Jim Henson - The Muppet Master

Information about Jim Henson for educational purposes

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Jim Henson and Muppets From The Jim Henson Hour.

The Jim Henson Hour was an ambitious American television anthology series created by Jim Henson. It aired on NBC in 1989. Modeled after classic Walt Disney anthology specials, the program served as a showcase for advanced puppetry, animatronics, and digital effects. Despite high creative praise, the show suffered from low ratings and was cancelled after only one season. It remains a notable piece of television history as the final primetime series Jim Henson worked on before his death in 1990.

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Behind The Scenes Photo of Frank Oz and Jim Henson Performing Mahna Mahna.

Although it was first performed in a Henson production on Sesame Street by the character who would become Bip Bippadotta and two Anything Muppet girls, the most famous Muppet rendition of the song debuted on The Ed Sullivan Show in 1969, where it was performed by Mahna Mahna and his back-up singers, the Snowths. This version of the skit was restaged many times on a number of variety shows before being featured as the opening number in the premiere episode of The Muppet Show.

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Jim Henson and Frank Oz performing Kermit the Frog and Miss Piggy on The Muppet Show

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Have a great day

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Sesame Street 1969

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The Muppet Show. Photos courtesy of the Muppets Page

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Sesame Street 1974 Calendar

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Photos shared from Muppet’s Wiki

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The Muppet Show Theater. Shared from the Muppets Page

The Muppet Theatre is the setting for The Muppet Show, where it was first established over the course of five seasons of television. It is a grand old vaudeville house that has seen better days, but still manages to suit the showbusiness needs of the Muppets.

The building's exterior is first seen in the series' coda, The Muppets Go to the Movies, where the camera pans back from the stage, out the front doors, and provides a full view of The Muppet Theatre name on the building. Kermit the Frog serves as a house manager to the theatre which is owned by Scooter's uncle J.P. Grosse (a fact Scooter is often happy to reiterate with his amphibious boss).

According to a 1991 storybook, the theatre was built by a stage actor named John Stone in 1802. In The Muppet Show episode 106, Kermit identifies the structure as The Benny Vandergast Memorial Theatre, but following the Muppets' residency,

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Splurge in New York

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Dr. Teeth and the Electric Mayhem

DEBUT 1975

PERFORMERS

Dr Teeth - Jim Henson

Animal - Frank Oz

Floyd Pepper - Jerry Nelson

Janice - Richard Hunt

Zoot - Dave Goelz

(Later)

Lips - Steve Whitmire

Clifford - Kevin Clash

Dr. Teeth and the Electric Mayhem are the house band on The Muppet Show. They mostly stick to rock music, but they’re capable of playing other styles, including jazz and (unwillingly) classical. Although Dr. Teeth is the leader, he is not the only one to provide lead vocals. Floyd Pepper is often a lead singer on songs, and Janice is lead singer on a handful of songs.

They drive around in a brightly-painted bus with psychedelic swirls and colors.

In an edition of Ask Henson.com, Karen Falk responded to a question about the origins of the Mayhem band:

“Music was always an important part of Jim Henson’s work. He had a strong interest in all types and had an eclectic record library. When he began writing proposals and creating concepts for The Muppet Show in the late 1960s, they always included a house band that was to appear in each episode. At that time, Jim had a strong interest in the counter-culture movement (as evidenced by his experimental film Youth ‘68) and sought to reflect that in the composition of the band. One proposal from about 1970 says that the band would, “…do songs like "Sunshine” from Hair. In fact, they are all dressed to out-hair the Hair cast.“

The Electric Mayhem as we know it first appeared in 1975 on the Muppet Show pilot Sex and Violence. A page of ideas for the show written by Jim describes the band this way: "Rock act - far-out, elaborate weird equipment, big amps…”.”

MUSICIANS

Core Members

Dr. Teeth on keyboards, pianos, and vocals.

Floyd Pepper on bass guitar, cello, banjo, vibes and vocals

Zoot on saxophone, clarinet, flute, and tuba.

Janice on lead guitar, tambourine, trombone, trumpet, and vocals.

Animal on drums.

Additional Members

Lips on trumpet (The Muppet Show Season 5, 1980; The Great Muppet Caper, 1981; A Muppet Family Christmas, 1987; The Muppets at Walt Disney World, 1990; The Muppet Christmas Carol, 1992, Christmas in Rockefeller Center, 2009; “Jungle Boogie”, The Muppets, and “Kodachrome”, 2015; Outside Lands Music and Arts Festival, 2016; The Muppets Take the Bowl, 2017; The Muppets Take the O2, 2018)

Guest Members

A Bongo Player (episode 413)

A brass section consisting of a clarinet player and two trumpet players (one of whom was Bobby Benson) (season 2 of The Muppet Show)

Clifford on percussion (The Muppets at Walt Disney World, 1990)

Don Knotts on stand up bass (episode 201)

Jim on banjo (The Muppet Show: Sex and Violence pilot)

Rizzo the Rat on cymbals (episode 511)

Rowlf on piano (episode 121 (German version only)), (episode 424, episode 513), in addition to Dr. Teeth (The Muppet Christmas Carol)

Scooter on percussion (The Muppet Movie)

Three frog backup singers (episode 406)

Trombone player (episode 517)

Trumpet Girl on trumpet (episode 123 of The Muppet Show) and trombone (episode 505, episode 513)

Zeke on banjo (episode 424) and marimba (episode 523)

A drummer (Episode 505)

Beaker on vocals (episode 424, Studio DC: Hosted by Selena Gomez)

Ninja Rogers on drums (The Treasure of Peg-Leg Wilson)

Hal Linden on clarinet ( Episode 517: Hal Linden )

A Trombone Player ( Episode 517: Hal Linden )

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MANAGERS

Scooter - The Muppet Movie

Rizzo the Rat and Pepe the King Prawn - Studio DC: Almost Live!

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SONGS PERFORMED BY THE ELECTRIC MAYHEM

1 of 15

Television

The Muppet Show Season 1

Episode 102: Connie Stevens - “Ain’t Misbehavin’” (UK Spot)

Episode 104: Ruth Buzzi - “Sunny”

Episode 106: Jim Nabors - “Money”

Episode 110: Harvey Korman - “Love Ya to Death”

Episode 110: Harvey Korman - “Sweet Tooth Jam” (UK Spot)

Episode 116: Avery Schreiber - “Tenderly”

Episode 118: Phyllis Diller - “Lazybones” (UK spot)

Episode 120: Valerie Harper - “Searching”

Episode 123: Kaye Ballard - “Fugue for Frog”

Episode 124: Mummenschanz - “Mr. Bassman” (with Scooter)

The Muppet Show Season 2

Episode 202: Zero Mostel - “Chopin’s Polonaise in A Flat”

Episode 209: Madeline Kahn - “New York State of Mind” (UK spot)

Episode 211: Dom DeLuise - “Don’t Blame the Dynamite”

Episode 213: Rudolf Nureyev - Boccherini’s “Minuet in A Major”

Episode 222: Teresa Brewer - “Cheese Cake” (UK Spot) (performed by Dr. Teeth on solo piano)

The Muppet Show Season 3

Episode 301: Kris Kristofferson & Rita Coolidge - “New York State of Mind”

Episode 314: Harry Belafonte - “Honeysuckle Rose” (UK Spot)

Episode 315: Lesley Ann Warren - “Mack the Knife” (UK Spot)

Episode 317: Spike Milligan - “America”

Episode 320: Sylvester Stallone - “Lady Be Good” (UK Spot)

The Muppet Show Season 4

Episode 418: Christopher Reeve - “Sam’s Song” (UK Spot)

Episode 419: Lynda Carter - “With a Little Help From My Friends”

Episode 419: Lynda Carter - “While My Guitar Gently Weeps”

The Muppet Show Season 5

Episode 503: Joan Baez - “Blackbird”

Episode 504: Shirley Bassey - “Barnyard Boogie”

Episode 504: Shirley Bassey - “After You’ve Gone” (UK Spot - performed by Orchestra)

Episode 510: Jean-Pierre Rampal - “Rockin’ Robin”

Episode 511: Paul Simon - “Fifty Ways To Leave Your Lover”

Episode 513: Tony Randall - “Poison Ivy”

Episode 524: Roger Moore - “How High the Moon” (UK Spot - performed by Orchestra)

Specials

Julie Andrews: My Favorite Things - “Your Mamma Won’t Like Me”

Sex and Violence - “For the Birds”

Sex and Violence - “Love Ya to Death”

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It's Hot !

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Let the show begin.....

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Jim Henson Performing Little Chrissy (and the Alphabeats) on Sesame Street.

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“I used to always think in terms of having two careers going, two threads that I was working with at the same time,” Jim said later. “One was accepted by the audience and was successful, and that was the Muppets. The other [experimental films] was something I was very interested in and enjoyed. It didn’t have that commercial success, but that didn’t particularly frustrate me because i enjoyed it.”

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Jim Henson and Kermit the Frog in the workshop.

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The Muppet Show behind the scenes

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Have a great day