# Kermit at Jim Henson's funeral **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [January 6, 2007, 4:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/kermit-at-jim-hensons-funeral/386939 "2007-01-06T16:07:14Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Frylock](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/ce7236/32.png) [@Frylock](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Frylock)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2007, 4:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/kermit-at-jim-hensons-funeral/386939/1 "2007-01-06T16:07:14Z")
At Jim Henson’s funeral, a Kermit the Frog puppet was placed on the coffin. In his hands Kermit held up a sign which said, “I’ve lost my voice.” Just a mundane pointless and _incredibly sad just thinking about it_ thing I musted share. -FrL- ---
**Author:** ![MissMossie](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f6c823/32.png) [@MissMossie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MissMossie)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2007, 4:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/kermit-at-jim-hensons-funeral/386939/2 "2007-01-06T16:17:00Z")
This made me a little teary eyed. I’m going to blame it on period related hormones… ---
**Author:** ![Baron\_Greenback](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/baron_greenback/32/48_2.png) [@Baron\_Greenback](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Baron_Greenback)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2007, 4:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/kermit-at-jim-hensons-funeral/386939/3 "2007-01-06T16:27:35Z")
I absolutely love the [Jim Henson memorial statue](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:Jim_Henson_statue.jpg) . ---
**Author:** ![Annie-Xmas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ecc23a/32.png) [@Annie-Xmas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Annie-Xmas)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2007, 4:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/kermit-at-jim-hensons-funeral/386939/4 "2007-01-06T16:32:58Z")
☹ I have always been in love with Kermit, and I was so sad when Henson died. ---
**Author:** ![cruel\_butterfly](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/5daacb/32.png) [@cruel\_butterfly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cruel_butterfly)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2007, 6:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/kermit-at-jim-hensons-funeral/386939/5 "2007-01-06T18:23:30Z")
On a slightly related note, when Mel Blanc died, there was a full-page memorial to him in a magazine. All of the Looney Tunes characters were standing together with their heads bowed low (Foghorn Leghorn, Bugs, Marvin the Martian, etc.), and beneath them, in black lettering, “We’re speechless.” ---
**Author:** ![El\_Perro\_Fumando](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/e9c0ed/32.png) [@El\_Perro\_Fumando](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/El_Perro_Fumando)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2007, 6:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/kermit-at-jim-hensons-funeral/386939/6 "2007-01-06T18:27:35Z")
[QUOTE=Struan] I absolutely love the [Jim Henson memorial statue](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:Jim_Henson_statue.jpg) . [/QUOTE] I love it too, and it doesn’t hurt that I used to walk past it every day traveling from the education building to the math building for classes at UMD. It was a big to-do when they unveiled the statue (Willard Scott came to campus!!!). ---
**Author:** ![tashabot](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tashabot/32/6250_2.png) [@tashabot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tashabot)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2007, 6:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/kermit-at-jim-hensons-funeral/386939/7 "2007-01-06T18:53:39Z")
I was only 7 when he died. I remember my dad and mom being devastated. Especially my dad, who took the nickname Gonzo a long time ago (he even ran a BBS called “Gonzo’s Place”). That was the first time I consciously recall my father crying. He shut down the BBS that day with some sort of tribute on the front page. My boyfriend burst into tears when the news broke that Joseph Barbera had died this December. In the two years I’ve dated him, I’d never seen him cry like that. The description of Jim Henson’s funeral, incidentally, made me burst into tears as well. Maybe I’m being hormonal, but maybe not. ~Tasha ---
**Author:** ![WhyNot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/c77e96/32.png) [@WhyNot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WhyNot)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2007, 7:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/kermit-at-jim-hensons-funeral/386939/8 "2007-01-06T19:05:42Z")
I think I just got something in my eye. Oh yeah, here’s a piece of sentiment. ☹ ---
**Author:** ![elelle](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/f0a364/32.png) [@elelle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elelle)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2007, 8:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/kermit-at-jim-hensons-funeral/386939/9 "2007-01-06T20:12:06Z")
Oh, uh-oh, looking from the linked photo to the Wiki article on Jim Henson, I gots a bit teary at this, too: from [hyar](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jim_Henson): > [@](#): > > At the memorial service many people were moved to see Kermit sitting on the coffin with a sign saying ‘I lost my voice.’ On the DVD commentary for the movie Love Actually, director/writer Richard Curtis describes another episode at Henson’s memorial service: > “At the end of (the memorial service)… Frank Oz was talking and he suddenly lifted up Kermit’s puppet and started to sing this song called One Voice. [Frank Oz was actually performing Fozzie Bear and the final song the puppeteers sang was Just One Person.] And it turned out that all the guys in the memorial service had brought their puppets with them, and they lifted them up, and when you turned around and looked backwards there were fifty puppets all singing. And Big Bird walked down the aisle of Saint Paul’s Cathedral [the service was actually held at the Cathedral of St. John the Divine] and they all came forward and just this massive chorus of puppets all singing…It was an extraordinary thing…” > > A memorial service for him aired on PBS [citation needed] and drew millions of viewers and dozens of celebrities in reverence for his life and work. As per Henson’s wishes, no one in attendance wore black, and a Dixieland jazz band finished the service by performing “When The Saints Go Marching In.” In what was probably one of the most touching moments of the service, the Muppet character Big Bird (performed by Caroll Spinney) walked out onto the stage and sang a quavering rendition of Kermit the Frog’s signature song, “Bein’ Green.”[2] What a gift Jim Henson gave us: great characters that were simple to the eye, yet complex to the heart and foibles of life. It really is a testament to his ability that the Muppet characters are very able to continue so long after he’s gone onyond. Other puppet favorites, Charley McCarthy, Howdy Doody, etc., aren’t active past their human operators. ---
**Author:** ![if6was9](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/e47c2d/32.png) [@if6was9](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/if6was9)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2007, 8:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/kermit-at-jim-hensons-funeral/386939/10 "2007-01-06T20:25:59Z")
I saved [this cartoon](http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v340/if6was9/SnoopyDad.jpg) after Charles Schulz died. ---
**Author:** ![FaerieBeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/e95f7d/32.png) [@FaerieBeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FaerieBeth)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2007, 8:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/kermit-at-jim-hensons-funeral/386939/11 "2007-01-06T20:47:04Z")
Here’s a view of [Speechless](http://synthrick.tripod.com/sitebuildercontent/sitebuilderpictures/speechless.jpg) that was drawn after Mel Blanc died. ---
**Author:** ![BluePitbull](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e9bcb4/32.png) [@BluePitbull](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BluePitbull)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2007, 10:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/kermit-at-jim-hensons-funeral/386939/12 "2007-01-06T22:06:15Z")
[QUOTE=FaerieBeth] Here’s a view of [Speechless](http://synthrick.tripod.com/sitebuildercontent/sitebuilderpictures/speechless.jpg) that was drawn after Mel Blanc died. [/QUOTE] Now I feel sad. I didn’t know he voiced more characters than just Bugs Bunny ---
**Author:** ![Dewey\_Finn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dewey_finn/32/4222_2.png) [@Dewey\_Finn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dewey_Finn)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2007, 10:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/kermit-at-jim-hensons-funeral/386939/13 "2007-01-06T22:27:59Z")
Another Mel Blanc story, which I first heard on the 60 Minutes profile of him and which is in his Wikipedia biography. In 1961, he was in a coma in an LA hospital after an automobile accident. After several weeks of not getting a response from him, one doctor asked him, “How are you today, Bugs Bunny?” and he replied in Bugs’ voice, awakening from the coma. ---
**Author:** ![threnodyangelfire](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ecc23a/32.png) [@threnodyangelfire](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/threnodyangelfire)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2007, 11:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/kermit-at-jim-hensons-funeral/386939/14 "2007-01-06T23:06:50Z")
I _know_ i’m not hormonal, but I did just wake up. The pictures are all incredibly beautiful and incredibly sad. Thanks for sharing. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Ice\_Wolf](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/dfb087/32.png) [@Ice\_Wolf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ice_Wolf)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2007, 11:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/kermit-at-jim-hensons-funeral/386939/15 "2007-01-06T23:14:00Z")
Even after all this time, it’s still sad. ☹ ---
**Author:** ![Contrapuntal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/e274bd/32.png) [@Contrapuntal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Contrapuntal)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2007, 11:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/kermit-at-jim-hensons-funeral/386939/16 "2007-01-06T23:15:48Z")
[QUOTE=BluePitbull] Now I feel sad. I didn’t know he voiced more characters than just Bugs Bunny [/QUOTE] He was known as _The Man of 1000 Voices_. Hyperbole, perhaps, but not by much. [http://www.filmreference.com/Writers-and-Production-Artists-Ba-Bo/Blanc-Mel.html](http://www.filmreference.com/Writers-and-Production-Artists-Ba-Bo/Blanc-Mel.html) ---
**Author:** ![Shirley\_Ujest](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/45deac/32.png) [@Shirley\_Ujest](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shirley_Ujest)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2007, 11:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/kermit-at-jim-hensons-funeral/386939/17 "2007-01-06T23:21:10Z")
I don’t need to have PMS to get all blubbery over the loss of my childhood friends. ---
**Author:** ![Agonist](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/439d5e/32.png) [@Agonist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Agonist)\ **Post date:** [January 7, 2007, 4:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/kermit-at-jim-hensons-funeral/386939/18 "2007-01-07T04:13:55Z")
If music affects you, \*don’t \*click the link to this Jim Henson tribute song, [A Boy and His Frog](http://www.tomsmithonline.com/freestuff/oddio/BoyFrog.mp3) ---
**Author:** ![What\_Exit](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/what_exit/32/10652_2.png) [@What\_Exit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/What_Exit)\ **Post date:** [January 7, 2007, 5:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/kermit-at-jim-hensons-funeral/386939/19 "2007-01-07T05:28:11Z")
Again, kind of related, when Jerry Garcia died, my wife and I had only recently got on the web and she was looking at the new VW Bug. VW added a special link to a classic VW crying over Jerry’s Death. [This is the picture from the website](http://www.auctiva.com/hostedimages/showimage.aspx?gid=215535&ppid=1122&image=29517204&images=29516939,29517204,29517366&formats=0,0,0&format=0). It is on Ebay, so I have no idea how long the link will be good. Imagine a VW Camper line pencil drawing with a big blue teardrop coming out the left headlight. Jim ---
**Author:** ![badkittypriestess](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/8baadc/32.png) [@badkittypriestess](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/badkittypriestess)\ **Post date:** [January 7, 2007, 5:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/kermit-at-jim-hensons-funeral/386939/20 "2007-01-07T05:45:37Z")
[QUOTE=FaerieBeth] Here’s a view of [Speechless](http://synthrick.tripod.com/sitebuildercontent/sitebuilderpictures/speechless.jpg) that was drawn after Mel Blanc died. [/QUOTE] I actually have this very picture hanging up in my office in my house. ☹ I still love watching Looney Tunes and my kids love it too! I bought it when we had a Looney Toons store here in Colorado. He was awesome. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/kermit-at-jim-hensons-funeral/386939.md?page=2)