~ Celebration Includes Partnership with Google to Create Original Doodle ~
Hollywood, September 23, 2011 The Jim Henson Company is inviting fans around the world to join in a celebration of Jim Henson’s 75th birthday on September 24, 2011, with great online activities and events. Following the Company on Facebook and Twitter will be the best way to keep up with all the fun. (www.twitter.com/hensoncompany; www.facebook.com/hensoncompany)
For starters, through a unique partnership with Google, Jim Henson’s Creature Shop™ has built original digital puppets for a Google doodle. Visitors to www.Google.com are able to puppeteer these unique characters for themselves and uncover hidden animations. On www.henson.com, a behind the scenes video explains how these characters were created. The site also features reflections from Company employees on what it is like to carry on Jim’s legacy in the organization he founded and a new podcast has premiered highlighting employees’ recollections on what it was like to work with Jim (https://www.henson.com/podcast.php).
Beginning Saturday, YouTube will launch The Jim Henson Company’s featured playlist introduced by the hilarious puppets Bobby Vegan (Bill Barretta) and Samson Knight (Brian Henson). The playlist includes a retrospective of Jim’s performing career and rare behind the scenes clips.
Also available are themed offerings to commemorate Jim’s body of work. Customized items featuring Jim’s art will be available at Henson.com, and Archaia Comics will be offering a free preview of their upcoming graphic novel “A Tale of Sand,” a new project that is based on an unproduced script written by Jim Henson and Jerry Juhl.
Fans in the New York City area can explore “Jim Henson’s Fantastic World,” an exhibit at the Museum of the Moving Image in Astoria that features drawings, storyboards and props from Jim’s career that illustrates his boundless creativity and accomplishments (http://www.movingimage.us/). And finally, “Stuffed and Unstrung,” the Henson Alternative show that was named one of the top 10 “Best Stage Shows of 2010” by Entertainment Weekly, will continue its U.S. tour with a stop at the College of DuPage in Illinois and continuing to venues in Indiana and Florida (www.stuffedandunstrung.com).
CONTACT: Ann Schwarz/Nicole Goldman
323.802-1667/323.802.1608
aschwarz@henson.com
ngoldman@henson.com