The Jim Henson Company
The Jim Henson Company (formerly known as Muppets, Inc., Henson Associates, Inc., and Jim Henson Productions, Inc.; commonly referred to as Henson) is an American entertainment company located in Los Angeles, California. The company is known for its innovations in the field of puppetry, particularly through the creation of Kermit the Frog and the Muppets characters.[1]
Formerly
Muppets, Inc. (1958–1976; 1985)
Henson Associates, Inc. (1976–1987)
Jim Henson Productions, Inc. (1987–1997)
Entertainment
November 20, 1958
Jim and Jane Henson
Puppetry, Animation, Computer graphics, Digital puppetry, Entertainment
Henson family
EM.TV & Merchandising AG
(2000–2003)
Brian Henson is as chairman, while Lisa Henson is CEO. Since 2000, The Jim Henson Company is headquartered at the Jim Henson Company Lot, the historic former Charlie Chaplin Studios, in Hollywood.
The company was established in November 1958 by puppeteers Jim and Jane Henson,[2] and is currently independently owned and operated by their children. Henson has produced many successful television series, including The Muppet Show (1976–1981), Fraggle Rock (1983–1987), and Bear in the Big Blue House (1997–2006); as well, the company designed the Muppet characters for Sesame Street (1969–present).
The company has also produced theatrical films, including The Muppet Movie (1979), The Dark Crystal (1982) and Labyrinth (1986). Henson also operates Jim Henson's Creature Shop, an animatronics and visual effects studio which has created characters and effects for both Henson productions and outside projects.[3] In 1989, the company entered merger negotiations with The Walt Disney Company, which were canceled following Jim Henson's death in 1990.
Subsequently, control of the company was assumed by Henson's children: Lisa, Cheryl, Brian, John, and Heather. In 2000, Henson was sold to German media company EM.TV & Merchandising AG; by the end of that year, however, EM.TV's stock collapsed, and the Henson family re-acquired the company in 2003.
In the interim, EM.TV sold the rights to the Sesame Street Muppets to Sesame Workshop in early January 2001,[4] following a December 2000 announcement. Henson sold The Muppets and Bear in the Big Blue House properties to Disney in 2004, but retains the remainder of its program library and assets.
As of 2024, Brian, Lisa, Cheryl, and Heather Henson maintain control of the company. Jane Henson died in April 2013, and John Henson died in February 2014.
History[edit]
1958 to 1990[edit]
Jim and Jane Henson officially founded Muppets, Inc. on November 20, 1958, three years after Sam and Friends debuted on WRC-TV in Washington, D.C. Aside from Sam and Friends, the majority of its work until 1969 was in advertising; appearances on late-night talk shows; and short "meeting films" primarily for enterprise use, produced from 1965 to 1996. In 1968, the company began designing characters and producing short films for the fledgling Sesame Street, which premiered on NET (succeeded by PBS) in November 1969.
One of the company's first characters to appear regularly on television, Rowlf the Dog, originated in commercials for Purina Dog Chow and became a regular character on The Jimmy Dean Show from 1963 to 1966. During this time, the show's host, Jimmy Dean, refused an opportunity to own 40% of the company, assuming that he did not attain that right. Jim Henson also pitched several different projects to the major American television networks, to little avail. Some ideas became unaired pilots, while others were never produced.
Company type
Division of The Jim Henson Company
1955
April 28, 2006
Disbanded and folded into The Jim Henson Company
Worldwide
