshop in New York brought Brian Froud's art and Jim Henson's vision to life.

On another planet in the distant past, a Gelfling embarks on a quest to find the missing shard of a magical crystal and restore order to his world, before the grotesque race of Skeksis find and use the crystal for evil.

Miss Piggy hosts her own variety show, with special guests John Ritter, George Hamilton and Tony Clifton (Andy Kaufman). Under the direction of Kermit the Frog, the Muppets work in the control room and, amidst chaos, manage to keep the show on the air. Throughout the show, a romantic triangle develops among Piggy, Ritter (who is smitten with the pig) and Hamilton (who is deeply uncomfortable with the star's romantic inclinations).

Kermit and Fozzie are newspaper reporters sent to London to interview Lady Holiday, a wealthy fashion designer whose priceless diamond necklace is stolen. Kermit meets and falls in love with her secretary, Miss Piggy. The jewel thieves strike again, and this time frame Miss Piggy. It's up to Kermit and the rest of the Muppets to bring the real culprits to justice.

A poor otter family risks everything for the chance to win the cash prize of a talent contest for Christmas.

Consists of the shorts "The Muppet Introduction", "Just a Few Announcements", "Controls" and "Sell, Sell, Sell".

Four mistreated farm animals seek refuge as a band of traveling musicians in this musical tale narrated by Kermit the Frog.

The King of Eight is a 1970 short film produced for Sesame Street by Jim Henson, using stop-motion animation. The 70-second short film focuses on the title character, the jovial king (voiced by Jim Henson) of a land where everything exists in denominations of the number eight.

A retelling of the classic fairy tale of The Frog Prince featuring Kermit the Frog, Kermit's nephew Robin, Sweetums, and a princess cursed to say everything wackbards...I mean backwards.

The Queen of Six is a stop-motion animated short produced for Sesame Street by Jim Henson. Similar to "The King of Eight," the short focuses on the domain of the Queen of 6, wherein everything exists in denominations of 6.

A group of twelve rocks remove themselves from a crowd and are counted out, before taking the shape of a numeral 12.

"Doll House" is a Sesame Street song about the number 2. The song features vocals by Juli Christman, and is accompanied with a live-action film by Jim Henson about two girls (played by Sumiko Kimura and Alison von Brock) playing with their doll house. Eventually, two cats get into the doll house and knock things over, much to the girls’ amusement.

Sam the Snake talks about all the things that begin with S.

Hey Cinderella! is a one-hour Jim Henson special which tells a cracked version of the classic fairy tale. Cinderella lives with her wicked stepmother (as everyone who ever read the fairy tale knows), but what part of the story is never told is how Cinderella's fairy godmother had help from monsters, a prince pretending to be a gardener, and none other than Kermit the Frog.

An unnamed character is trapped in a cubical white room where others can enter and leave, but which he himself apparently cannot leave. A stool is brought in covered in strawberry jam, the furniture changes throughout the play. The main character is subjected to an increasingly puzzling and frustrating series of encounters, as a variety of people come through various hidden doors. But, as many remind him, he can only leave through his own door, so he must find it.

An unsold TV pilot based on the classic comic strip, shot by Jim Henson with puppets built by Don Sahlin.

A young boy ponders the marvel of wheels.

Mankind has devoted too much time, too much money and plenty of space on paperwork and more paperwork. In the 1960's, to remove all those obstacles and all that paper, and in order to make life easier, IBM has created a groundbreaking device - a machine that could improve office relations and operations. IBM, through Jim Henson's picture, presents the 'Magnetic Tape Selectric Typewriter', a machine that does the work while we do the thinking.

Ripples uses images cut together to visualize the mind's eye of an architect as he considers his next project.

Memories is a one-minute film created by Jim Henson as a commercial for Bufferin in 1967.

Short film by Jim Henson featuring Limbo, combining live puppetry with pre-recorded film.

The Idea Man is a three minute short film by Jim Henson which was used for a live performance with Limbo on The Mike Douglas Show on July 20, 1966. The film has featured in various screenings of vintage Henson material without the Limbo performance superimposed over the images.

Rowlf the Dog joins IBM as a typewriter salescanine, enduring many pratfalls and discoveries in his career.

Dasher tells the other reindeer that there's no snow and thus they can't deliver any presents. Prancer, Dancer, Donder and Bitzen keep breaking into Christmas carols whenever Dasher says a word from one. Eventually they try to make a Snow Dance. This is the first appearance of the Reindeer characters, on Perry Como's Kraft Music Hall Christmas.

ALEXANDER THE GRAPE, an unfinished cut-paper animated short from Jim Henson from 1965, relates the fable of a young grape with big ambitions who learns that it is better to accept yourself than to try to be something you are not. The short was reconstructed from film and audio elements; images from Jim’s storyboard fill in missing segments of the animation.

RUN, RUN, a polished live-action effort shot by Jim Henson and Frank Oz in Greenwich, CT in October 1965, is a visualization of the joys of childhood and the wonder of nature. In the short, Jim’s daughters run freely through woods saturated by the colors of autumn into the warm embrace of their mother. The action is underscored by Joe Raposo’s lilting music, giving a sense of visual poetry.

Dislocation in time, time signatures, time as a philosophical concept, and slavery to time are some of the themes touched upon in this 9-minute experimental film, which was written, directed, and produced by Jim Henson. Screened for the first time at the Museum of Modern Art in May of 1965, "Time Piece" enjoyed an eighteen-month run at one Manhattan movie theater and was nominated for an Academy Award for Outstanding Short Subject.

A robot illustrates the nascent, but growing relationship between man and machine - a relationship not without tension and resentment.

An abstract animated film inspired by the work of jazz musician Chico Hamilton.

This newly rediscovered short was created in Jim's home studio in Bethesda, MD around 1961. It is one of several experimental shorts inspired by the music of jazz great Chico Hamilton. At the end, in footage probably shot by Jerry Juhl, Jim demonstrates his working method.

CAT AND MOUSE is Jim Henson’s second and more ambitious interpretation of a composition from jazz drummer Chico Hamilton whom Jim met and collaborated with in 1961. This short, imbued with sly humor, portrays a brief narrative of the dance performed when predator meets prey. Working in his home studio in Maryland, Jim used collage and drawings to animate a story, displaying his unique visual shorthand used to create distinctive characters.