Jim Henson’s Experimental Period
Jim Henson is best known as creator of The Muppets. But he was also a bit of a hippy, and on the road to mainstream success he had quite a reputation for surrealistic / avante garde film. Below are three fine examples of his lesser known experimental work.
The first, Time Piece, was nominated for an Oscar in 1967, and is one craaazy groove, daddio. The other two are short collaborations with legendary electronica pioneer Raymond Scott.
Time Piece (1969) 8 mins
Ripples (1967) 1 min
Limbo - The Organised Mind (live on The Johnny Carson Show 1974) 4 mins
If you don’t have much else on this afternoon, Henson also did an hour long TV film called The Cube, for a 1969 series called Experiments In Televison. It is pretty unique, and can be seen here.
TV was so much trippier back then.
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September 11th, 2007 at 5:10 pm
Fascinating films - thanks for those
July 12th, 2008 at 1:16 pm
Jim Henson’s first television was on The Ed Sullivan Show. Clearly gifted.
Remember the monster sketh ever SNL for the first season?
Muppet Show, again brilliant.
His daughter couldn’t hold it together after his death because no one on the planet can do the voices or the movements as portrayed in a Family Guy episode.
A master.
July 30th, 2008 at 2:37 pm
Hello!
Nice site - you have some great information about Jim Henson and his experimental period. I thought you’d be interested to know that “The Cube” is now available for download on iTunes.
This experimental film depicts a man who finds himself in a white cubical room and has no idea how he got there. Although anyone can enter the cube, the man cannot leave. Panels in the cube open temporarily to admit various visitors, some of whom seem to know the man or want to offer advice.
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Thank you!
Rebecca C.
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