RIP Philip Balsam (1943 - 2023)

Sad news as Philip Balsam who – along with Dennis Lee – was the songwriter and composer  for Fraggle Rock and many other Henson productions has died. 

The Henson Company posted the following tribute on social media:

"For the magic, magic is in every moment. Magic is you.” – Balsam & Lee

Today we honor and celebrate the life of Philip Balsam, who – along with Dennis Lee – was the songwriter and composer of the nearly 200 memorable and beloved songs for Fraggle Rock, including its iconic theme song. A cherished member of our Fraggle Rock family, he inspired generations of fans and musicians, and his heartfelt work will continue to bring joy for many years to come."

Balsam also provided the voice, and inspired the name, for Phil Fraggle in "New Trash Heap in Town", made a cameo as a  street musician in "The Day the Music Died" and it's presumed that Balsam the Minstrel was named after him as well. 

Balsam and Lee later wrote songs for The Tale of the Bunny Picnic, The Jim Henson Hour, Muppet Classic Theater, and The Animal Show, while Balsam worked solo on Dog City, composing the main title theme.

Below are a just a few samples of Philip Balsam contributions to the world of the Muppets. 

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According to Jerry Juhl on the Fraggle Rock season 1 DVD. "Follow Me" was the first song submitted by Balsam and Lee, as a demo, and the theme song and others followed.

So we end though it appropriate to end our tribute to Philip with his first Henson creation which has been one of our favorite Muppet songs since we first heard it over 40 years ago. 

 

Philip Balsam was 79 years old.

Muppet Stuff Video: Muppet Stuff Gets in Toon with Henson Animation!

This week I appeared on Michael Grassia's GET IN TOON to discuss Henson animation.

Watch our chat below then check out clips and episodes from many of the titles we discussed. 

GET IN TOON with Chris Stulz:

  

"Drums West":

 

 Jim's Red Book: Jim Henson Animating

   

Sam and Friends "Visual Thinking":

  

King of 8:

   

 

Pinball Number Count:

  

I Can Remember (Bread, Milk, Butter):

 

Bert and Ernie's Great Adventures:

  

Abby’s Flying Fairy School "Abby Visits Colonial Trolliamsburg": 

 

Twiddlebugs "Outing":  

 

 

Mecha Builders "MacBarm's Day Off":

   

Muppet Babies (1984) "Gonzo's video show"

   

 

Jim Henson's Little Muppet Monsters "Episode 1 In the Beginning"

   

 Muppet Babies (2018) "Sir Kermit the Brave"/ Animal Fly Airplane":

  

Muppet Babies "The Muppet Babies Show" - Series Finale (clip): 

 

Fraggle Rock: The Animated Series "No Fraggle Is An Island":

  

Doozers "Radish-A-Pult":

 

Dog City "The Big Squeak":

  

Unstable Fables - 3 Pigs & a Baby:

  

Sid the Science Kid "Charts":

  

Dinosaur Train "Theme Song": 

 

Splash and Bubbles "Theme Song":

  

Guillermo del Toro's Pinocchio - Official Trailer

Guillermo del Toro's Pinocchio - Behind the Craft:

You can see more (non Henson) related episodes of GET IN TOON on MichaelGrassia's YouTube channel. 

Breaking News: Shout! Factory Inks Worldwide Distribution Deal With Henson Company!

According to Deadline, Shout! Factory has made a worldwide distribution deal with The Jim Henson Company.

The multi-year distribution deal provides Shout! Factory and its streaming service Shout! Factory TV with all worldwide rights — across broadcast, streaming, on-demand, home entertainment, and non-theatrical arenas — to Henson’s Emmy-winning fantasy anthology The Storyteller and subsequent miniseries The Storyteller: Greek Myths, Jim Henson’s World of Puppetry, The Jim Henson Hour specials Monster Maker, Lighthouse Island, Living with Dinosaurs, and Dog City (But NOT the Muppet Television or bridging segments). 

Farscape will make its global AVOD premier along with its follow-up miniseries Farscape: The Peacekeeper Wars. 

Also mentioned were little known Henson series The Ghost of Faffner Hall, The Fearing Mind, Mopatop’s Shop, and Brats of the Lost Nebula.

From the Deadline article:

In collaboration with The Jim Henson Company, Shout! Factory will support each one of these projects with a long-term growth strategy that entails streaming media initiatives, content syndication (digital, EST, VOD and broadcast), and packaged media (Blu-ray/DVD). In prepping its aggressive rollout of the fan-favorite series Farscape on streaming, broadcast, transactional platforms and packaged media, Shout! Factory will leverage extensive access to archived content from The Jim Henson Company. Further news as to The Jim Henson Company’s initiatives with Shout! Factory and Shout! Factory TV will be forthcoming.

“FAST Channels are the wave of the future in terms of getting your content front and center for both devoted fans and new audiences,” said The Jim Henson Company’s Vice President of Global Distribution, Kerry Novick. “Shout! Factory is one of the best in this business, and audiences will enjoy watching beloved Henson productions, like The Storyteller, as well as discovering new favorites through this partnership. We’re especially excited for the global fans of Farscape to once again explore the uncharted territories with John Crichton and the crew of Moya in its long overdue premiere on AVOD.”

“The entire team at Shout is enthusiastic to be working with The Jim Henson Company on Farscape and other popular series,” added Shout’s Senior Vice President of Programming & New Business Development, Jeffrey Peisch. “The Jim Henson Company has produced some of the most acclaimed television programs of the last several decades; we are humbled and energized to be given the opportunity to make Henson programming available to the widest possible audience.”

Recognized as an innovator in puppetry, animatronics and digital animation, The Jim Henson Company has remained a leader in family entertainment for over 60 years. Henson’s most recent television credits include Fraggle Rock: Back to the Rock, Harriet the Spy and Fraggle Rock: Rock On!, all for Apple TV+, as well as Duff’s Happy Fun Bake Time for Discovery+, Earth to Ned for Disney+, and the Emmy-winning Netflix Original series The Dark Crystal: Age of Resistance. The company is currently in production on Guillermo del Toro’s Pinocchio for Netflix, as well as the feature The Portable Door, with Sam Neill, Christoph Waltz, Miranda Otto, Jessica De Gouw and more.

Shout! Factory, LLC is a multi-platform media company devoted to film and TV distribution, development and production. Founded by Richard Foos, Bob Emmer, and CEO Garson Foos in 2003, Shout! owns and manages a large portfolio of films, contemporary and classic TV series, animation and documentaries. The company’s creative acquisition mandate has established it as a leading independent distributor, with partners and properties including Gkids, Sesame Street, Laika Studios, The Carol Burnett Show, The Johnny Carson Show, Stephen J. Cannell Productions, ALF, ITV Studios and Major League Baseball Productions, to name a few. Shout! Factory Kids focuses on live-action and animated kids and family properties as well as anime, with the company releasing films and television shows in other genres under the imprints Scream Factory and Shout Select. Shout! develops, acquires and distributes new films via Shout! Studios, and owns and operates libraries including Mystery Science Theater 3000 (in partnership with creator Joel Hodgson) and the Roger Corman New Horizons Pictures Library, all while operating Shout! Factory TV.