When you Wish Upon a Frog (Book II of the Jim Henson at Disney saga)

[Geekhis Khan]

Chapter 17, The Last Hurrah (Cont’d)
Excerpt from Where Did I Go Right? (or: You’re No One in Hollywood Unless Someone Wants You Dead), by Bernie Brillstein (with Cheryl Henson)

It’s good to be the King. Mel Brooks said that, or at least his King Louis did.

But I’m not the King anymore. Yesterday I was, the head of Disney-NBC Television. Today I’m just another schmuck on the street. Worse yet, I’m a “retiree”.

Fuck that word.

(Image source East Valley Tribune)

When Jim retired from Disney, I knew it was time for me to leave. I was getting increasingly winded from just walking from my car to the building, and I had a choice parting spot. I was getting overwhelmed by the noise and traffic in LA rather than reveling in it. I was finding myself nodding off at screenings or meetings. A single cocktail and I was ready for bed, not ready to hit the clubs.

Indiana Jones said “It’s not the age, it’s the mileage.” And I had a lot of both.

And don’t smoke, kids. Emphysema is not fun.

It was a hell of a run, from William Morris to my own Management company to Disney to Hyperion to MGM to NBC and a thousand steps in between. I’d given a chance to a kid out of DC with a puppet cut from his mom’s old coat and given him fame, not knowing that he’d end up dragging me along to fame and influence far beyond the wildest dreams of the poorest kid in the richest neighborhood in Manhattan.

Back in the day (Image source Twitter)

Sure: I’m NBC Chairman Emeritus. An empty title and a stipend. But I’m not the guy at the center of everything. If my phone rings, half the time it’s some asshole trying to sell me Florida Time-Shares or a reverse-mortgage.

Even my scammers know that I’m old.

This is the challenge. I fed off of that hectic Hollywood shit. The constant buzz was my honey. The chaos was my order. The best thing about a firm handshake from a potential business partner was knowing that there was no dagger in that hand, and I loved that, lived for the game.

Jim was there for my retirement party. Drove in special from his New Mexico Fortress of Solitude. My daughter Leigh had smuggled him the me-Muppet and Jim-as-me gave me a good ribbing, God bless him. He recreated our lives together, or at least a silly, exaggerated Cliff’s Notes version, even reenacting a fictionalized account of that night back in 1979 at the club in New York City where we first devised the cockamamie plan to buy his way into Disney. It got me thinking about our intersecting lives. From his agent to his manager to his partner-in-crime when we made our run on Disney. Then, my wagon hitched to Jim the Shooting Star, we remade Hollywood.

It was fucking glorious.

If I could do it all over again, hop back into my life as a struggling gambling addict in Manhattan in the mob-run 1950s, would I make all the same choices?

You’re God Damned right that I would.

And now all of that was gone. No constant phone calls. No flood of emails. No people jockeying to be around me. No knock at the door unless it’s the UPS guy or on occasion my daughter Leigh. It’s dead silent in my too-damned-big home in Bel Aire, particularly with Ex-Wife #3 now in Boca.

It’s eerie. Cheryl says “liminal”, whatever the hell that means.

Not this painting, but similar to it, I imagine (Image source Nolden/H Fine Art)

In my office I have a painting by John Register called Nebraska. Green and brown fields all the way to the horizon. Sky half blue, half grey. A two-lane road crosses an empty intersection with a weathered stop sign. The painting always had two obvious interpretations for me: is the sky getting clearer, or darker? Do you see the stop sign, or the open road beyond it?

The answer was always a no-brainer.

But now I found myself rethinking it.

In Hollywood, power and influence are everything, like gravity in the solar system. If you have it, the others circle around you. If you don’t, you’re either sucked into someone else’s orbit or you drift off into the black.

Me, I could generate gravity. I could talk the talk and walk the walk. I knew where the bodies were buried and who put them there. I’d twist the short hairs when I had to, bluster and bullshit when needed, and be the loudest voice in the room.

Like they say, I could “command attention.”

That’s where Jim was always special. Edison said genius was 10% inspiration, 90% perspiration. Not Jim. He’s 50/50. He can craft whole worlds in his mind and appeal directly to your simplest human emotions. He’s a perfectionist, and usually they are a royal pain in the ass, driving others crazy in their quest for perfection. Not Jim. His quest for perfection inspires those around him to be better than they ever thought that they could be.

Usually, the loudest voice is the one that Hollywood listens to, but Jim rarely ever speaks above a whisper. Half the time you can barely hear him. You have to lean in. And yet that gravimetric whisper draws you closer, forces you to listen, and forces you to pay attention. He never “commanded attention”, he invited it, and that little whisper speaks louder than all the screaming, red-faced execs you can name.

Jim has power and influence not by force and coercion, but by simply showing us all how good it could be if we just gave his ideas a try. And that bought more loyalty than a thousand empty promises or open threats.

Of course, there are those who even Jim couldn’t reach, the true narcissists and sociopaths, parasites who live only for themselves and at the expense of others. The type of people (and yeah, you get to know plenty of them in this business) who will leave a trail of bodies in their wake as they stab their way to the top. Those bastards only speak “bastard”, and so those of us with bastardly tendencies, but who aren’t complete bastards, needed to step up and cover Jim’s back.

And we did.

Jim trusted. We verified.

Or terminated with extreme prejudice.

Sometimes a Good Man needs a Bastard in his corner, a Skeksi [SIC] to his uuRu.

And I am proud to have been Jim’s Biggest Bastard.

 

[King of Danes]

Damn, these last updates really feel like endings

As many have said, thanks for this masterpiece of a timeline. It truly is outstanding how it has evolved and the universe created is inspiring

And farewell to Bernie. I think he was my favourite of the “voices” of this tl. A bit rough around the edges but a mensch. He’s the guy I’d have liked to have a talk with about just about everything over drinks or something

 

[TheFaultsofAlts]

If there's one thing I expected when signing off from the viewer's perspectives, it's that Bernie's farewell post would be filled with expletives that would make Marlon Brando blush.

And now we play waiting game. Is Jim's goodbye gonna happen on Tuesday or Thursday? Oh, heck with it, we all know it'll be Thursday.

 

[Plateosaurus]

Chapter 17, The Last Hurrah (Cont’d)
Excerpt from Where Did I Go Right? (or: You’re No One in Hollywood Unless Someone Wants You Dead), by Bernie Brillstein (with Cheryl Henson)

It’s good to be the King. Mel Brooks said that, or at least his King Louis did.

But I’m not the King anymore. Yesterday I was, the head of Disney-NBC Television. Today I’m just another schmuck on the street. Worse yet, I’m a “retiree”.

Fuck that word.

(Image source East Valley Tribune)

When Jim retired from Disney, I knew it was time for me to leave. I was getting increasingly winded from just walking from my car to the building, and I had a choice parting spot. I was getting overwhelmed by the noise and traffic in LA rather than reveling in it. I was finding myself nodding off at screenings or meetings. A single cocktail and I was ready for bed, not ready to hit the clubs.

Indiana Jones said “It’s not the age, it’s the mileage.” And I had a lot of both.

And don’t smoke, kids. Emphysema is not fun.

It was a hell of a run, from William Morris to my own Management company to Disney to Hyperion to MGM to NBC and a thousand steps in between. I’d given a chance to a kid out of DC with a puppet cut from his mom’s old coat and given him fame, not knowing that he’d end up dragging me along to fame and influence far beyond the wildest dreams of the poorest kid in the richest neighborhood in Manhattan.

Back in the day (Image source Twitter)

Sure: I’m NBC Chairman Emeritus. An empty title and a stipend. But I’m not the guy at the center of everything. If my phone rings, half the time it’s some asshole trying to sell me Florida Time-Shares or a reverse-mortgage.

Even my scammers know that I’m old.

This is the challenge. I fed off of that hectic Hollywood shit. The constant buzz was my honey. The chaos was my order. The best thing about a firm handshake from a potential business partner was knowing that there was no dagger in that hand, and I loved that, lived for the game.

Jim was there for my retirement party. Drove in special from his New Mexico Fortress of Solitude. My daughter Leigh had smuggled him the me-Muppet and Jim-as-me gave me a good ribbing, God bless him. He recreated our lives together, or at least a silly, exaggerated Cliff’s Notes version, even reenacting a fictionalized account of that night back in 1979 at the club in New York City where we first devised the cockamamie plan to buy his way into Disney. It got me thinking about our intersecting lives. From his agent to his manager to his partner-in-crime when we made our run on Disney. Then, my wagon hitched to Jim the Shooting Star, we remade Hollywood.

It was fucking glorious.

If I could do it all over again, hop back into my life as a struggling gambling addict in Manhattan in the mob-run 1950s, would I make all the same choices?

You’re God Damned right that I would.

And now all of that was gone. No constant phone calls. No flood of emails. No people jockeying to be around me. No knock at the door unless it’s the UPS guy or on occasion my daughter Leigh. It’s dead silent in my too-damned-big home in Bel Aire, particularly with Ex-Wife #3 now in Boca.

It’s eerie. Cheryl says “liminal”, whatever the hell that means.

Not this painting, but similar to it, I imagine (Image source Nolden/H Fine Art)

In my office I have a painting by John Register called Nebraska. Green and brown fields all the way to the horizon. Sky half blue, half grey. A two-lane road crosses an empty intersection with a weathered stop sign. The painting always had two obvious interpretations for me: is the sky getting clearer, or darker? Do you see the stop sign, or the open road beyond it?

The answer was always a no-brainer.

But now I found myself rethinking it.

In Hollywood, power and influence are everything, like gravity in the solar system. If you have it, the others circle around you. If you don’t, you’re either sucked into someone else’s orbit or you drift off into the black.

Me, I could generate gravity. I could talk the talk and walk the walk. I knew where the bodies were buried and who put them there. I’d twist the short hairs when I had to, bluster and bullshit when needed, and be the loudest voice in the room.

Like they say, I could “command attention.”

That’s where Jim was always special. Edison said genius was 10% inspiration, 90% perspiration. Not Jim. He’s 50/50. He can craft whole worlds in his mind and appeal directly to your simplest human emotions. He’s a perfectionist, and usually they are a royal pain in the ass, driving others crazy in their quest for perfection. Not Jim. His quest for perfection inspires those around him to be better than they ever thought that they could be.

Usually, the loudest voice is the one that Hollywood listens to, but Jim rarely ever speaks above a whisper. Half the time you can barely hear him. You have to lean in. And yet that gravimetric whisper draws you closer, forces you to listen, and forces you to pay attention. He never “commanded attention”, he invited it, and that little whisper speaks louder than all the screaming, red-faced execs you can name.

Jim has power and influence not by force and coercion, but by simply showing us all how good it could be if we just gave his ideas a try. And that bought more loyalty than a thousand empty promises or open threats.

Of course, there are those who even Jim couldn’t reach, the true narcissists and sociopaths, parasites who live only for themselves and at the expense of others. The type of people (and yeah, you get to know plenty of them in this business) who will leave a trail of bodies in their wake as they stab their way to the top. Those bastards only speak “bastard”, and so those of us with bastardly tendencies, but who aren’t complete bastards, needed to step up and cover Jim’s back.

And we did.

Jim trusted. We verified.

Or terminated with extreme prejudice.

Sometimes a Good Man needs a Bastard in his corner, a Skeksi [SIC] to his uuRu.

And I am proud to have been Jim’s Biggest Bastard.

Sometimes a Good Man needs a Bastard in his corner, a Skeksi [SIC] to his uuRu.

And I am proud to have been Jim’s Biggest Bastard.

What a fitting send off to Bernie. Alav ha-shalom to him, and thanks for making everything in the TL happen.

 

[WhovianHolmesianChap]

Chapter 17, The Last Hurrah (Cont’d)
Excerpt from Where Did I Go Right? (or: You’re No One in Hollywood Unless Someone Wants You Dead), by Bernie Brillstein (with Cheryl Henson)

It’s good to be the King. Mel Brooks said that, or at least his King Louis did.

But I’m not the King anymore. Yesterday I was, the head of Disney-NBC Television. Today I’m just another schmuck on the street. Worse yet, I’m a “retiree”.

Fuck that word.

(Image source East Valley Tribune)

When Jim retired from Disney, I knew it was time for me to leave. I was getting increasingly winded from just walking from my car to the building, and I had a choice parting spot. I was getting overwhelmed by the noise and traffic in LA rather than reveling in it. I was finding myself nodding off at screenings or meetings. A single cocktail and I was ready for bed, not ready to hit the clubs.

Indiana Jones said “It’s not the age, it’s the mileage.” And I had a lot of both.

And don’t smoke, kids. Emphysema is not fun.

It was a hell of a run, from William Morris to my own Management company to Disney to Hyperion to MGM to NBC and a thousand steps in between. I’d given a chance to a kid out of DC with a puppet cut from his mom’s old coat and given him fame, not knowing that he’d end up dragging me along to fame and influence far beyond the wildest dreams of the poorest kid in the richest neighborhood in Manhattan.

Back in the day (Image source Twitter)

Sure: I’m NBC Chairman Emeritus. An empty title and a stipend. But I’m not the guy at the center of everything. If my phone rings, half the time it’s some asshole trying to sell me Florida Time-Shares or a reverse-mortgage.

Even my scammers know that I’m old.

This is the challenge. I fed off of that hectic Hollywood shit. The constant buzz was my honey. The chaos was my order. The best thing about a firm handshake from a potential business partner was knowing that there was no dagger in that hand, and I loved that, lived for the game.

Jim was there for my retirement party. Drove in special from his New Mexico Fortress of Solitude. My daughter Leigh had smuggled him the me-Muppet and Jim-as-me gave me a good ribbing, God bless him. He recreated our lives together, or at least a silly, exaggerated Cliff’s Notes version, even reenacting a fictionalized account of that night back in 1979 at the club in New York City where we first devised the cockamamie plan to buy his way into Disney. It got me thinking about our intersecting lives. From his agent to his manager to his partner-in-crime when we made our run on Disney. Then, my wagon hitched to Jim the Shooting Star, we remade Hollywood.

It was fucking glorious.

If I could do it all over again, hop back into my life as a struggling gambling addict in Manhattan in the mob-run 1950s, would I make all the same choices?

You’re God Damned right that I would.

And now all of that was gone. No constant phone calls. No flood of emails. No people jockeying to be around me. No knock at the door unless it’s the UPS guy or on occasion my daughter Leigh. It’s dead silent in my too-damned-big home in Bel Aire, particularly with Ex-Wife #3 now in Boca.

It’s eerie. Cheryl says “liminal”, whatever the hell that means.

Not this painting, but similar to it, I imagine (Image source Nolden/H Fine Art)

In my office I have a painting by John Register called Nebraska. Green and brown fields all the way to the horizon. Sky half blue, half grey. A two-lane road crosses an empty intersection with a weathered stop sign. The painting always had two obvious interpretations for me: is the sky getting clearer, or darker? Do you see the stop sign, or the open road beyond it?

The answer was always a no-brainer.

But now I found myself rethinking it.

In Hollywood, power and influence are everything, like gravity in the solar system. If you have it, the others circle around you. If you don’t, you’re either sucked into someone else’s orbit or you drift off into the black.

Me, I could generate gravity. I could talk the talk and walk the walk. I knew where the bodies were buried and who put them there. I’d twist the short hairs when I had to, bluster and bullshit when needed, and be the loudest voice in the room.

Like they say, I could “command attention.”

That’s where Jim was always special. Edison said genius was 10% inspiration, 90% perspiration. Not Jim. He’s 50/50. He can craft whole worlds in his mind and appeal directly to your simplest human emotions. He’s a perfectionist, and usually they are a royal pain in the ass, driving others crazy in their quest for perfection. Not Jim. His quest for perfection inspires those around him to be better than they ever thought that they could be.

Usually, the loudest voice is the one that Hollywood listens to, but Jim rarely ever speaks above a whisper. Half the time you can barely hear him. You have to lean in. And yet that gravimetric whisper draws you closer, forces you to listen, and forces you to pay attention. He never “commanded attention”, he invited it, and that little whisper speaks louder than all the screaming, red-faced execs you can name.

Jim has power and influence not by force and coercion, but by simply showing us all how good it could be if we just gave his ideas a try. And that bought more loyalty than a thousand empty promises or open threats.

Of course, there are those who even Jim couldn’t reach, the true narcissists and sociopaths, parasites who live only for themselves and at the expense of others. The type of people (and yeah, you get to know plenty of them in this business) who will leave a trail of bodies in their wake as they stab their way to the top. Those bastards only speak “bastard”, and so those of us with bastardly tendencies, but who aren’t complete bastards, needed to step up and cover Jim’s back.

And we did.

Jim trusted. We verified.

Or terminated with extreme prejudice.

Sometimes a Good Man needs a Bastard in his corner, a Skeksi [SIC] to his uuRu.

And I am proud to have been Jim’s Biggest Bastard.

Farewell to the biggest mensch of them all.

 

[Geekhis Khan]

Thank you all for the kind words, the Likes/Loves, and the Comments, Corrections, Questions, and Contributions over the years. You all made this possible and kept me going. I'm glad that my silly little idea bore so much love over the months.

My many thanks to you all, from the casual readers to the major contributors. My appologies for anyone that I missed in the "@"s, I'm slowly filling in the gaps as I see them, and really want to acknowledge everyone.

For my many talented Guest Writers, Don't Stop the Signal. Keep it going in the guest thread. I may even drop something there myself on occasion. You are all amazing and talented, and I look forward to where you all taken things in my stead.

Remember: anyone can contribute, don't be shy. Find a partner if you need.

Well, it was good while it lasted.
Also, will the Guest thread remain open? Just likr Jim I still have so much in the works.

Yes, Guest Thread stays open for as long as all of you keep it alive. I'll pop in to moderate and threadmark, so won't be a total stranger.

And forget "while it lasted", it will be good going forward for as long as folks like you keep it going!

This really is it. Only six days left for the main timeline of the Hensonverse. It's still so sudden to me.

I wish you and Mrs. Khan the best of luck. And hey, if you guys decide to "put the lime in the coconut", at least there's a lot of ways you can introduce your future kid to the Muppets.

Been there done that. He's 14 now! And yes, he knows the Muppets.

It really has been fun. I’m admittedly a late comer but I’m glad I was able to join the ride

You arrived just when we needed you, LY, glad to have you aboard!

Hope you remain active on the site!

Will you still be active on the site?

I'll pop in on occasion. For one, I still need to manage the Guest Thread!

And then what

What comes next? Any other timelines?

Novel. Those Ornery Scotsmen of East Tennessee. An American Civil War AH story following East Tennessee Unionists. I may drop some hints and teaser text here as the Mods allow.

Thank you so much for making this series. It's honestly been the best story I've read on this site.👏👏👏👏

Thank you Kyle, I appreciate your support.

WE will cover your bases in your passing. And don't you forget it.

I'm not dead yet! And thank you in advance for supporting the Ongoing Hensonverse!

Another theme that's emerged, @Geekhis Khan, in this TL... luck. Aside from, obviously, the people who were saved or killed, we've seen luck as a major element in an actor's success.

Yes, definitely. Luck and being receptive to seeing Opportunity when it presents itself.

This timeline has been one of the best pop culture alt history timelines on this site. Thank you @Geekhis Khan for giving us a great story, and whatever you do next, I will follow it.

Thank you Anthony, I appreciate your support!

And thank you for all of your hard work and dedication. Especially with how you inspired so many of us. Looking forward for your next works and would be happy to talk and so on.

But I'm glad I was able to help and would still be happy to talk and support you.

Thanks, Count, I appreciate all of your help. Feel free to keep contributing!

Oh @Geekhis Khan I am so happy you made this time line and the fan line and I am so happy you and all the other collaborators got to help and have some fun. Of course we cannot forget Mrs. Geekhis too. While it is sad to see this end it was fun to read it and be apart of it.

I hope to see your next batch of content whenever that happens. I wish you and Mrs. Geekhis happiness and health.

For the rest of my fellow story collaborators, I know I can't name all of you as my memory on names like that is terrible. But without you we would not have as complete a pop culture Timeline. May you each get good luck on your future writing.

AJM, it's been a pleasure. I appreciate the Japan help and Yuri remains a popular Original Character to the TL.

I really enjoyed this timeline overall, and wish you and the Missus the best of fortune in all future endeavors, Mister Khan

Thanks Bb91, I appreciate your support over these years.

Well @Geekhis Khan , thank you for bringing one of the greatest pop culture TLs onto the internet. I'm glad me and @MNM041 , @Nathanoraptor , and all the rest of us could be a part of it. When it's done you spend all the time you'd like with your family and friends, while we keep it alive in the guest thread until the day we decide it's time.

And thank you Plateosaurus. You've been one of the most frequent collaborators and I greatly appreciate that. And thank you for Keeping the Banner Waving High!

Thank you, @Geekhis Khan, both for this TL and for letting us be a part of it.

I wish you luck in all your future endeavours and I hope we do you proud keeping this TL alive until we decide it's time (or, more likely, we run out of pages ).

Thanks, Nathanoraptor. You've been one of the most frequent contributors to the thread and I will always appreciate that. And I thank you in advance for keeping the Hensonverse alive as I Move Right Along.

Gonna be hard to see this come to an end, but it has been one hell of a creative, fun, thought-provoking, and sometime bizarre ride. I wish you all the best going forward my friend, and I look forward to soon binging the whole TL from start to finish. (And maybe contribute something myself, when I can finally get my idea in order.)

A big salute to the one of the best threads on this site. ❤️🤟

Thanks, WHC, I've always appreciated your feedback and contributions.

I haven't been as active here as I used to be and I impulse created this account due to another timeline, but I came here for probably the last time to say my thanks to @Geekhis Khan for creating this wonderful timeline and I enjoy adding my own two cents to the conversation and some of my own ideas, most of them didn't take off because of my own issues. I will never regret opening the original timeline on a whim because this is honestly one of the greatest thing I have ever read in this site.

Best of luck to wherever you go next my friend.

Same to you, Haru. I'm flattered that you chose to follow me with your time here.

Damn, these last updates really feel like endings

As many have said, thanks for this masterpiece of a timeline. It truly is outstanding how it has evolved and the universe created is inspiring

Well, they are endings, alas. Nothing lasts forever, but all of you can keep things going as long as you like.

And thank you for your readership , support, and feedback over the years, Your Majesty.

And farewell to Bernie. I think he was my favourite of the “voices” of this tl. A bit rough around the edges but a mensch. He’s the guy I’d have liked to have a talk with about just about everything over drinks or something

If there's one thing I expected when signing off from the viewer's perspectives, it's that Bernie's farewell post would be filled with expletives that would make Marlon Brando blush.

What a fitting send off to Bernie. Alav ha-shalom to him, and thanks for making everything in the TL happen.

Farewell to the biggest mensch of them all.

Yes, it's always hard to say goodbye to Bernie. He's as much fun to write as he is to read, a true Character and Larger than Life. I recommend tracking down a copy of his OTL version of his book Where did I Go Right? They may have some copies on Amazon or through your library exchange program. It's a good look behind the scenes in Hollyweird as well as a fun read from an outrageous guy. I clearly was influenced by it, and in many cases (e.g. the text about Jim being 50/50 inspiration/perspirations and his Nebraska painting) are lifted with slight adjustments from his OTL book.

 

[tobg999]

i think out of all the "goodbye" posts this hit the hardest.

 

[Geekhis Khan]

Epilogue: A Humble Hillside in New Mexico
Excerpt from Jim Henson: Storyteller, an authorized biography by Jay O’Brian

Travel to New Mexico outside of Santa Fe and you will see some hills. To the casual observer they might not seem special, but on a day in the 1970s while driving with the family, on their way back to New York from California, Jim Henson saw a place of magic. He’d decided that it would be nice to go back there, some day[1].

Travel there now, and the magic is tangible. There’s a small gravel road blocked by a wrought iron gate that is memorable only because Kermit and Piggy’s faces are on it, your only clue as to where you are, as there are no signs. A small button-box allows one to request entry.

Travelling up the winding road past the rocks and scrub and cactus, one may catch glimpses of the natural crystals found in the soil there, which occasionally shine in the sunlight, or even moonlight, making the natural magic of this place clear.

New Mexico Pueblo-Style home (Image source Deposit Photos)

And when one reaches the scenic crest with its panoramic views, the beauty of the Pueblo-inspired set of buildings amid gorgeous landscaping with native plants reminds some of entering the gates of heaven. Several structures from small cabins to a large theater are arranged in a flowing, meandering campus that follows the natural terrain of the hilltops. A stone statue of Kermit waves hello. No paths are straight. Many wind aimlessly into dead ends, like a lazy maze with no beginning or end. Natural browns and tans are accented with turquoise and reds and greens that are invigorating and life-affirming, and yet ironically calming and relaxing.

You will be asked to relinquish your phones and watches upon entry. Indeed, anything that displays time is discouraged. There are no clocks anywhere, only a single bronze sundial held aloft by Gonzo. Instead of numbers it says “WHATEVER”. This has led to a strange sort of way of speaking about time (“I’ll meet you by the sundial around second-E”).

Small gardens and water-efficient farms produce a majority of the Campus’ food. Solar panels and wind turbines power everything, backed up by a small natural gas generator that only runs periodically, usually for maintenance reasons. Water conservation and energy efficient construction minimize the resource usage, leading the excess energy produced to be used for running a block of servers in order to run complex calculations for various scientific purposes, along with the servers for Hand-Up.net, Henson Arts’ website for sponsoring private creative ventures and the occasional charitable cause[2]. Down the road, allied drug recovery centers, physical and mental therapy centers, and homeless assistance programs run by Bob Forrest help lift the neediest up from the bottom and help them to stand on their own feet.

The Cohen Brothers’ “Dude”, a character allegedly based in part on John Henson, who built many of the structures, would find this to be a place where one could “Abide”.

This is no place to be in a hurry.

Certainly none of the residents, guests, or visitors to this place seem to be in any rush. Even the scheduled classes and shows and demonstrations are scheduled on very rough terms (“mid-morning”) and even then, they have a habit of not starting on time, and nobody cares if you’re fashionably late to any of it. Your curriculum is informal. When you think that you’re ready, you perform your “show”, a sort of thesis-by-production-and-performance, and if you get the thumbs-up, you get a certificate and “graduate”. If you instead receive the dreaded “Grunt of Doom”, well, keep trying. Take however long that you think that you need.

The place is the Henson Center for Puppetry, Marionation, Animation, and Related Arts, and it’s a Mecca for those who dabble or fully immerse themselves in the arts of bringing inanimate objects to uncanny life, be they wood, felt, celluloid, plasticine, pixels, or something else. And its few open student positions are extremely competitive, and usually given to those who display real personal passion combined with natural talent and a unique vision. Fresh new faces and established names in the industry attend as students, intermingling with an egalitarian willingness to learn from one another. The various Whoopass Studios franchises occasionally serve as conduits for such talent.

Many luminaries of the Arts & Performance World, in particular the Puppetry World, can be seen here, some regularly, some on occasion. On the day that I last visited, for example, Frank Oz and Dave Goelz were talking to Phillip Huber and George Lucas as a swarm of students watched and took notes.

But one man is clearly at the center of everything. Tall and hunched, his beard has long since gone to white, his hair receded into a thin widow’s peak. He moves slowly and carefully, shoulders slightly hunched and wracked by arthritis after decades of contortion. A large personal assistant, bodyguard, and longtime friend named Sonny stands ever by his side and occasionally has to help him with physical activities. And yet there is still a youthful energy about him despite having recently passed his 80th birthday.

His name, obviously, is Jim Henson, and the others flock around him still, asking him for a bit of advice or just offering a sincere hello. He’ll teach classes and demonstrate a puppetry technique, apologizing for “being rusty” even though it’s still magic to see him take inanimate felt and make it into a living being. Many come here specifically to see him.

“I have an interview with Molly at ten,” he tells me, referring to an internet star and Muppet enthusiast.

And he has no plans to go anywhere else. “I guess I’ll still be here when I turn 110,” he says. “I already have that rocking chair, but can’t stand sitting in it for very long,” he adds, referring to his lifelong joke about “when I’m 110 and sitting in a rocking chair on the porch.”

His wife and Muppets co-founder Jane passed away a few years back after a long battle with Cancer. She’d moved to the New Mexico Campus in the mid-2000s, the two having largely reconciled following a long and heartfelt repentance on Jim’s part. They’d never formally divorced. With her final years, Jane had worked to bring Children’s Television Workshop into the 21st century, eventually merging it into Henson Arts. The combined company practically “runs” PBS between Sesame Street, the many Craig Bartlett co-productions, and the Bob Ross legacy.

Lisa has recently retired from her position as the Chairwoman of Walt Disney Entertainment after 15 years, handing the Chair to Walt Disney Miller and retaining her seat on the board as the family representative while also serving as the CEO of Henson Arts and Productions, Incorporated, or “HAPI”. She moved the headquarters of HAPI into the old Charlie Chaplin Studios lot on La Brea Avenue in LA and still works to make original productions or partners with Snee-Oosh or Whoopass or Disney.

Brian recently became the Chairman and CEO of Imagineering and stays very busy, as much the workaholic as his dad, but still makes time for his own family. “I hope to give [my kids] the same opportunities for inspiration that dad gave us,” referring to his siblings and himself. Imagineering, in partnership with Imagine, Inc., has aggressively expanded into machine learning and neural networks using the funds derived from spinning off Genie and other home computer businesses, whose margins were becoming increasingly marginal in a highly competitive field. “We plan to develop ways to give animatronics and computer effects more organic realism in their movement and interactions,” he told me. Their recent advances in vector-driven CG hair have allowed for hyper-realistic bounce, coil, and even frizz, opening up scores of different hair styles and types.

Cheryl is still working with Skeleton Crew Productions, with a new Dark Crystal series in planning for Disney Direct. She spends time with her own family and makes occasional visits out to New Mexico. One of her kids created a small stir in the press when she was frequently seen with a Disney great grandson, but rumors of romance were ill-founded for reasons that are obvious in hindsight. Cheryl has also become the Chair of the Henson Foundation charity and expects to retire from the Skeleton Crew soon. She has no idea what to do next, but says that she’ll “figure it out”.

John still wanders the Puppetry Center, doing the maintenance or spending time with his wife and kids. He’s slowed down a bit after a “health scare” a couple of years ago, but remains engaged. He was busy looking over the blueprints for his latest building project, a non-denominational chapel and center for interfaith relations. He hopes to promote interfaith understanding. “God is love, so why do we keep fighting and killing in His name?” The divine seems to have delivered a way to make it happen: two vans full of a “League” of Dudists showed up the other day from St. Louis. At first, John was visibly annoyed, as he’s had mixed experiences with such pilgrims. “You know that scene in The Life of Brian where Brian says ‘You've got to think for yourselves! You're ALL individuals!’ and they all chant as one ‘yes, we are all individuals?’” he once told me when I asked about the Dudists.

But then he noticed that this League came with tools for woodworking and stone and plaster work. “Ah, they can learn,” he said with a happy grunt.

And Heather is still at Whoopass Studios, most recently supervising the launch of a Whoopass Studios franchise in St. Petersburg, Florida. The studio continues to expand, or more accurately franchise, across the world. She and Abigail “Dr. Diz” Disney have worked hard to ensure that each franchise is locally-run and supportive of the local community and remains true to the “Principles of Whoopass” and the “Whoopass Can” attitude.

“The last thing that we need is the Whoopass name in the press next to some embezzlement scheme or sweat shop or pollution scandal,” she said. On this last part, she’s also increasingly taking up her father’s environmentalist mantle, working to promote environmental awareness and eco-friendly policies, and has been approached by Frank Wells about an executive position at his Green Tomorrow Fund.

Jim remains proud of all of them, making daily entries into what is probably his fourth or fifth “Red Book”, the latest one being light blue.

Jim mostly spends his time working with the students or consulting with John on the design of the chapel. Or he’s on the phone talking with Bill Ackman about their continued activist investment in Exxon, which has proven an ongoing challenge in the face of an entrenched anti-climate corporate culture.

“It’s a long game,” said Henson, “Possibly a long con.” He noted the recent milestone announcement that renewable energy is now cheaper per Watt-hour than even coal, which he cited as “essentially the death-knell” of fossil fuels.

“For all of the time and money they wasted on climate denial and political campaigns over the last decade, they could have invested in less destructive rare earth mineral harvesting technologies or alternate ways of producing renewable tech without them and claimed valuable IP. Instead, they let GE and BP beat them to the punch and they are struggling to play catch-up. Bill likes to remind them about that whenever he can,” he added with a laugh.

Jim stays engaged in quasi-retirement, but ever since the Campus became largely self-sufficient, he’s found himself, for the first time in his life, with “nothing to do.” It’s been “strange” for a man known for his workaholic ways and an ongoing rush to “fit it all in”.

(Image source Flickr)

“For most of my life time was the enemy,” he told me one evening as we watched the sun set over the New Mexico hills. “I feared it, not because I feared death per se, but because I feared not having the time to do everything that I wanted. Over time, with the help of my family and friends, I’ve learned to live more in the moment, but still, there was that itch in the background. Now I’ve reached the point where I still have a thousand ideas buzzing through my head, even as I know that I’ll never have time to see even a tenth of them through. So, in a weird way, it’s kind of liberating. It doesn’t matter if I finish or not. There’s a beauty in the Unfinished Symphony that no complete work could ever have. That empty space left only to the imagination. I jot down ideas. Maybe someone will pick them up and run with them. Maybe not. It doesn’t really matter. That’s up to them.”

He spends much of his time “in the hills” as he calls it, communing and meditating and jotting down notes. “Maybe one day I’ll compile all of these wacky cosmological thoughts together,” he told me, “Or more likely just ask John to.

“John and I talk about the power of the empty bowl or the blank page. He quotes the Tao Te Ching about the hole at the center of the wheel being the thing that makes it work as a wheel. Brian talks about things rushing in to fill a vacuum and that there has to be space to go for there to be motion. Lisa talks of the mystery [of life] being the thing that drives the stories. Maybe life’s the same way? Maybe it’s that impending absence of life that’s the hole in the wheel or that vacuum at the end that pulls life forward, and gives it meaning? It’s all kind of metaphysical, but it makes a good deal of sense, at least to me.

“When I’m gone, others will flood in to the space that I left. And that, in the end, is enough.”

For all of his wistfulness on the subject, I could still see how his legacy still holds a loose grip on him. He’s spending a lot of time with people, with his family and friends. He’s spent a lot of time with me as I work on this Biography. The Campus is just one part of Jim Henson’s long legacy. From the Muppets to Sesame Street to the hundreds of productions under Disney, Jim Henson and his family have reshaped entertainment and the entertainment business alike.

“Disney after Jim is exactly what you’d think that working for Disney should be,” said new CCO Terrell Little. “Before Jim, it was a stratified and acrimonious place to work. Management and the union worked harder to undermine each other than they did to help either the business or the workers. ‘Good old boys’ got special perks and the rest got used and discarded. Now, well, it’s not perfect, nothing ever is, but you can’t help but be proud and happy to say ‘I work for Disney’ or ‘I worked with Jim Henson.’”

“Henson changed Hollywood,” said Sue Susudio with The Hollywood Reporter. “Disney-MGM and later Fox and Columbia worked hard to break up the old ‘culture of use’ and instill a ‘culture of decency’. Is it perfect in Tinsel Town? Far from it. Ask an employee at Warner Brothers or Universal about life there. Even Disney has its share of minor scandals with an occasional firing or courtroom drama. Put humans together in a room and conflict is inevitable. But Henson made an impact by demonstrating that there were alternate ways to the old ‘management by domination’, ‘culture of theft’, and ‘blind pursuit of profit’ paradigms. Ones that improved innovation and employee morale while remaining profitable and expanding the market share.”

“We’ve worked our asses off to stay relevant,” said ILM CCO Rob Bredow. “[Leo] Tramiel and [Brian] Henson keep pushing the envelope, as do we, and then you have Thunderbird and WETA and Dreamcatcher and all taking advantage of Imagine, Inc., tech, and you have no choice but to keep innovating. Every time that we win an effects award over the competition it’s like a small victory and reminder that ‘we’ve still got it.’”

“Jim changed everything,” Susudio continued, “but he left behind a cadre of people able to fill in his shoes, at least to some degree. Henson Arts goes on, even with Jim largely removed from its operations. Disney goes on without a Henson at the helm. Jim himself put it perfectly when he said, ‘I’ve worked hard to engineer my own redundancy.’”

Just as Mickey Mouse lives on decades after Walt’s death, so has Kermit lived on well past Jim’s time being the “hand in the frog.” He worked hard specifically to make that happen. “Jim is immortal,” said Steve Whitmire, the current “Kermit” who is in turn training his replacement as Kermit as he in turn contemplates retirement, “because Kermit is immortal.”

Considering these things, I asked the people at the Campus what they’d do without Jim when the inevitable happens. The answers were all the same: Jim will always be here.

“As long as these hills exist, as long as there are people bringing life to the inanimate and joy and comfort to those around them, then Jim will still be with us,” one told me.

“Love never dies as long as there is a heart big enough to contain it.”

---

[1] Bittersweet moment: in our timeline it was where Jim’s family scattered his ashes.

[2] Sort of a combination Go Fund Me and Patreon.

 

[Nathanoraptor]

Bravo, @Geekhis Khan. Bravo.

That's all I can say.

 

[Kyle Robinson]

I'm not crying, it's just heavily raining inside my apartment.

 

[King of Danes]

Damn. Bernie’s epilogue was a gut punch, but this is a throat kick. Things are coming to an end

 

[Bbone91]

Beautiful.

 

[Demon SpaceCat]

“I have an interview with Molly at ten,” he tells me, referring to an internet star and Muppet enthusiast.

Of all things, this brought a tear to my eye...

Who would have expected that madcap Muppet Maniac to resonate so much?

As others have said much more eloquently, @Geekhis, this TL has been superb. A wonderful world you've built, this TL is the best of what Alt History should strive to achieve. I look forward to your next endeavor, whenever or wherever that may be.

I am so grateful to have spent the past three years witnessing a master at work. Between the depth and breadth and regularity of your posts, you've left an indelible mark on the site. And so, as you conclude, I hope you take a moment to reflect on your accomplishment.

Congratulations, sir. You have more than earned your share of accolades.

Best wishes to you.

 

[Plateosaurus]

Epilogue: A Humble Hillside in New Mexico
Excerpt from Jim Henson: Storyteller, an authorized biography by Jay O’Brian

Travel to New Mexico outside of Santa Fe and you will see some hills. To the casual observer they might not seem special, but on a day in the 1970s while driving with the family, on their way back to New York from California, Jim Henson saw a place of magic. He’d decided that it would be nice to go back there, some day[1].

Travel there now, and the magic is tangible. There’s a small gravel road blocked by a wrought iron gate that is memorable only because Kermit and Piggy’s faces are on it, your only clue as to where you are, as there are no signs. A small button-box allows one to request entry.

Travelling up the winding road past the rocks and scrub and cactus, one may catch glimpses of the natural crystals found in the soil there, which occasionally shine in the sunlight, or even moonlight, making the natural magic of this place clear.

New Mexico Pueblo-Style home (Image source Deposit Photos)

And when one reaches the scenic crest with its panoramic views, the beauty of the Pueblo-inspired set of buildings amid gorgeous landscaping with native plants reminds some of entering the gates of heaven. Several structures from small cabins to a large theater are arranged in a flowing, meandering campus that follows the natural terrain of the hilltops. A stone statue of Kermit waves hello. No paths are straight. Many wind aimlessly into dead ends, like a lazy maze with no beginning or end. Natural browns and tans are accented with turquoise and reds and greens that are invigorating and life-affirming, and yet ironically calming and relaxing.

You will be asked to relinquish your phones and watches upon entry. Indeed, anything that displays time is discouraged. There are no clocks anywhere, only a single bronze sundial held aloft by Gonzo. Instead of numbers it says “WHATEVER”. This has led to a strange sort of way of speaking about time (“I’ll meet you by the sundial around second-E”).

Small gardens and water-efficient farms produce a majority of the Campus’ food. Solar panels and wind turbines power everything, backed up by a small natural gas generator that only runs periodically, usually for maintenance reasons. Water conservation and energy efficient construction minimize the resource usage, leading the excess energy produced to be used for running a block of servers in order to run complex calculations for various scientific purposes, along with the servers for Hand-Up.net, Henson Arts’ website for sponsoring private creative ventures and the occasional charitable cause[2]. Down the road, allied drug recovery centers, physical and mental therapy centers, and homeless assistance programs run by Bob Forrest help lift the neediest up from the bottom and help them to stand on their own feet.

The Cohen Brothers’ “Dude”, a character allegedly based in part on John Henson, who built many of the structures, would find this to be a place where one could “Abide”.

This is no place to be in a hurry.

Certainly none of the residents, guests, or visitors to this place seem to be in any rush. Even the scheduled classes and shows and demonstrations are scheduled on very rough terms (“mid-morning”) and even then, they have a habit of not starting on time, and nobody cares if you’re fashionably late to any of it. Your curriculum is informal. When you think that you’re ready, you perform your “show”, a sort of thesis-by-production-and-performance, and if you get the thumbs-up, you get a certificate and “graduate”. If you instead receive the dreaded “Grunt of Doom”, well, keep trying. Take however long that you think that you need.

The place is the Henson Center for Puppetry, Marionation, Animation, and Related Arts, and it’s a Mecca for those who dabble or fully immerse themselves in the arts of bringing inanimate objects to uncanny life, be they wood, felt, celluloid, plasticine, pixels, or something else. And its few open student positions are extremely competitive, and usually given to those who display real personal passion combined with natural talent and a unique vision. Fresh new faces and established names in the industry attend as students, intermingling with an egalitarian willingness to learn from one another. The various Whoopass Studios franchises occasionally serve as conduits for such talent.

Many luminaries of the Arts & Performance World, in particular the Puppetry World, can be seen here, some regularly, some on occasion. On the day that I last visited, for example, Frank Oz and Dave Goelz were talking to Phillip Huber and George Lucas as a swarm of students watched and took notes.

But one man is clearly at the center of everything. Tall and hunched, his beard has long since gone to white, his hair receded into a thin widow’s peak. He moves slowly and carefully, shoulders slightly hunched and wracked by arthritis after decades of contortion. A large personal assistant, bodyguard, and longtime friend named Sonny stands ever by his side and occasionally has to help him with physical activities. And yet there is still a youthful energy about him despite having recently passed his 80th birthday.

His name, obviously, is Jim Henson, and the others flock around him still, asking him for a bit of advice or just offering a sincere hello. He’ll teach classes and demonstrate a puppetry technique, apologizing for “being rusty” even though it’s still magic to see him take inanimate felt and make it into a living being. Many come here specifically to see him.

“I have an interview with Molly at ten,” he tells me, referring to an internet star and Muppet enthusiast.

And he has no plans to go anywhere else. “I guess I’ll still be here when I turn 110,” he says. “I already have that rocking chair, but can’t stand sitting in it for very long,” he adds, referring to his lifelong joke about “when I’m 110 and sitting in a rocking chair on the porch.”

His wife and Muppets co-founder Jane passed away a few years back after a long battle with Cancer. She’d moved to the New Mexico Campus in the mid-2000s, the two having largely reconciled following a long and heartfelt repentance on Jim’s part. They’d never formally divorced. With her final years, Jane had worked to bring Children’s Television Workshop into the 21st century, eventually merging it into Henson Arts. The combined company practically “runs” PBS between Sesame Street, the many Craig Bartlett co-productions, and the Bob Ross legacy.

Lisa has recently retired from her position as the Chairwoman of Walt Disney Entertainment after 15 years, handing the Chair to Walt Disney Miller and retaining her seat on the board as the family representative while also serving as the CEO of Henson Arts and Productions, Incorporated, or “HAPI”. She moved the headquarters of HAPI into the old Charlie Chaplin Studios lot on La Brea Avenue in LA and still works to make original productions or partners with Snee-Oosh or Whoopass or Disney.

Brian recently became the Chairman and CEO of Imagineering and stays very busy, as much the workaholic as his dad, but still makes time for his own family. “I hope to give [my kids] the same opportunities for inspiration that dad gave us,” referring to his siblings and himself. Imagineering, in partnership with Imagine, Inc., has aggressively expanded into machine learning and neural networks using the funds derived from spinning off Genie and other home computer businesses, whose margins were becoming increasingly marginal in a highly competitive field. “We plan to develop ways to give animatronics and computer effects more organic realism in their movement and interactions,” he told me. Their recent advances in vector-driven CG hair have allowed for hyper-realistic bounce, coil, and even frizz, opening up scores of different hair styles and types.

Cheryl is still working with Skeleton Crew Productions, with a new Dark Crystal series in planning for Disney Direct. She spends time with her own family and makes occasional visits out to New Mexico. One of her kids created a small stir in the press when she was frequently seen with a Disney great grandson, but rumors of romance were ill-founded for reasons that are obvious in hindsight. Cheryl has also become the Chair of the Henson Foundation charity and expects to retire from the Skeleton Crew soon. She has no idea what to do next, but says that she’ll “figure it out”.

John still wanders the Puppetry Center, doing the maintenance or spending time with his wife and kids. He’s slowed down a bit after a “health scare” a couple of years ago, but remains engaged. He was busy looking over the blueprints for his latest building project, a non-denominational chapel and center for interfaith relations. He hopes to promote interfaith understanding. “God is love, so why do we keep fighting and killing in His name?” The divine seems to have delivered a way to make it happen: two vans full of a “League” of Dudists showed up the other day from St. Louis. At first, John was visibly annoyed, as he’s had mixed experiences with such pilgrims. “You know that scene in The Life of Brian where Brian says ‘You've got to think for yourselves! You're ALL individuals!’ and they all chant as one ‘yes, we are all individuals?’” he once told me when I asked about the Dudists.

But then he noticed that this League came with tools for woodworking and stone and plaster work. “Ah, they can learn,” he said with a happy grunt.

And Heather is still at Whoopass Studios, most recently supervising the launch of a Whoopass Studios franchise in St. Petersburg, Florida. The studio continues to expand, or more accurately franchise, across the world. She and Abigail “Dr. Diz” Disney have worked hard to ensure that each franchise is locally-run and supportive of the local community and remains true to the “Principles of Whoopass” and the “Whoopass Can” attitude.

“The last thing that we need is the Whoopass name in the press next to some embezzlement scheme or sweat shop or pollution scandal,” she said. On this last part, she’s also increasingly taking up her father’s environmentalist mantle, working to promote environmental awareness and eco-friendly policies, and has been approached by Frank Wells about an executive position at his Green Tomorrow Fund.

Jim remains proud of all of them, making daily entries into what is probably his fourth or fifth “Red Book”, the latest one being light blue.

Jim mostly spends his time working with the students or consulting with John on the design of the chapel. Or he’s on the phone talking with Bill Ackman about their continued activist investment in Exxon, which has proven an ongoing challenge in the face of an entrenched anti-climate corporate culture.

“It’s a long game,” said Henson, “Possibly a long con.” He noted the recent milestone announcement that renewable energy is now cheaper per Watt-hour than even coal, which he cited as “essentially the death-knell” of fossil fuels.

“For all of the time and money they wasted on climate denial and political campaigns over the last decade, they could have invested in less destructive rare earth mineral harvesting technologies or alternate ways of producing renewable tech without them and claimed valuable IP. Instead, they let GE and BP beat them to the punch and they are struggling to play catch-up. Bill likes to remind them about that whenever he can,” he added with a laugh.

Jim stays engaged in quasi-retirement, but ever since the Campus became largely self-sufficient, he’s found himself, for the first time in his life, with “nothing to do.” It’s been “strange” for a man known for his workaholic ways and an ongoing rush to “fit it all in”.

(Image source Flickr)

“For most of my life time was the enemy,” he told me one evening as we watched the sun set over the New Mexico hills. “I feared it, not because I feared death per se, but because I feared not having the time to do everything that I wanted. Over time, with the help of my family and friends, I’ve learned to live more in the moment, but still, there was that itch in the background. Now I’ve reached the point where I still have a thousand ideas buzzing through my head, even as I know that I’ll never have time to see even a tenth of them through. So, in a weird way, it’s kind of liberating. It doesn’t matter if I finish or not. There’s a beauty in the Unfinished Symphony that no complete work could ever have. That empty space left only to the imagination. I jot down ideas. Maybe someone will pick them up and run with them. Maybe not. It doesn’t really matter. That’s up to them.”

He spends much of his time “in the hills” as he calls it, communing and meditating and jotting down notes. “Maybe one day I’ll compile all of these wacky cosmological thoughts together,” he told me, “Or more likely just ask John to.

“John and I talk about the power of the empty bowl or the blank page. He quotes the Tao Te Ching about the hole at the center of the wheel being the thing that makes it work as a wheel. Brian talks about things rushing in to fill a vacuum and that there has to be space to go for there to be motion. Lisa talks of the mystery [of life] being the thing that drives the stories. Maybe life’s the same way? Maybe it’s that impending absence of life that’s the hole in the wheel or that vacuum at the end that pulls life forward, and gives it meaning? It’s all kind of metaphysical, but it makes a good deal of sense, at least to me.

“When I’m gone, others will flood in to the space that I left. And that, in the end, is enough.”

For all of his wistfulness on the subject, I could still see how his legacy still holds a loose grip on him. He’s spending a lot of time with people, with his family and friends. He’s spent a lot of time with me as I work on this Biography. The Campus is just one part of Jim Henson’s long legacy. From the Muppets to Sesame Street to the hundreds of productions under Disney, Jim Henson and his family have reshaped entertainment and the entertainment business alike.

“Disney after Jim is exactly what you’d think that working for Disney should be,” said new CCO Terrell Little. “Before Jim, it was a stratified and acrimonious place to work. Management and the union worked harder to undermine each other than they did to help either the business or the workers. ‘Good old boys’ got special perks and the rest got used and discarded. Now, well, it’s not perfect, nothing ever is, but you can’t help but be proud and happy to say ‘I work for Disney’ or ‘I worked with Jim Henson.’”

“Henson changed Hollywood,” said Sue Susudio with The Hollywood Reporter. “Disney-MGM and later Fox and Columbia worked hard to break up the old ‘culture of use’ and instill a ‘culture of decency’. Is it perfect in Tinsel Town? Far from it. Ask an employee at Warner Brothers or Universal about life there. Even Disney has its share of minor scandals with an occasional firing or courtroom drama. Put humans together in a room and conflict is inevitable. But Henson made an impact by demonstrating that there were alternate ways to the old ‘management by domination’, ‘culture of theft’, and ‘blind pursuit of profit’ paradigms. Ones that improved innovation and employee morale while remaining profitable and expanding the market share.”

“We’ve worked our asses off to stay relevant,” said ILM CCO Rob Bredow. “[Leo] Tramiel and [Brian] Henson keep pushing the envelope, as do we, and then you have Thunderbird and WETA and Dreamcatcher and all taking advantage of Imagine, Inc., tech, and you have no choice but to keep innovating. Every time that we win an effects award over the competition it’s like a small victory and reminder that ‘we’ve still got it.’”

“Jim changed everything,” Susudio continued, “but he left behind a cadre of people able to fill in his shoes, at least to some degree. Henson Arts goes on, even with Jim largely removed from its operations. Disney goes on without a Henson at the helm. Jim himself put it perfectly when he said, ‘I’ve worked hard to engineer my own redundancy.’”

Just as Mickey Mouse lives on decades after Walt’s death, so has Kermit lived on well past Jim’s time being the “hand in the frog.” He worked hard specifically to make that happen. “Jim is immortal,” said Steve Whitmire, the current “Kermit” who is in turn training his replacement as Kermit as he in turn contemplates retirement, “because Kermit is immortal.”

Considering these things, I asked the people at the Campus what they’d do without Jim when the inevitable happens. The answers were all the same: Jim will always be here.

“As long as these hills exist, as long as there are people bringing life to the inanimate and joy and comfort to those around them, then Jim will still be with us,” one told me.

“Love never dies as long as there is a heart big enough to contain it.”

---

[1] Bittersweet moment: in our timeline it was where Jim’s family scattered his ashes.

[2] Sort of a combination Go Fund Me and Patreon.

Damn, I'm abouty to cry. Four decades compressed into three years, and we've been here all the while.

I admit like Jim, I struggled with doing projects as time ran out, but I too have made peace with it. And hey, there's always the guest thread!

 

[Nerdman3000]

Perfection @Geekhis Khan. Just perfection.

On a side note, I found this cover of Kermit singing My Way (it’s a impressionist doing it, not AI) that I think really helps encompass both this chapter and the timeline ending in general:

 

[TheFaultsofAlts]

I would just like to take note of all that has happened in less than half a decade...

If you guys thought Jim Henson's funeral in our timeline would be rough on generations, the one this timeline has is going to cause a spike in anti-depressants for months.

 

[CountDVB]

This is absolutely glorious of a post. Well done. Looks like Henson is enjoying his twilight years.

Thanks, Count, I appreciate all of your help. Feel free to keep contributing!

And I appreciate everything you do, including your help here! Would like to help however I can with your next project and just to talk.

 

[Pokemon Master]

 

[Ogrebear]

Of all the posts on this timeline its the Bernie one I really, really like. There is a such a strong voice through all of them, and that last one was a real kicker, one last final goodbye indeed.

Thank you for everything on this timeline @Geekhis Khan and all the other amazing people who have contributed, are still contributing to it. I write very slowly, but my Star Trek posts are getting there.

TO ALL: Thank you.

 

[Kennedy Forever]

beautiful ending to a beautiful TL. Admittedly it was sometimes hard to follow everything that was happening (especially the movies) but I thoroughly enjoyed reading it.