When I was asked who I wanted to be when I grew up, I started off with the usual answers: a fireman, a policeman, a super hero, etc. These all meant the same thing to me (and still kinda do) but around the 3rd grade my focus shifted towards two other super heroes. If you asked me, “What do you want to be when you grow up Doug?” I would say either “Walt Disney” or “Jim Henson.”  In honor of what would have been Jim Henson’s 75th Birthday yesterday, I will tell you a little bit about why I idolize him.

Yes, I am a child of the 80′s. Yes, that makes me better then those who are not. Why?  One word: MUPPETS! I was neck deep in the creations of Jim Henson! That’s why! Starting with Sesame Street and moving on to Fraggle Rock and eventually The Muppet Show, and replaying such wonderful movies as “The Great Muppet Caper” and “Follow that Bird” so much so I wore out the VHS tapes! And it didn’t stop there… “The Story Teller” was a family favorite of ours as well as “Dinosaurs” on TGIF; (far more interesting than Urkel, am I right?) I’m just saying, is “did I do that?” a catch phrase that makes you smile to this day, or does “Not the MAMMA! ~WAM~” do the trick? And that’s what I saw: I saw a man who could create and relate. While being as wacky as a cartoon, he was as close as home in his humor and his work. I saw someone who could work with the people he surrounded himself with and make something truly amazing. As a kid, I loved that his shows didn’t talk down to me, they talked to me  (a trait my parents also had implemented.) As I grew older, I thought more about how he did these things, how he made such wonderful fun literally out of thin air. To watch him operate any of his puppets, you saw something magical happen as attention was taken away from the soft spoken man with the beard, and  life burst out of foam and felt. And suddenly, you didn’t notice the man. You only saw the creature, loud and colorful, his creations were as much an outlet for himself as anything.

It’s no small wonder that his influence stayed with me, and his love of storytelling echoed in my own. His love of characters was something we shared, and I have been known to talk for hours about character development on any of our projects. When talking of Rupert, I will always say I “found him,” not created him. This is not just a flight of theatrical whimsy. When I had the mask in my hands, putting it on I immediately started talking like Rupert! It was not a development so much as it was a discovery. I find that I don’t have to “act” as Rupert, I just let Rupert do what he wants to do. At first I thought I might be crazy thinking this way, but then I watched a documentary on Jim Henson and Frank Oz and they both echoed this same feeling. He is quoted as saying, “Some people claim Kermit is my alter-ego. I’m not sure I know what that means. I like to work Kermit because there’s a lot of leeway for ad-libbing, which I don’t have with most other characters but I’m not sure that I’m not Kermit.”

It is Jim’s amazing ability to draw us in, to keep us entertained and to inspire us. But most of all in both Jim and Walt, I saw people doing what they loved and doing it well. Because of them, I find myself very happy with where I am, what I am doing and most of all that I am making people happy. In memory of what would have been his 75th birthday, I wanted to take a moment  to think of him, to thank him and to say that I still want to be like him when I grow up.

Thank You Jim!

~Doug

“Be interested in everything!” ~Jim Henson