Henson closes NY office

[Luke]

As has been mentioned, Henson are planning to strip the place bare (or maybe 'Bear' is planning to strip at the place ... but then he's naked already so i must have got it right first time). So yeah, anything like artwork, murals or stained glass windows, carved desk etc will all be moved with the company and kept. Many people 'inside' Henson have been confirming this.

 

[BoyRaisin2]

Question: Since the mural was painted on the wall (never thought about that), HOW can it be saved?

 

[frogboy4]

It was apparently painted on canvas and mounted on the wall.

 

[Fozzie Bear]

As has been mentioned, Henson are planning to strip the place bare (or maybe 'Bear' is planning to strip at the place ... but then he's naked already so i must have got it right first time).

Unless you're talking about the other one from the Blue House, the usual Bear has a porkpie hat and bowtie.

Wear THAT next time you're alone with your love and watch the points add up!

"Connect the dots, la laa la laa!"

 

[BoyRaisin2]

It was apparently painted on canvas and mounted on the wall.

OK that's what I thought; it seemed people were saying it was painted ON the wall. Never mind then...

 

[SarahFraggle]

Thanks! I feel alot better that those things are safe!

 

[Mark Filton]

Hey everybody, I want to reply big time but Christmas is the most hectic time

All I can say for speed is that nobody has any confirmation about preserving anything, and that is what scares me the most.

All through Hollywood are bad tales of people saying when wonderful things just get thrown out. Even if the mural is preserved, who says they might leave it around for a year, it gets damaged, or they don't know WHAT to do with it and somebody says "Enough of that thing!"

Who knows

 

[Luke]

All I can say for speed is that nobody has any confirmation about preserving anything, and that is what scares me the most.

This is HENSON Mark - their archive people are the best i've ever seen. They have an intricate database of thousands of items all carefully stored from Jim's first puppets to tiny props and old letters. Some of the NY stuff is the most precious and important, the family themselves will make sure what needs to be kept is archived safely. You might not get official confirmation on a forum but you can be sure the Henson Company are more than aware of the issues being raised here and preservation plans are definitely happening.

 

[Craig Crane]

Its all a bit sad....

I have the upmost respect for the company, and how they have inspired m to follow the paths I took in life. Although my involvemnet in Henson projects here in the UK has been minimal (hence one of my domains being 3rdchickenfromtheleft.com) I have always followed them comewhat may.

Its a shame that things are so bad that things are being closed, scaled down or whatever...

I wish that they could keep a hold of NY and ditch the Chaplin studios... I say this because NY will forver be a MUPPET City, where as LA is not... I went to the Chaplin Studios last year for a meeting with Brian... and as nice as the Chaplin place was, there was no escaping its heritage as either Chaplins old gaff or A&M's headquarters. However, NY will forever be THE definative hub of Henson Creativity.... AND ONCE IT HAS GONE, THATS IT.

Surely NY is no where near as costly as LA to keep.

Maybe I'm just too Nostalgic for my own good. I always prefered the Hampstead Creature shop over Camden. Jims house was across the road, and it was all very "nice". Camden was a bit of a mess, and never really felt "creativley different". By that I mean that whenever you walked into Hampstead, you knew you were somewhere special. It had a lot of history. Camden just felt like a converted warehouse. It was a pain to get to and the streets were just filfthy. Hampstead had class.... Its now a Doctors surgery..... I think the family still have Number 50 though, as they are listed as the owners in an application for planning permission on the house this year to remove a stained glass in door at rear ground floor level(Its a listed house). And very nice it is too.

LA has a lot of history, but none of it is really Henson History. I have never associatted LA with Hensons or the Muppets, mainly due to the fact that once in LA you are just one small fish in a very big pond. In NY or London, you at least retain a creative edge and are instantly renowned for being "special". Could you imagine Pixar or ILM working in any other inviroment than the one in which they do?

But I only read the headlines and have only had a brief glimpse at this forum, and I may have missed something... but either way, I'd hate to see the same NY office that I used to write to begging to be a puppeteer go away forever. It was (as was Hampstead) my mecca. And looking at all the photo's of it, it really does appear to have a heart and soul all of its own... something that I feel no building in LA could ever offer.

There must be a way around this....

Lose the LA building, its a little too pretentious anyway, keep NY and work from there.

 

[Craig Crane]

This just bought back a wonderful memory of my first meeting with Brian... it was 1990, on my 20th birthday and he finally succumbed to my "keen" letters and invited me over to Hampstead to say hi and do some puppeteering. It was a great day, and when he realised that there was no room at the creature shop, he took me over to his Dads house where we puppeteered in the lounge in front of this massive mirrored wall with some puppets from Mother Goose. When I saw the throne from the Dark Crystal at the end of the hallway, I almost peed in my pants.

Pretty dam fine, if I may say so. I had not worked as a puppeteer up till that point.... but I have not stopped since. So for that I am gratefull...

Anyway, I digress....

If you think a letter may help, lets do it.
Nothing ventured etc etc etc

Craig