Book Review - Brian Jay Jones's Jim Henson
Published by: Ballantine Books
Publication Date: September 24th, 2013
Format: Kindle, 608 Pages
Rating: ★★
To Buy (different edition than one reviewed)
Jim Henson was destined for greatness from the very beginning. When his parents bought a television set he was enraptured by the possibilities, and formed a strong affinity to Edgar Bergen, who would one day appear on The Muppet Show, as would his daughter Candice. Before he was even out of high school he was working as a puppeteer on morning shows. But it was during his freshman year at the University of Maryland, College Park, that his big break came with the creation of Sam and Friends with Jane Nebel, who would later become his wife. The show didn't just bring him to the attention of advertisers and television shows like The Ed Sullivan Show, it also brought about his most famous creation, Kermit the Frog. Those early years were about muppets killing each other in hilarious methods, from explosions to mastication, and also dancing and singing to popular songs. It was simple, but it was unique. The way Jim viewed the camera as the proscenium made it possible to expand the traditional framing device of puppetry. They were interactive, they were characters, they were people in their own right, Rowlf playing the piano as Jimmy Dean's sidekick. But the thing about Jim Henson is he was always thinking what innovation will be next? How can we move beyond the expected? How can we bring joy and education to children? You see where he was going? He was going to Sesame Street. To this very day Bert, Ernie, Oscar the Grouch, Big Bird and the lot are teaching children about kindness. Because that's what Jim brought into the world, kindness. He had an irrepressible optimism. If one innovation or idea didn't work, then the next would. He dabbled in traditional filmmaking, earning himself an Oscar nomination in the process. But for all the creations and side projects, from Saturday Night Live to Fraggles to nightclubs, he will forever be remembered for The Muppets. While the movies were designed to showcase puppet ingenuity, from bike rides to air ballons, the zany antics of Kermit and the gang really shine brightest on The Muppet Show. Jim wanted the Muppets to forever be remembered, which is why he was working with Disney when he died. He wanted Kermit to be as recognized as Mickey Mouse. Little did he know he'd already achieved that.
If there's one celebrity who was omnipresent in my childhood it was Jim Henson. I learned to speak watching Sesame Street, which initially confused my parents to no end because I was asking for water in Spanish. Gobo, Wembley, Red, Mokey, and Boober were my daily companions thanks to friends who hooked us up with HBO. When The Muppet Show went into syndication when I was in high school I would come home every day after school and watch an episode. It didn't matter how many times I'd seen it I'd still watch it. I still view The Storyteller as one of the most innovative shows ever made. And as for Emmet Otter's Jug-Band Christmas? I literally watch it every holiday season and am beyond thrilled that we finally have the version with Kermit restored. I should also mention Labyrinth. Because I'd be remiss to mention it. I do have a poster for it currently on my bedroom wall. And yes, I am serious. The worlds that Jim Henson created I inhabited. I had dreams and nightmares from his many creations. Don't get me started on how The Christmas Toy forever traumatized me. Likewise the entirety of The NeverEnding Story. Therefore you'd think I'd be the perfect audience for this book. You'd be wrong. I don't know who this book was written for. Perhaps people who were ignorant of Jim Henson's contributions to the world? Those who knew him but didn't know him? Because this book has no depth. Brian Jay Jones was obviously hired to write a puff piece, a comprehensive chronology of Jim Henson's life that doesn't look behind the curtain. It almost felt like a PR piece; look at this great man who died too young. And he was a great man who died too young. An innovator who, in my mind, had a midas touch which turned all his projects into gold, and when he finally encountered an insurmountable problem, the merger with Disney, his body turned on him and he didn't realize he was dying until it was too late. But as for insights? As to his charisma that made him a player? Well, his womanizing is swept under the carpet. That wouldn't align with what this book is about, a fairly sanitized view of Jim Henson. Yet the true failure of this book is that Brian Jay Jones is ill-equipped to write about a visual artist. The book begins with him trying and failing to recount the famous "Kermit and Joey Say the Alphabet" piece. Why am I reading about someone writing, not very well, a famous moment when I could just watch it? In fact, that's my advice to you. Just go watch some of Jim Henson's work. He was a visual artist, all of The Muppet Show minus that episode with the actor from The Thick of It who turned out to be a sex offender is available on Disney+, so you have no excuse to not watch it. All his work can be found if you just look for it. So go look, don't read.
When season one of Bridgerton dropped on Christmas I was in the middle of specially curated holiday viewing, mainly classic episodes of The Vicar of Dibley and Emmet Otter's Jug-Band Christmas. And with how viewing has become very much about the binge because I wasn't in on that initial weekend I felt like I'd missed the Bridgerton boat. This of course gave me time to read the books, which had been my plan all along, though not necessarily six months after the show had first aired. This also means that I was slightly more pedantic about the adaptation than I might otherwise have been. Because this isn't how we've seen Regency England before. This is Austenland meets the technicolor fantasia of Mary Poppins on crack. Bridgerton is very colorful and fantastic and leans heavily into the fairy tale aspect of it all, you will literally be wondering if there was a single fake flower left in all of England once production commenced. Yet there are still very real issues being dealt with, and thankfully in a natural, not ham-fisted way. I can't help by still cringe how the 2017 adaptation of Howards End tried to shoehorn in diversity. Here it is natural. People of every race and color exist because that was how it was! And yes, Queen Charlotte, while slaying every scene she is in, is historically believed to be biracial. So yes, they got so many things right, and so much of the casting is spot on, that when it's off, well, it stands out all the more, hello thirty-one year old Eloise. Yeah, I'm not buying you're seventeen and neither is anyone else. Especially with a voice that sounds like you smoke three packs of cigarettes a day. I'm not saying I didn't enjoy Eloise, I will only buy her character if we actually do the eleven year time jump. Most of my other problems are very nitpicky. I don't like how they plotted the ending of the story of Daphne and Simon. Here's the thing. It worked in the book. It really really worked. Authors spend so much time figuring it out it has to be annoying when an adaption comes along and they're like, oh, we have a better idea. Because it is so rarely better. Here the lack of communication between the newlyweds strained credulity. So I'm pretending it happened like it did in the book. And as for how they handled Whistledown... firstly, I don't think she would be so easily tricked into a trap, but more importantly, I don't think Julie Andrews worked. Yes, hiring Mary Poppins herself was a coup, but Whistledown is Regency Gossip Girl, and you need to have more punch and authority. Oh, and don't get me started on the music, which often drowned out the narration! Stupid "modern" music.
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