Puppet Making with Jim Henson: A Priceless Primer from 1969

Give Jim Hen­son 15 min­utes of your time, and the father of the Mup­pets will teach you how to make your own pup­pets, using noth­ing oth­er than house­hold items – socks, pota­toes, tacks, ten­nis balls, rub­ber bands, wood­en spoons, and the rest. This primer orig­i­nal­ly aired on Iowa Pub­lic Tele­vi­sion back in 1969, not long before Hen­son joined a fledg­ling TV pro­duc­tion, Sesame Street, where he helped cre­ate the most famous pup­pets of our gen­er­a­tion: Oscar, Ernie, Ker­mit, Bert, Cook­ie Mon­ster, Big Bird and the rest. Though record­ed 40+ years ago, the advice is sim­ple and time­less. The man knows of what he speaks…

Thanks Sarah for send­ing our way.

Relat­ed Con­tent:

Jim Hen­son Pilots The Mup­pet Show with Adult Episode, “Sex and Vio­lence” (1975)

Jim Henson’s Zany 1963 Robot Film Uncov­ered by AT&T: Watch Online

Jim Henson’s Vio­lent Wilkins Cof­fee Com­mer­cials (1957–1961)


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Comments (7)
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  • Wow this video was real­ly fun to watch — I love Jim Hen­son! Thanks so much for find­ing this and shar­ing it.

  • Shelley says:

    As some­one who writes about a time when most toys were hand­made at home, I feel sure that there are few peo­ple in the last cen­tu­ry who changed chil­dren’s lives for the bet­ter more than Jim Hen­son.

  • this was a great video… do you know where we can watch the next one? at the end of this one Jim Hen­son says that in the next show he’s going to show how to give the pup­pets char­ac­ters… i’d like to watch that one too!

  • Seth Derrick says:

    Amaz­ing how Jim’s nat­ur­al voice is so eas­i­ly rec­og­niz­able as Ker­mit!

  • Nicole White says:

    Coool! I grew up with this stuff. i am twen­ty-five, and i still like that.

  • Eowyn Rohan says:

    Thank you for dis­cov­er­ing this. Jim Hen­son is aston­ish­ing. But let us not for­get dear, sweet Shari Lewis and her cre­ations Lamb Chop and Hush Pup­py.

  • Jesus Quintero says:

    What a great teacher Jim Hen­son is. His lega­cy is live. Thanks a lot for shar­ing.

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