This week, the Mississippi Clarion-Ledger is celebrating the life and work of native son Jim Henson, who was born in Greenville and spent a good part of his early childhood in nearby Leland. As part of their celebration, I got to talk with reporter Charlie Drape, an enthusiastic fan who admitted he didn’t know much of Jim’s non-Muppet projects, so I had a great time running my mouth at length to get him up to speed.
We talked so much, in fact, that Charlie very kindly wrote a bit about my journey toward becoming Jim’s biographer, before sitting down for a more substantive Q&A, in which I discussed Jim’s Mississippi roots and the creative restlessness that defined him. You can read our conversation here. (I should note an odd edit in our conversation, in which I’m reported as saying, “you could tell how intrigued [Jim] was by the length of time he spent saying the word ‘interesting.’ The longer the ‘interesting,’ the more fascinated he was.” That’s not quite what I said; I said you could tell you had his interest when he said, ‘hmmmmmm.’ And the longer the ‘hmmmmm’ the more interested he was. But no harm, no foul.)
Apparently there’s plenty more in store this week–including this photo gallery of the Jim Henson Boyhood Home exhibit in Leland–and Charlie promises a deep dive into the world of Labyrinth as well.
