Jim Henson biography (Little Golden Book)

**Lisa Bueno** (0:00)
Okay, our friends, so today we are reading a Little Golden Book.

**Lisa Bueno** (0:07)
You know I love Little Golden Books. And I especially love ones that tell us about something that we may not know a lot about. And today's story is about a person. It's actually a biography, which is a big word. And what it means is this is a story about a real person. Okay.
So a biography is a book about a real person. And this real person, you might know something that this person did. So ever heard of Sesame Street?
Do you know about the Muppets, Kermit the Frog, Miss Piggy, any of that stuff? Yep. Okay. Well, those were all created by a man named Jim Henson. And we're going to read his story. This story was written and illustrated by Luke Flowers. And it's called Jim Henson, A Little Golden Book Biography.

**Lisa Bueno** (1:04)
And it's read today by Mommy and...

**Philip** (1:10)
Philip, the Master of Elastic Energy. Whoa.

**Lisa Bueno** (1:17)
Okay.

**Lisa Bueno** (1:17)
Philip, the Master of Elastic Energy?

**Philip** (1:22)
If you don't know what elastic energy is, you should read more of your science books.

**Lisa Bueno** (1:27)
Oh, yeah. What is elastic energy?

**Philip** (1:30)
It's energy that stuff like rubber bands and slinkies have.

**Lisa Bueno** (1:34)
Okay.

**Philip** (1:35)
You know, when you move, when you bend something out of shape, and when it snaps back into shape, for example, a rubber band, like I said, you can pull on it and then let go and it flies across the room, right?

**Lisa Bueno** (1:55)
Yeah.

**Lisa Bueno** (1:55)
And that energy is called elastic energy?

**Philip** (1:57)
Yeah.

**Lisa Bueno** (1:58)
Love it.

**Lisa Bueno** (1:59)
You're so smart. Thanks for telling us something new today. Would you like me to tell you something new today?

**Philip** (2:05)
Yes, please. Let's do it.

**Lisa Bueno** (2:08)
James Maury Henson was born on September 24th of 1936 in Greenville, Mississippi.
Jim and his older brother grew up in a home filled with laughter and art. Jim's grandmother made quilts and paintings and crafts, and she encouraged Jim to be creative. His dad was a wonderful storyteller. Jim loved hearing his stories as well as others on radio shows and in movies. The Henson family moved to Maryland when Jim was in the fifth grade. Soon, they bought their first television. Can you imagine growing up without having one?
Television was a new form of storytelling then, and Jim was fascinated by it. He loved watching variety shows featuring all kinds of programmers, featuring all kinds of performers. The programs with playful puppets were his favorite. He decided he wanted to work in television. That dream came true when Jim was a senior in high school, a local TV station was looking for young puppeteers for a children's show.
Jim built his first puppet, Pierre the Rat, and auditioned for the job, and he got it.
The show only lasted a few weeks, but it was long enough for a director from another TV station to notice Jim's talent. And he was hired to work on more shows as a puppeteer and a set builder. Do you know, when you watch a show, like if you're watching, for example, Sesame Street, and you might see that they're walking down the street? Well, that street is not just a regular street. It's a set. Someone designed it to look that way. Anytime you watch any movie or TV show, you're looking at a set, okay? In 1954, Jim was a freshman at the University of Maryland, and had his own TV puppet series, Sam and Friends. It was a five-minute-long show that aired twice every weeknight. Working alongside him was a new friend named Jane Neville. The two of them met at a college puppetry class. They made a great team. Jim and Jane built more than a dozen puppets for the show.

**Philip** (4:47)
Wait, in the picture, is that Kermit?

**Lisa Bueno** (4:50)
Oh, you've got a pretty good eye.

**Philip** (4:53)
It looks like it.

**Lisa Bueno** (4:54)
It kind of does. Let's keep watching and see what else. I feel like he'll introduce Kermit here in just a minute. Jim came up with the idea to watch his performance on a monitor as they filmed the show. Seeing exactly what the TV audience would see, helped him to know where his puppets needed to be. Jim used all sorts of material to make his puppets. They were unique and fun. So he started calling them by a fun name. Instead of puppets, his creations were Muppets. One of Jim's favorite Muppets to perform was Kermit. He made the hand puppet from his mother's old felt coat and half a ping pong ball for each eye.