University of Maryland Celebrates Alumnus Jim Henson

Last year, researchers at the College of William & Mary found that, for the first time ever, American creativity is inching downward.

The findings set off a flurry of media coverage and hyperbolic claims on the supposed "creativity crisis."

Whether or not the nation is in the midst of a full-blown "creativity crisis" is debatable, but there is no doubt that creative talent must be nurtured in order to maintain a competitive position in the world order. After all, cognitive flexibility, inventiveness and design thinking play an important part in adapting to rapidly changing and unpredictable global forces.

If ever there was a poster boy for this kind of creativity, it's Jim Henson, a University of Maryland puppetry major who brought what had become a marginalized enterprise to the fore. On Friday, his alma mater celebrated his creative legacy at a campus-wide party for what would be his 75th birthday.

The event featured Kermit-themed treats, musical performances readings of Henson's work by members of the School of Theatre, Dance, and Performance Studies, and remarks by university president Wallace Loh.

"Jim Henson will always be an inspiration to students at the University of Maryland," Loh said.  "It takes talent as well as creativity to make a bunch of puppets -- maybe I should say Muppets -- into household names around the world. It takes skill as well as ingenuity to enable children to learn while entertaining them, and to enable grown-ups to enjoy themselves by becoming children again."

Henson -- who graduated from the University of Maryland in 1960 -- is best known for his innovation in puppetry as creator of the Muppets. He created an individualized major in puppetry, according to the University of Maryland website.

“Truthfully, the chair of the department many years ago told him that puppetry was fun but that he would never make a living out of it," said event organizer Leigh Wilson Smiley, director of the MFA in Performance program to a Maryland Community News Online reporter. 

Henson landed his own twice-daily, five-minute show, Sam and Friends, on our very own WRC-TV -- where he introduced an early version of Kermit the Frog -- while he was still a freshman in college.

He made major innovations in puppetry while on the show, melding hand puppets with marionettes and using close-ups to create an intimate environment and to keep the puppeteer off-camera. He also began to animate the puppets with rods, instead of strings, to give the foam rubber characters he invented more lifelike movement.

The University of Maryland has celebrated Henson over the years with major events like "The Muppets Take Maryland" in 1997, and a 2003 class gift of a statue of Henson and Kermit.

Loh has said that he hopes Jim Henson's memory will inspire creativity and innovation in his university's students.