# Who is the next Disney or Henson? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [September 16, 2015, 11:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-is-the-next-disney-or-henson/731520 "2015-09-16T23:34:44Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 8\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![RickJay](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/bb73d2/32.png) [@RickJay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RickJay)\ **Post date:** [September 17, 2015, 11:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-is-the-next-disney-or-henson/731520/21 "2015-09-17T23:39:57Z")
> [@Sage\_Rat](#): > > Given that Sesame Street is being produced in a few dozen different countries, and is subsequently [del]brainwashing[/del] teaching hundreds of millions of children about life and being a good person, on a daily basis, I think it’s fair to say that Henson’s reach is pretty far. That is true, but makes it seem as if you are under the misapprehension that Jim Henson invented Sesame Street, or that Muppets are the point of Sesame Street, neither of which is at all the case. The Muppets are, obviously, key characters on Sesame Street, but the show’s conceptual genius goes far beyond his contribution. ---
**Author:** ![Sage\_Rat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sage_rat/32/399_2.png) [@Sage\_Rat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sage_Rat)\ **Post date:** [September 18, 2015, 12:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-is-the-next-disney-or-henson/731520/22 "2015-09-18T00:20:50Z")
> [@RickJay](#): > > That is true, but makes it seem as if you are under the misapprehension that Jim Henson invented Sesame Street, or that Muppets are the point of Sesame Street, neither of which is at all the case. The Muppets are, obviously, key characters on Sesame Street, but the show’s conceptual genius goes far beyond his contribution. I had forgotten but was reminded when looking up the numbers I referenced in my post. On the other hand, I suspect that the people who came up with the concept for Sesame Street are far less likely to have done so if they weren’t aware of Jim Henson and that the show would likely not have taken off if not for him. ---
**Author:** ![Sailboat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sailboat/32/461_2.png) [@Sailboat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sailboat)\ **Post date:** [September 18, 2015, 12:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-is-the-next-disney-or-henson/731520/23 "2015-09-18T00:52:36Z")
> [@Sir\_T-Cups](#): > > Henson didn’t create puppets (probably), but he was the first to take puppets to a non-creepy mainstream and create the blueprint for which all future puppets are compared to. Despite my admiration for Henson, he’s not the [first](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Punch_and_Judy), surely. Maybe the first of the television era. Well, [not the first](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kukla,_Fran_and_Ollie) of the television era. Maybe the second. Well, [not the second](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Howdy_Doody). Dammit. At least Henson was next, right? [Aw man](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shari_Lewis). As wonderful as Henson’s creation grew to be, he was firmly grounded in an ancient tradition and the inheritor of expectations that came before him. Note that these examples are not just “puppets I thought of.” Punch and Judy has been the archetypal puppet show for hundreds of years. Kukla, Fran, and Ollie’s puppteer, [Burr Tillstrom](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Burr_Tillstrom), mentored Shari Lewis and Jim Henson. The show (Kula, Fran, and Ollie) was a big deal culturally: [QUOTE=Wikipedia] During that time, KFO was a hugely successful show that counted Orson Welles, John Steinbeck, Tallulah Bankhead, Ben Grauer, Milton Caniff, and Adlai Stevenson among its many adult fans. The show had sponsors like Life magazine, RCA, Nabisco and Ford Motor Co., who surely weren’t trying to reach children. James Thurber once wrote that Tillstrom was “helping to save the sanity of the nation and to improve, if not even to invent, the quality of television.” [/QUOTE] ---
**Author:** ![cmkeller](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cmkeller/32/118_2.png) [@cmkeller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cmkeller)\ **Post date:** [September 18, 2015, 3:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-is-the-next-disney-or-henson/731520/24 "2015-09-18T03:39:35Z")
Trey Parker and Matt Stone, maybe? Starting from a little animated Christmas card, they built up a media resume that includes TV, feature films and Broadway. ---
**Author:** ![Miller](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/miller/32/481_2.png) [@Miller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Miller)\ **Post date:** [September 18, 2015, 5:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-is-the-next-disney-or-henson/731520/25 "2015-09-18T17:37:08Z")
Kevin Feige is another maybe. The interconnected Marvel movie universe he’s creating is pretty unprecedented in film, and other franchises are already trying to follow his lead. ---
**Author:** ![Ike\_Witt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ike_witt/32/283_2.png) [@Ike\_Witt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ike_Witt)\ **Post date:** [September 18, 2015, 6:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-is-the-next-disney-or-henson/731520/26 "2015-09-18T18:15:43Z")
> [@Chimera](#): > > Soon I will change my name to Brisby and open my own theme park! Good luck finding a steady supply of panda milk. ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [September 18, 2015, 6:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-is-the-next-disney-or-henson/731520/27 "2015-09-18T18:24:03Z")
> [@Sailboat](#): > > Despite my admiration for Henson, he’s not the [first](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Punch_and_Judy), surely. Maybe the first of the television era. > > Well, [not the first](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kukla,_Fran_and_Ollie) of the television era. Maybe the second. > > Well, [not the second](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Howdy_Doody). Dammit. At least Henson was next, right? > [Aw man](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shari_Lewis). > > As wonderful as Henson’s creation grew to be, he was firmly grounded in an ancient tradition and the inheritor of expectations that came before him. > > Note that these examples are not just “puppets I thought of.” Punch and Judy has been the archetypal puppet show for hundreds of years. Kukla, Fran, and Ollie’s puppteer, [Burr Tillstrom](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Burr_Tillstrom), mentored Shari Lewis and Jim Henson. The show (Kula, Fran, and Ollie) was a big deal culturally: Don’t forget the Ritts Puppets, which started out in 1950 and continued on until the 1990s: > **[The Ritts Puppets / Classic TVNew York City Local TV Stars](http://www.tvparty.com/lostny2ritts.html)** > > The Ritts Puppets And Bob Clampett started out his _Beany and Cecil_ as puppets on TV LONG before he turned them into animated cartoons, with _Time for Beany_ premiering in 1949 – before Howdy Doody or those other newcomers (and long before Henson). The show was immensely popular, with its current-affairs references that appealed to adults (Einstein was reportedly a fan). It inspired thepuppet show referred to in Heinlein’;s _The Star Beast_ and reportedly injfluenced Larry Niven to create the Pierson’s Peppeteers, and for Joel Hogdson to create _Mystery Science Theater 3000_ > **[Beany and Cecil](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beany_and_Cecil)** > > Beany and Cecil is an American animated television series created by Bob Clampett for the American Broadcasting Company. The cartoon was based on the television puppet show Time for Beany, which Clampett produced for Paramount Pictures company and its Paramount Television Network beginning 1949. The series was broadcast first as part of the series Matty's Funnies during 1962, later renamed Beany and Cecil. A short-lived revival, The New Adventures of Beany and Cecil, was produced in 1988. > Althou... ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2015, 1:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-is-the-next-disney-or-henson/731520/28 "2015-09-23T01:47:14Z")
> [@CalMeacham](#): > > It inspired the puppet show referred to in Heinlein’s _The Star Beast_ and reportedly influenced Larry Niven to create the Pierson’s Puppeteers I suspect it also inspired Vernor Vinge’s Tines. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-is-the-next-disney-or-henson/731520.md?page=1)