Jim Henson: The Biography

Well-written and well-organized biography about one of my all time favorite entertainers. The Author goes from childhood and education of Henson to his first job on television and in the advertising world before going onto what he was most known for, and then covering his films and other post Muppet Show projects. He made some experimental films that I had not previously heard of.

The book points out the things that I liked best about him, such as the philosophy that, “When done right, it's possible to be silly and subversive at the same time.” He was also a strong believer that entertainment should work for adults and kids at the same time. (Something today's entertainers would do well to look into.) He was never didactic.

This bio doesn't pretend that Hensen was perfect. Certainly he was a massive workaholic (but blessed to love his work so much), not the greatest husband, and very stubborn. But overall this is a wonderful and informative celebration of an amazing man's life and career.

I think this is honestly a 3-star book that I'm giving a bonus star due to my general goodwill toward Jim Henson. It's a solid, well-researched read, but pretty straightforward prose.

I mean, I LOVE Jim Henson. Who doesn't, right? In a way, that's kind of the problem with this biography. I'm not saying I wanted his name drug through the mud or anything, but this is pretty much just 500 pages of how everyone loves Jim Henson. Even the negative parts are glossed over like a job interview applicant trying to make lemonade out of their weaknesses. Like, did he cheat on Jane Henson? Yes, but... they had an understanding, and she was fine with it, and he was always really nice to his girlfriends. OK, fine. Did he work insane hours? Yes, but... his children admired his work ethic, and he always made sure to call home.

Also I was kind of annoyed by how just about every chapter talked about both 1) how Jim didn't care about the money and wasn't doing this for the money, and 2) how Jim had a taste for fancy things and impulse-bought another fancy car or yacht or whatever. I mean, yes, I get that people can contradict each other, but Jones never seemed super aware of the contradiction here? And it was seriously like every chapter.

Still, I mean, there's a reason everybody loves Jim Henson, and reading about his ~vision~ and history etc was great. A lot of the stuff in here I already knew (due to my status as a devoted Muppet fan), but there was also a lot I didn't know and was overall charmed by. And yeah, I cried at the chapter about Jim Henson's funeral.

Short review: This is a comprehensive, but fairly light biography of Jim Henson. It has many of the same strengths and weaknesses of Walter Isaacson's biography of Steve Jobs. It is as much about the company and work as it is about Henson as a man. It relies heavily on interviews, it gets too detailed about relatively minor creative decisions but doesn't get detailed enough around personality issues. That being said, I did really like it and I did enjoy putting Henson in context of how TV (and to a lesser extent film) changed because of his work on it.

My full review is on my blog at http://bookwi.se/jim-henson/