Notes by Anna Tantillo
On Wednesday, April 11, the 2018 Orphan Film Symposium begins with an 8pm program at Museum of the Moving Image, The Early Films of Jim Henson. “Early” here means before 1969, when Sesame Street first made his creations famous on children’s television.
For many people, when remembering entertainment pioneer Jim Henson, they recall his colorful Muppet creations. While the Muppets certainly have made an enormous impact on viewers, they account for only one portion of Henson’s vast repertoire, which includes shorts, features, sponsored films, experimental work, documentaries, and advertisements. Before the Muppets’ mass popularity on television, Henson made dozens of short films and television pieces, beginning in 1955. He remained prolific until his death at age 53 in 1990.
Since 1992, the nonprofit Jim Henson Legacy has been preserving his body of creative work and sharing it through many forms of public exhibition. In keeping with its theme of LOVE, the year’s symposium includes a selection of films from the Henson archive, works created and imbued with a spirit of love.
Karen Falk (historian and archivist for the Jim Henson Company) and Craig Shemin (president of the Jim Henson Legacy) will present these works, including the Academy Award nominated, live-action short Time Piece (1965). Seldom seen in its entirety, Time Piece showcases the creative experimentation that informed much of Henson’s subsequent work. Currently undergoing restoration, a new 35mm print will likely be ready for the April 11th screening.
Other samplings include pieces such as Youth 68, a documentary Henson produced for the series NBC Experiment in Television. Celebrating its 50th anniversary, the film allowed Henson to experiment with new production techniques. It explores generational opinions of drugs, religion, war, and — perfect for the symposium — love. The Paley Center for Media archives a copy of the episode as Youth ’68 — Everything’s Changing. . . or Maybe It Isn’t. Its catalog says it “blends film montages, interviews, and contemporary music to create a portrait of American youth in the year 1968. To convey a sense of the rapid changes taking place in society, superimposed images and special effects are combined with the words of the world’s great poets, philosophers and social commentators. . . .”
This Orphan Film Symposium screening will not be the first time the Museum of the Moving Image welcomes the eclectic works of Jim Henson. MoMI is home to a permanent display of his work, featuring a wide range of footage and materials from throughout his career.
The museum regularly hosts events exploring Henson’s career and legacy, and, while the Henson films screened at the symposium will be less familiar, they will certainly feel at home in the company of the museum’s Henson artifacts and alongside the dozens of other films being showcased over the four days of the symposium. The early films, though less often associated with Henson than his more mainstream projects, give their audience a glimpse into the creative workings of Henson’s mind and a better understanding of his later, more widely-viewed work.
The 11th Orphan Film Symposium takes place April 11-14, 2018, at Museum of the Moving Image in Astoria, New York. Registration is open to all. To register and to read the entire program listing, visit www.nyu.edu/orphanfilm.