Jim Henson: The Biography

by Brian Jay Jones

“A child’s use of imagination and fantasy blends into his use of creativity,” Jim explained later. The trick, he said, was to “try out whole new directions. There are many ways of doing something. Look for what no one has tried before.” As he would demonstrate many times throughout his life, sometimes the cleverest solutions to a problem were also the simplest—and usually lying in plain sight, provided you could see a thing differently.

existence. “I believe that we form our own lives, that we create our own reality, and that everything works out for the best,” Jim said later. “I know I drive some people crazy with what seems to be ridiculous optimism, but it has always worked out for me.” Jim’s optimism and enthusiasm for life, even in the face of hardship or sadness, would remain one of his most endearing and inspiring qualities.

“This guy was like a sailor who had studied the compass and found that there was a fifth direction in which one could sail.”

“The most sophisticated people I know … inside, they are all children,” Jim said.

Despite this discussion of things spiritual, I still think of myself as a very “human” being, I have the full complement of weaknesses, fears, problems, ego and sensuality. But I think this is why we’re here—to work our way through all this and, hopefully, come out a bit wiser and better for having gone through it all.

I don’t resent the long work time—I shouldn’t—I’m the one who set my life up this way—but I love to work. It’s the thing that I get the most satisfaction out of—and probably what I do best. Not that I don’t enjoy days off—I love vacations and loafing around. But I think much of the world has the wrong idea of working—it’s one of the good things in life—the feeling of accomplishment is more real and satisfying than finishing a good meal or looking at one’s accumulated wealth.

This

Yeah, well, I’ve got a dream, too. But it’s about singing and dancing and making people happy. That’s the kind of dream that gets better the more people you share it with. And, well … I’ve found a whole bunch of friends who have the same dream. And it kind of makes us like a family.

“Jim inspired people to be better than they thought they could be,” said Bernie Brillstein warmly, “and more creative, more daring, more outrageous, and ultimately more successful. And he did it all without raising his voice.”

really don’t believe that Jim could have been such an extraordinary creator if he hadn’t been such an extraordinary appreciator.