And heres a supercut of the wilkins coffee commercials mentioned. Theyre almost like wacky stax back in the embryonic days of the muppets, kermits eyes were two halves of a spherical toy called wacky stax. Read more from jim hensons red book in imagination. Wilkins, the serious, cheerful one who loved coffee, regularly. In the first wilkins ad, a muppet named wilkins is poised behind a cannon seen in profile. Before sesame street, jim henson made multiple commercials for various companies from 1962 to 1969, using his trademark muppets as spokespeople. One ad has wilkins shooting wontkins with a cannon and then turning it towards the camera, essentially threatening the audience into buying their coffee. Some of these commercials were direct remakes of wilkins and wontkins commercials. While jim hensons legacy will always be closely associated with his muppet and sesame street. Harry was one of the first muppets designed and built by jim henson. Everyone whos cool knows that kermit debuted on jim hensons show sam and friends, which premiered in 1955.
Some of the earlier scripts were reshot and some new scripts were chosen from jims catalogue of wilkinsstyle commercials. There is an area where one can record video of themselves working a muppet to a song, an area where one can design a blue anything muppet, and a stage where people can work muppets. I have also recorded three cds, the first of which is called rick gol. The top 5 muppets moments in marketing opusfidelis. From 1957 to 1969, jim henson made hundreds of short commercials. Jim henson with the fraggle five gobo, red, mokey, wembley, boober. Instead, lets judge kermit and wilkins based on how old they are. Despite his similar appearance and contrary to rumor, wilkins is not an early incarnation of kermit the frog. Wilkins and wontkins reproductions, unknown exhibit. The cannon spot was one of his most popular and produced for at least 14 clients. I had to laugh when i saw billy and sue displayed as if.
Read more from jim hensons red book in imagination illustrated. For fans of jim henson, this exhibition is a marvelous remembrance of the man and his work. The pair would eventually make over 300 commercials, just for wilkins coffee alone. Throughout the series of commercials, wilkins tries to offer wontkins a cup of wilkins coffee, which he grumpily rebuffs. Muppet central hipped me to their existence, and it was all downhill from there. Wilkins and wontkins 1959 more sohio commercials ft. Before that, he made multiple commercials featuring his other muppet characters, wilkins and wontkins. In one of the latter, a puppet named wilkins bops, blows up, and sets fire to another, named wontkins.
Another muppet named wontkins is in front of its barrel. Rick goldschmidt oak lawn, illinois, united states i am the historianbiographer for the rankinbass studios. More specifically, this entry from the jim hensons red book blog includes an old newspaper article that lists kermits own date of origin as march 1955. The original kermit the frog was more of a lizard, made from one of jim hensons mothers coats with halved pingpong balls for eyes. It was jim henson before the muppets just saw a wilkins puppet come up for sale on pawn stars and had to learn more about them. According to roger hefler, the company president, wilkins was keenly interested in. The key to good advertising is a good schtick, and jim s was violent coffee. The ads featured two early muppet charactersa froglike creature named wilkins who vaguely resembles kermit the frog without the iconic collar. Really the only way muppet fans know about wontkins and wilkins is if they read a book how passe, wikipedia article, or watch a historical jim video. As far as we know there are no plans for them to appear in the next movie. Newly rediscovered color commercials made by jim henson for the donovan companys red diamond coffee in 1966. In 1957, jim henson was approached by a washington, d. The little round thingies have been used for muppet eyes ever since, to the tune of jim henson buying.
One item in his museum were the wontkins and wilkins puppets. Found at super punch via boing boing via youtube super punch explains. Wilkins and wontkins jim s red book the jim henson company. Ligator am monsters aart abby cadabby abe and bernie abel and mable abelardo crocodile abelardo montoya abigail abigail snuffleupagus accordion player ace yu afghan hound african masks agnes stonewick airplane the al1995 plus tax aladdin alarm clock bird albatross albert flan alexander beetle alexis. Over 300 commercials were made with two characters wilkins and wontkins. Between the years of 1957 and 1961 jim henson created 179 commercials for the washington dc based company wilkins coffee. Instead of wilkins and wontkins, however, the mcgarry spot would feature a grocer, played by onky, a livehand puppet developed in 1962 for oncor frozen foods, and a hapless customer played by kermit. Wilkins company 1958 in 1957 jim and jane henson started to make commercials, starting with advertisements for wilkins coffee. Plus, like wontkins, who wont drink wilkins coffee, steve hates coffee too. And, wilkins and wontkins are playing to a prime time audience. The commercials were incredibly short and direct to the point. Photos were taken and mockups were sent to henson associates. He noted down what had happened up until that point deemed ancient history and then recorded anything that he felt was worth recording as single line journal entries until the end of 1988.
Anybody remember the old wilkins coffee commercials. Santa claus is a traditional, secular figure of christmas good cheer, generally depicted as a jolly fat, old man in a red suit. Wilkins was a smiling character named for the coffee, and wontkins was his generally dour counterpart, a grumpy blob who couldnt stand the wilkins brand. Which was the first project in which joe raposo and jim henson worked together.
Sam and friends is an early liveactionpuppet television show created by puppeteer jim. Sam and friends is an early liveactionpuppet television show created by puppeteer jim henson and his eventual wife jane nebel. Some of these other early creations were wilkins and wontkins, two little creatures used to shill wilkins coffee in 10second commercials. Notable sketches include an interpretation of beauty and the beast with lesley ann warren, singing with sweetums and cloris leachman, and filling the role of destructive monster. Wilkins and wontkins partially lost series of jim henson. These versions of wilkins and wontkins from the wilkins coffee commercials were built in 1979 and 1981, respectively. This is a series of local commercials jim henson did for wilkins coffee featuring early versions of kermit the frog and other muppets engaged in violent acts over the consumption of coffee. The history of the first muppet show, sam and friends duration. Well, it all goes back to some of the couples earliest creations. Wilkins would drink the coffee and wontkins would not. In the days before the iconic breakout of sesame street, jim henson was an experimental jack of all trades puppeteer, comedian, designer, actor, oscarnominated filmmaker, singer who used his gifts for legitimately thousands of hours of content. The local stations only had ten seconds for station identification, so the muppet commercials had to be lightningfastessentially, eight seconds for the commercial pitch and a twosecond shot. The series of ads starred characters wilkins and wontkins, using slapstick humor to grab customers attention.
In the first episode of the sixpart jim henson documentary series, the history of jim s beginnings and his first television show, sam and friends, is explored. Most of the original episodes were never recorded, and some that were have been lost to time. There are tiny white flecks here and there, might be white paint. Jim henson created the original puppets in 1957 and the prop camera in 1961.
Santa has appeared in several muppet sesame street specials over the years, portrayed by different human actors and occasionally depicted as a muppet. Moldy hay a humanoid character with orangered skin, a big nose, and hair over. Wilkins and wontkins were born, created expressly for the coffee commercials. Tom smiths henson tribute song, a boy and his frog, won the pegasus award for best filk song in 1991. The christmasdated issue was to feature jim surrounded by muppets as a newsstand draw and would have been the first time cover for the muppets since 1970 when big bird was featured. Other nations have their own variations, such as father christmas in england and sinterklaas in the netherlands. Wilkins coffee was the most popular brand of coffee from the beginning of time up until about the 1980s, and for a damn good reason. In 1957, jim henson created a series of commercials for wilkins coffee, a local brand in the washington, d. Ts some white flecks from missing red on the mouth. Wilkins is orange with a red interior mouth and he bears a striking resemblance to kermit the frog. See, steve and i love the old wilkins coffee commercials made by jim henson and some very early muppets back in the 50s.
In june 1965, 28yearold jim henson started a written log of his activities in what became known as the red book. The local stations only had ten seconds for station identification, so the muppet commercials had to be lightningfast essentially, eight seconds for the commercial pitch and a twosecond shot of the product. Wilkins and wontkins were among jim hensons earliest muppet characters, making these toys the first pieces of muppet merchandise. The warring characters, named wilkins and wontkins, became such a hit he was asked to reuse them for other campaigns across the countrynot just for. The muppets underwent a significant evolution over the years. Wilkins and wontkins are the muppet stars of one of the earliest, and perhaps longest running, commercial series made by jim henson, appearing in 8 second spots for wilkins coffee. It was taped and aired twice daily as a local series in washington, d. Jack wilkins, the owner of the washington area coffee company named for his family, watched jim and his muppets in sam and friends on wrctv and was smitten. The local stations only had ten seconds for station identification, so the muppet commercials had to be lightningfastessentially, eight seconds.
From 1957 to 1961, henson made 179 commercials for wilkins coffee and other wilkins products, including community coffee and wilkins. Fun is here to stay fraggle rock the jim henson company. They were made between 1957 and 1961 featuring the muppet characters wilkins and er, wontkins. The two muppets were used in ads for wilkins coffee, a firm founded in 1899 by john h. Kermit was the first puppet built of the two, and appeared side by side with wilkins in early promotional images of the muppets. With the tremendous success of the muppet show and the production of the muppet movie in 1978, time magazine planned a cover story about jim henson and his creations. Unlike when the wilkins coffee commercials aired, you have to actively search for material on these guys. Wilkins and wontkins were two characters that jim made in the 1950s to advertise wilkins coffee. The cube 1968 the wilkins coffee commercial series 1960 the jimmy dean show 1963 sam and friends 1959 9. Wilkins and wontkins are the muppet stars of one of the earliest, and perhaps longest. If you were caught drinking any other brand of coffee, jim hensons protokermit would shoot you in the fucking face he literally killed the competition by offing any nondrinker of wilkins in a myriad of sinister ways, and even televised them in the form of. From 1957 to 1969, jim henson made hundreds of short commercials featuring the wilkins and wontkins characters for an array of products around the country. The special featured interviews with steven spielberg and others. Wilkins loves to drink wilkins coffee, which he strongly promotes.
The popularity of these ads sparked wilkins and wontkins to appear in commercials for various companies community coffee, red diamond coffee, faygo, etc. Jim hensons red book 19651988 is a handwritten account of the artists ideas, in which he also journaled his daily activities with a single line of text. Jim hensons red book, 3141969 shoot community coffee. Jim hensons muppets once upon a time and long before disney ruined the muppets and star wars, and pixar, master blaster jim henson struck studio stardust coupling a selfabsorbed hollywood hopeful with a swampy banjo picker. Wilkins and wontkins, anything muppets at the jim henson exhibit. The wilkins coffee ads made by jim henson, in which a muppet named wilkins offers wilkins coffee to another muppet, wontkins. He was a perpetually smiling froglike creature who was accompanied by wontkins, his more dour counterpart. I was wondering if you guys can help find some commercials made by jim henson. Wontkins typically refuses and gets hurt for it often fatally. Jim henson commercials im looking for forums the lost. The jim henson journal available from chronicle books. The 1990 television special the muppets celebrate jim henson allowed the muppets themselves to pay tribute to henson.