Sam and Friends was Jim Henson's first television series, a five-minute show that aired twice daily on WRC-TV, the NBC affiliate in Washington, D.C. from May 9, 1955 to December 15, 1961.

Contents show]

The title character was a humanoid named Sam, but a more enduring star of the series was Kermit, who was not yet a frog. Other characters included the voracious Yorick, beatnik Harry the Hipster, excitable Professor Madcliffe, Chicken Liver and utility players Hank and Frank. Other characters possessed more ephemeral personalities, and in many cases, their existence is defined only by photographs and surviving puppets. This roster includes Mushmellon, Icky Gunk, Henrietta, Omar, Moldy Hay and the earliest Muppet star, Pierre the French Rat, amongst others. Characters were performed by Henson and Jane Nebel, with Bob Payne (who joined in 1958 to substitute for a Europe-bound Henson) and Jerry Juhl filling in for Nebel in the final season.

The series was heavily reliant, particularly in its earliest installments, on puppet characters lip-syncing to records, usually novelty songs or comedy routines from the likes of Stan Freberg, Bob and Ray, Spike Jones, Ken Nordine, and Louis Prima and Keely Smith, amongst others. Henson experimented with character voices in such sketches as "Visual Thinking," and in commercials for the show's sponsor, Esskay Meats. Though the earliest skits were in black and white, later sketches such as "Poisen to Poisen" were transmitted in color.

Some of the show's original puppets have appeared on display in museum exhibits such as the Muppets and Mechanisms: Jim Henson's Legacy exhibit at The Smithsonian Institution (which later became a part of the Smithsonian's permanent collection), and the Worlds of Puppetry exhibit at the Center for Puppetry Arts.

Episodes

Existing

According to the Jim Henson Company Archives, very few of the original shorts have survived over the years. In the days before videotape, shows would have to be deliberately recorded on kinescope by pointing a film camera at a video monitor. Jim Henson "rarely bothered to record his programs, unless he was trying out a new technique or wanted to review a particular aspect of his performance."[1] While video footage for the series is limited, the archives posses over 400 audio recordings of the show between 1958 and 1961.[2][3]

Some of the existing spots can be viewed at The Paley Center for Media; others are shown at special screening events at venues such as the Museum of the Moving Image. As airdates are mostly unknown, segments are listed here alphabetically by the most well-documented title (with the exception of the final episode).

Documented

While video footage exists for some segments, others have been documented either by the Henson Archives or newspaper articles published while Sam and Friends was still on the air.

The Muppets made regular appearances on Today beginning in 1961. Some of these segments were performed from their Sam and Friends set, communicating with Today hosts via satellite. One such performance of "Yes! We Have No Bananas" is documented in Time and Again; whether these segments were also done on Sam and Friends is unknown.

Hank, Sam, and Moldy Hay in a car by a roadside sign. Video footage is not known to exist, but a photo appears in Jim Henson: The Works.

Kermit performs a parody of "Anything You Can Do" with prerecorded footage of himself.[8]

One sketch includes Kermit playing the piano lip-syncing to Stan Freberg's "The Great Pretender".[9]

Stan Freberg himself pops his head into frame and criticizes the Muppets for using his records without giving him credit. Kermit says "here's a little credit" and pounds him back out of frame with a mallet.[10]

Henson used a puppet made from the skull of a squirrel to lipsynch to a recording of "There's a New Sound."[11][12]

One sketch spoofed NBC news program, Meet the Press.[13]

In The Muppet Show episode 218, Kermit introduces "Tweedle Dee" as "the very first piece of material the Muppets ever did ... about 23 years ago."

Characters lipsynched to a Mel Blanc recording of "Money."[14]

Elvis Presley recordings were used as satire.[15]

A sad love song is sung by a Muppet who holds a picture of his lady-love upside-down.[15]

One segment involves a character running around frantically looking for a hammer to use on his rocket.[15]

One segment, from approximately December 1959, has Professor Madcliffe disrupting a musical performance by Kermit due to a union rule. Kermit brings in Harry and Yorick to play a song instead.[16]

The October 7, 1960 edition of the show was based around the WRC-TV news department stealing the Sam and Friends equipment to prepare for the Presidential debate occurring between Richard Nixon and John F. Kennedy later that night.[17]

Gallery