The Muppets Club #7: Jim’s Hidden Illness
Class Rules and Expectations
What is the The Muppets Club?
Wednesdays (10 classes)
4:15-5:15 PM EST
It’s time to start the music!! It’s time to light the lights!! It’s time to meet the Muppets and learn their story of how they started from one man’s vision to becoming a role model for children and families!! So join the lovers, the dreamers and me as we go find the source of the Rainbow Connection!!
Class Schedule
What Did we Learn in our Last Class?
Negotiating with the Mouse
In late 1989, Henson entered into negotiations to sell his company and characters (excluding those from Sesame Street) to The Walt Disney Company for almost $150 million, hoping that he would "be able to spend a lot more of my time on the creative side of things" with Disney handling business matters. Negotiations took place at the Portobello Yacht Club at Walt Disney World.
By 1990, he had completed production on the television special The Muppets at Walt Disney World and the Disney-MGM Studios attraction Muppet*Vision 3D and he was developing film ideas and a television series entitled Muppet High.
Negotiations Get Turbulent
However, the negotiations were anything but as Jim was dealing with not only the hardball of the Disney Lawyers and Jeffrey Katzenberg’s bad attitude, but Michael Eisner kept asking over and over if they could acquire the Sesame Street characters even after Jim said that they weren’t on the table.
Jim and Jane separate
Jim Henson and his wife, Jane, separated in 1986, although they remained close for the rest of his life. Jane said that Jim was so involved with his work that he had very little time to spend with her or their five children.
Jim Henson’s Final Television Appearance
Henson appeared with Kermit on The Arsenio Hall Show on May 4, 1990. This would be his final television appearance. He disclosed to his publicist that he was tired and had a sore throat, but that he believed it would soon go away. On May 12, 1990, Henson traveled to Ahoskie, North Carolina, with his daughter Cheryl to visit his father and stepmother. They returned to their home in New York City the following day, and Henson cancelled a Muppet recording session that had been scheduled for May 14, 1990.
Death Comes for Jim Henson
Henson was having trouble breathing when he woke up on May 15, 1990, at around 2:00 a.m. EST, and he began coughing up blood. He suggested to his wife that he might be dying, but he did not want to take time off from his schedule to visit a hospital. Two hours later, Henson agreed to be taken by taxi to the emergency room at New York–Presbyterian Hospital in Manhattan. Shortly after admission, he stopped breathing and was rushed into the intensive care unit. X-ray images of his chest revealed multiple abscesses in both of his lungs as a result of a previous bacterial infection.
Henson was placed on a ventilator but quickly deteriorated over the next several hours despite increasingly aggressive treatment with multiple antibiotics. Although the medicine killed off most of the infection, it had already weakened many of Henson's organs, and he died at 1:21 a.m. the following morning. He was 53 years old.
Shock and Disbelief
News of Henson's death spread quickly and admirers of his work responded from around the world with tributes and condolences. Many of Henson's co-stars and directors from Sesame Street, the Muppets, and other works also shared their thoughts on his death.
Twas Bacterial Pneumonia that killed the Frog
Dr. David Gelmont announced that Henson had died from Streptococcus pneumoniae, an infection that causes bacterial pneumonia. However, on May 29, 1990, Gelmont reclassified it as organ dysfunction resulting from streptococcal toxic shock syndrome caused by Streptococcus pyogenes.Gelmont noted Henson might have been saved had he gone to hospital even just a few hours sooner. Medical expert Lawrence D. Altman also stated that Henson's death "may have shocked many Americans who believed that bacterial infections no longer could kill with such swiftness." Henson's closest collaborator, Frank Oz, believes that the stress of negotiating with Disney led to Henson's death, stating in a 2021 interview that "The Disney deal is probably what killed Jim. It made him sick."
Others believe that Jim’s Christian Science upbringing prevented him from seeing a doctor to begin with.
Tributes in New York and London
On May 21, 1990, Henson's public memorial service was conducted in Manhattan at the Cathedral of St. John the Divine. Another was conducted on July 2, 1990, at St Paul's Cathedral in London. In accordance with Henson's wishes, no one in attendance wore black, and the Dirty Dozen Brass Band finished the service by performing "When the Saints Go Marching In". Harry Belafonte sang "Turn the World Around", a song that he had debuted on The Muppet Show, as each member of the congregation waved a brightly colored foam butterfly attached to a puppet performer's rod. Later, Big Bird (performed by Caroll Spinney) walked onto the stage and sang Kermit's signature song "Bein' Green" while fighting back tears. Dave Goelz, Frank Oz, Kevin Clash, Steve Whitmire, Jerry Nelson, and Richard Hunt sang a medley of Henson's favorite songs in their characters' voices, ending with a performance of "Just One Person" while performing their Muppets. The funeral was described by Life as "an epic and almost unbearably moving event" ] After his death, Jim was cremated and in 1992, his ashes were scattered near Taos in New Mexico.
The Muppets Celebrate Jim Henson
Six months after Jim’s death, the tv special “The Muppets Celebrate Jim Henson” on November 21st, 1990 and gave the Muppets to remember Jim Henson and honor him at the Muppet Theater. However, one character was missing for a majority of the special…Kermit the Frog himself.
Kermit the Frog will Live On
Following Jim’s death, it was decided that Steve Whitmire, one of Jim’s disciples and collaborators would take over the role of Kermit the Frog. Although hesitant at first, Whitmire eventually embraced the character and ensured that Jim’s legacy would live on.
An Unknown Future Laid Ahead
However, the death of Jim Henson in May of 1990 gave a sense of uncertainty for everyone at Muppets, Inc. The big question was how would the company survive without its greatest force? Like Walt Disney before them, the people at the Jim Henson Company would now have to find their way without Jim by their side.
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