OPEN SESAME STREET
“It doesn’t mean anything I made it up,” Jim Henson once said of the word ‘Muppet’. The Muppets’ identity did indeed seem flexible initially, as Henson and wife-to-be Jane Nebel developed prototypes for ’50s Talk-show slots and adverts followed, while a beige Kermit predecessor was made from Henson’s mother’s coat. In the ’60s, Frank Oz joined Henson and Children’s Television Workshop edu-show beckoned.