experimental film.

I think this will be the last entry in the Henson video series. I could post Henson-related videos for years, and I would be happy to, but at some point, I need to let people explore their own Muppet obsessions. If you haven't seen the other works, then maybe it's because you are not an enthusiast. We probably could never be close friends.

The real point of the exhibit was not to display Kermit and Rowlf. Everyone already knows that Jim Henson created the Muppets, and they probably all have fond memories of watching Sesame Street or Fraggle Rock or The Muppet Show. But at some point, those people grow up and stop thinking about puppets. It's kid stuff, right? But it's an art form, too, and this man was a visionary. There are a lot of artists out there that I think are probably geniuses, even if I'm not sure why. I frequently don't understand visual art, as hard as I tried when I was dating an artist. And I enjoy music, but I can tell that it doesn't affect me the way it does others. But I feel like I get puppets, and as I think about it, I realize that it's the same as all the things I really love - the combination of art and engineering. Clever dialogue, witty jokes, and interesting stories make my right brain happy. Thinking about how they're doing it makes my left brain happy.

Okay, enough puppet worship. You all think I've really snapped the tether this time, so let's just move on to the videos. This one was my favorite part of the Henson exhibit, because it really let me in on a side of the man that I never knew existed.

This is Time Piece, an experimental film from 1966. Jim stars in it, in case you didn't recognize him as a strapping young man. There's a lot of stop-motion animation going on. There is a stripper, so wait until you get home to watch it. Unless your boss is into Muppets, then I bet you could sell him on it.



And this is The Cube, written by Henson and longtime collaborator Jerry Juhl. It was actually on television back in 1969, before they had anything else to air, I suppose.


Just one final note that the University of Maryland has an archive of Henson's video works. It's free, but you have to be on campus to view it. Don't be surprised if I plan a trip to Baltimore soon.