Happy Birthday Jim Henson and Steve Whitmire!

Today, September 24th, marks the birthday of both Jim Henson and Steve Whitmire, two of the greatest entertainers of all time. Last year we payed tribute to Jim and Steve with a collection of pictures of them both. This year we wanted to change it up a little bit with two videos on our YouTube channel showcasing some of their best songs, but the videos were removed for copyright violation... read on!

POST-VIDEO REMOVAL UPDATE

Greetings Muppet fans! I'm sure you're all aware that my videos celebrating Jim Henson and Steve Whitmire's birthdays were hastily removed due to apparent copyright violations (apparent here meaning... definite). When I first heard this I was less than pleased... I got rather ticked off and sort of grumbled for awhile... then I remembered something: It's Jim Henson's birthday. Who the heck cares that greedy copyright holders removed my videos? Today is a day to celebrate! 74 years ago today a genius was born, and 51 years ago the man who would continue that genius's legacy was born.

Yes, Jim Henson and Steve Whitmire have brought hours and hours of mirth and laughter and entertainment to the world, so it seems rather foolish to be perturbed on their birthday, no? So, instead, join me in celebrating all the wonderful things September 24th, 2010 has brought the world...

• A brand new blog, Jim's Red Book, is now online from The Jim Henson Company. The blog will have a Jim Henson quote from his personal journal every day! How exciting is that?! You can also follow Jim's Red Book on Twitter!
• Sesame Street Executive Producer Carol-Lynne Parente talks Katy Perry with Good Morning America. Later on in the clip, Elmo and Super Grover show up and are, go figure, AWESOME. This is a must-watch! If only to hear Grover ask if his outfit is too revealing.
• Sesame Street's "True Blood" parody: "True Mud" on YouTube.
• Elmo adorns the YouTube logo today. This is presumably in promotion of Elmo's brand new interview with YouTube where he answers YOUR questions (well, maybe not YOURS, exactly). Watch it, love it. Who cares about Katy Perry's boobs when we've got this?
• Jim Henson's Fantastic World opens in Chicago, Illinois today! Our very own Lisa the Intern has been there since 10:30 this morning to see Jane Henson's special presentation for the grand opening of the exhibit, and last night at the preview event we had one of our Muppet Mindset correspondents there to see The Jim Henson Legacy's Karen Falk give a preview presentation. Look for some great new articles about the exhibit here on The Muppet Mindset very soon!

And with that, we bring this post to an end... well, not an exact end...

Happy Birthday, Jim and Steve! Thank you for everything you've done, did, and will continue to do for the world!

Now, Muppet fans, go forth and have a fantastic September 24th!! Wear a Muppet shirt, watch Muppet stuff, dance around with a puppet on your arm, do the hokey pokey and turn yourself around--after all, that IS what it's all about!

The Muppet Mindset by Ryan Dosier