When you hear the name Jim Henson, what do you think of? Most people think of Kermit and his pals in The Muppet Show. But what about Kermit’s original gang of friends? That’s right, once upon a time Kermit’s original gig was that of Sam & Friends, a primetime puppet show that will be explored in the upcoming book Sam and Friends: The Story of Jim Henson’s First Television Show!
Sam and Friends: The Story of Jim Henson's First Television Show
Sam and Friends: The Story of Jim Henson’s First Television Show is written by Craig Shemin. Shemin and the Henson family go way back, as he is a former staff writer and current president of the non-profit organization, The Jim Henson Legacy. Shemin began working with Henson as a college intern in 1987 and later on worked at with the Jim Henson Archives. In 1996, he shifted his career into writing, where his contributions in clude the first season for The Wubbulous World of Dr. Seuss, Muppet Treasure Island, Dog City, and even non-Henson related projects such as six episodes of Courage the Cowardly Dog! Craig continues to keep one foot with the Henson company, however, and has penned such books as The Muppets Character Encyclopedia.
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According to the official website for the Sam and Friends book, the book itself will be split into two parts. The first part will consist of the complete history of Sam and Friends, starting from Jim Henson’s earliest days in television and ending with the Hensons’ eventual migration from Washington D.C. to New York City. The book will feature scripts, a look into the behind-the-scenes progress of the show’s creation, and more than 150 photos (many never before published) straight from the Jim Henson Company Archives! Meanwhile, part two will serve as an episode guide and will feature such goodies as summaries of Henson’s scripts and information about the music that the Muppets would lip-sync to on air!
Say Hello To Some Old Friends!
Sam and Friends
To many Muppet enthusiasts, this book promises to be a treasured treat! For those that are new, however, here’s a rundown of Jim’s first step into puppetry! Sam and Friends was a sketch comedy series that premiered on Washington D.C.’s WRC-TV in 1955. The show followed the humanoid puppet, Sam, and his gang of friends. Kermit (who had not yet taken on the frog label), Harry the Hipster, Yorick, Professor Madcliffe, Chicken Liver, Hank and Frank, and many others.
During the production of Sam and Friends, Jim was still attending college at the University of Maryland. Previously, Henson was very new to puppetry and had been making it by luck and chance. During high school, he made puppets for a children’s morning show called The Junior Morning Show, it was this experience that landed him the job to create Sam and Friends while attending college. It was also here that Jim first crossed paths with Jane Nebel, his fellow classmate that he would take on as a fellow puppeteer for his show. The two ended up working well for the team, and as you would guess, their relationship would grow over the years.
Sam and Friends has its place in Henson history as not only the debut of Kermit, but also served as an experimental phase for Jim and Jane. It was here that the Muppets had worked out their unique personalities as both characters and a brand, figuring out gags, and experimenting with visuals and effects of the time. The show, of course, was a smash hit with audiences, who were very sad when the show ended in 1961. But for its legacy, a shocking amount of the show is considered lost media. At the time, it just wasn’t a considered thing to preserve television, most of the episodes were never recorded. What few segments and sketches that have survived can be viewed online through sites like YouTube.
This is what makes the book very exciting. For such an important show, it’s always sad to find that pieces have gone missing from the world. Much of Shemin’s research not only comes from the Henson archives, but through interviews he personally conducted with Jane Henson before her death in 2013. The book will also feature a forward by Henson’s long-running collaborator and dear friend, Frank Oz. Sam and Friends: The Story of Jim Henson’s First Television Show is set to release this year on Jim Henson’s birthday on September 24th!
