Jim Henson’s puppetry genius celebrated at New York museum

NEW YORK – You could consider Jim Henson to be the Cecil B. DeMille or Samuel Goldwyn of the puppet world. As a film producer he was a pioneer who gave film lovers little classics that featured such iconic stars as Kermit the Frog, Miss Piggy, Fozzie Bear and many others.

Henson and the magical, comical world he created on the big screen and on TV are currently being celebrated in “Jim Henson’s Fantastic World,” an ongoing exhibition of puppets, artifacts, drawings, storyboards, props and special programs at New York’s Museum of the Moving Image.

The exhibition runs through Jan. 16 at the museum, located at 36-01 35th Ave in Astoria, Queens.

Henson, who died in 1990, was a pioneering puppeteer best known for creating The Muppets. Among his Oscar-nominated and Emmy Award-winning creations were the popular “The Muppet Show” on TV, several Muppet movies and creative clothe creatures that he brought to life for “Sesame Street’ and “Fraggle Rock” and the films “Labyrinth” and “The Dark Crystal.”

In addition to the 120 artifacts included in the museum’s collection, the Henson exhibition also features 15 signature puppets, including Miss Piggy, Kermit the Frog, Rowlf and Bert and Ernie, along with rare photographs of Henson and his collaborators at work and excerpts from his early projects and experimental films.