For the last 32 years, May 16th has been a very hard day for Muppet fans. For those blissfully unaware, that is the day the world lost Jim Henson.
Over the last few days, Henson biography Brian Jay Jones has done an incredible job of not only retracing the timeline of events in leading up to Jim's untimely death, but doing so in an almost real time manner.
The tweets/ threads are not easy to process - it's like re-watching a car accident you know doesn't go well, but the detail of the timeline, and the first person accounts Brian was able to get give the story new perspectives you probably didn't know.
Brian's done such a tremendous job with these, that we couldn't think of a better way to honor Jim this year, then but sharing his timeline of Jim's final days.
May 4, 1990: Jim Henson appears with Kermit (and Clifford) on The @ArsenioHall Show. Jim isn’t feeling well--he says he's tired and his throat is sore—and things are clearly off as he ad-libs. At 4:00, Hall jokes about Jim stumbling over his lines. 1/4https://t.co/MTXasNLKLQ
— Brian Jay Jones (@brianjayjones) May 4, 2022
May 8, 1990: Jim Henson leaves his place in Malibu to drive to LAX to catch a flight to NYC. On the way to the airport, he drops in on agent Bernie Brillstein, whose father had recently passed away, to offer his condolences. /1 pic.twitter.com/fvnbLFmBx9
— Brian Jay Jones (@brianjayjones) May 8, 2022
Saturday, May 12, 1990: Jim Henson and his daughter Cheryl board a USAir flight at LaGuardia and touch down in Norfolk, VA a little after 10 a.m. It’s Mother’s Day weekend, and Jim wants to see his stepmom, Bobby, and his dad, Paul, in the early stages of Alzheimer’s. /1 pic.twitter.com/UUsIPowCuq
— Brian Jay Jones (@brianjayjones) May 12, 2022
Sunday, May 13, 1990: After telling his family he “didn’t feel good” on Saturday night, Jim Henson sleeps in on Sunday morning. Around noon, his cousin Stan, a physician, comes to pick him up and take him over to his parents’ house for lunch. /1
— Brian Jay Jones (@brianjayjones) May 13, 2022
Monday, May 14, 1990: Jim Henson woke up “feeling lousy.” His voice was wrecked and he was having trouble catching his breath. He called his assistant and told her to cancel his 8:30 breakfast meeting, and the recording session for Disney’s “Muppets on Location” at 10 am. /1
— Brian Jay Jones (@brianjayjones) May 14, 2022
Tuesday, May 15, 1990: Around 2 a.m., Jim Henson told his wife Jane that it was getting harder to breathe—and with every rasping cough, he was coughing blood.
— Brian Jay Jones (@brianjayjones) May 15, 2022
Jane was determined to call a doctor. But Jim insisted he just needed to “calm down [his] breathing.” /1 pic.twitter.com/tOyUzwxFZp
New York Hospital, Wednesday, May 16, 1990: Around 1 a.m., Jim Henson’s blood pressure bottomed out, an indication that his heart had stopped beating. A medical team immediately rushed in and began to administer CPR.
— Brian Jay Jones (@brianjayjones) May 16, 2022
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