MOVIES MAKE GOOD

Ryan Baker  //  

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Jul 30 / 3:04pm

Music: "Turn the World Around," 1978

Jim Henson and Harry Belafonte collaborated closely on an episode of "The Muppet Show," as Belafonte was an admirer of Henson's work and enthusiastic to work with the artist of whom he held in "the highest regard." Hoping to capture a more culturally-diverse range of songs, Belafonte presented Henson with recordings of 4 songs; Henson was struck by one Belafonte had featured on his 1977 album: "Turn the World Around."

Mounting a rich performance including the creation of new Muppets modeled after traditional African masks, "Turn the World Around" became the closing number of the 14th episode of season 3 of "The Muppet Show." Henson believed the performance to be one of the best of his career, a personal favorite:

When Jim Henson died in 1990, Belafonte, together with a small group of back-up singers, again performed "Turn the World Around":

Filed under  //  Africa   Calypso   Harry Belafonte   Jim Henson   Muppet Show   Muppets   Musical Performance   Turn the World Around  
 
Feb 18 / 4:53pm

Video: Wilkins Coffee commercials, 1957 - 1961

In the late '50s, a young puppeteer named Jim Henson was commissioned by Washington D.C.-based Wilkins Coffee to produce a series of ultra-quick commercials. Henson's ads, featuring a pair of early proto-Muppets named Wilkins and Wontkins, proved incredibly successful, and until 1961, Henson continued to produce ads for Wilkins' products, ultimately cranking out 179 commercials.

What's so striking about these ads isn't just the tremendous creativity or whimsy, but the raucous slapstick violence. Poor frumpy Wontkins is frequently maimed, murdered, blown-up, threatened, whalloped, stabbed, guillotined, clobbered and beaten, but there's somehow still a friendly air of delight to these ads.

Filed under  //  Ads   Commercials   Jim Henson   Muppets   Wilkins   Wilkins Coffee   Wontkins   YouTube