A Younger Jim Henson Teaches You Tips on how to Make Puppets with Socks, Tennis Balls & Different Family Items (1969)
By the point he filmed this video archived on Iowa Public Television’s YouTube channel, Jim Henson was nearly to strike gold with a brand new kids’s present referred to as Sesame Avenue. The 12 months was 1969, and he already had 15 years of puppetry experience beneath his belt, from kids’s reveals to commercials and experimalestal movies.
On the cusp of success, Henson, together with fellow puppeteer Don Sahlin (the creator and voice of Rowlf), ventures to show children find out how to make a puppet out of pretty a lot anyfactor you’ll discover round the home. Such a imaginative and prescient seems straightforward, nevertheless it actually reveals the genius of Henson, as he and Sahlin make characters from a tennis ball, a mop, a woodenen spoon, a cup, socks, an envelope, even potatoes and pears. (There’s a lot to be stated for the inherent comedy of googly eyes, and the importance of pretend fur.)
An unknown assistant takes a few of these puppets and brings them to life whereas Henson and his halfner create extra–humorous voices, personalities, even a little bit of anarchy are in play. Surprisingly, Kermit doesn’t make an seemance, though his sock ancestor does.
The person who noticed potential puppets in eachfactor is in his element and relaxed. Test it out, smile, after which raid your kitchen for supplies in your personal puppet present. And though Henson promises a further episode, it has but to be discovered on YouTube, or elsethe place.
Notice: An earlier version of this publish appeared on our website in 2016.
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Watch Twin Beaks, Sesame Avenue’s Parody of David Lynch’s Iconic TV Present (1990)
Watch The Surreal Nineteen Sixties Movies and Commercials of Jim Henson
Ted Mills is a freelance author on the humanities who curhirely hosts the artist interview-based FunkZone Podsolid. You too can follow him on Twitter at @tedmills, learn his other arts writing at tedmills.com and/or watch his movies right here.
