millsworks

20 years ago today Jim Henson died. He touched a lot of people with his work and made a big difference in a lot of people’s lives. Not bad for a puppeteer. He certainly changed the course of my life. These are two videos from the memorial held for Jim at New York’s St. John The Divine cathedral.

The first is comments and a song by Harry Belafonte and was, for me, the most memorable moment of the day.

As we had entered the church we’d been given little foam butterflies on long thin black rods. To the folks who puppeteered for Jim they knew these “toys” well. In his shows, in wide shots, there were often areas of the frame where no other characters were visible and he would often call for butterflies or other small critters to be wiggled from behind bushes and rocks to fill the frame with movement and life. It was perhaps the most rudimentary form of performance on the shows – lying on the studio floor and wiggling some floppy wings at the end of a rod – but it was always fun.

As Belafonte began to sing everyone in the crowd spontaneously raised their butterflies and waved them over their heads. The entire church sprang to life with colour and movement. I will never forget the surge of emotion which swept over us all.

The next is Jerry Nelson’s tribute to Jim where he, as Floyd, reads his poem to his Fearless Leader.

Thank you, Jim.