I really wish I could receive more signatures on this petition, to make Disney and Eisner sell the Muppets back to the Henson Family. And it's nuts that Disney would chase down the Muppets over the creator's dead man's body. And I read somewhere from the Street Gang 2008 book, that Eisner and Disney are responsible for Henson's death. And that Henson wanted a 5 year-deal for his personal services, not fifteen, and Disney said no. And that Henson would only work on Sesame Street 2 weeks a year as I would say as Kermit, Ernie, Guy Smiley, and others on the show. Here's all the information I found and that it feels like Disney wanted Jim to die, and that Disney negotiations seemed to have been a nightmare and a blessing at the same time.
The Walt Disney Company’s first attempt to acquire Jim Henson Productions back in 1989. According to Joan Ganz Cooney (i.e. one of the founders of Children’s Television Workshop, the non-profit organization that worked with Jim to create Sesame Street back in 1969), it was Eisner’s desire to get his hands on Ernie, Bert & Big Bird that ultimately did that deal in.
According to Davis:
Despite Henson’s refusals to discuss (making the Sesame Street Muppets part of the Disney acquisition deal), Eisner wouldn’t let up. Cooney recalled how early in the winter of 1990, Henson had invited her to attend what he described as a peace luncheon with Eisner, at which he wanted to put the matter to rest once and for all. She remembered how charming Eisner had been, how well the lunch was proceeding, until she looked over at Henson and saw that he had become upset over a stray remark of Eisner’s in which he discussed the Sesame Muppets as if he might own them. “There you go again,” Henson said to Eisner, blood rising up his neck. Cooney had never seen Henson that agitated.
The author then goes on to say that — as a direct result of Eisner’s behavior at this luncheon — that Henson told Cooney that he would soon file paperwork which would automatically transfer ownership of the Sesame Street Muppets to CTW in the event of his death. Unfortunately, Jim hadn’t actually finalized these arrangements before he passed away in May of 1990. Which put Oscar, Grove and Cookie Monster in a pretty precarious position for a while there.
Jim Henson works with Kevin Clash to bring Kermit the Frog to life during the production of a Sesame Street Muppets segment Copyright 2008 Viking. All Rights Reserved
Now where this gets interesting is — while Henson was dead-set against Eisner getting his hands on the Sesame Street Muppets — he really had no problem with Disney owning Kermit & Co. To hear Cooney tell the tale:
“Jim was fine with turning over the classic Muppets to Disney because he was tired of running the company, tired of having to raise money for every project. Plus Disney was promising to back any movie project that Jim wanted to do. That was huge.”
That said, Henson still had problems with some of the provisions that Disney’s lawyers kept inserting in his personal services contract with the Company. Not building any Sesame Street-themed theme parks within 100 miles of a Disney theme park? That Jim could live with. But surrendering to the Mouse the rights to every single character & concept that he created over the next 15 years … That was a far harder pill for Henson to swallow.
Again quoting from Cooney:
“(According to) the contract provision dealing with his personal services, Jim would be exclusively (Disney’s) for the rest of his life. He would be permitted to work on Sesame Street for two weeks a year, but that was it. Jim wanted to sign only a five-year deal for his personal services, not fifteen, and Disney said no. In fairness, Disney was about to pay him $150 million … But Jim was (still) feeling like a caged bird, physically and personally trapped. He just wanted to fly away. You want to say that was what killed him.”
Indeed, given how miserable Eisner made the last few months of Henson’s life, Joan genuinely seems to believe that this was a contributing factor in Jim getting that case of bacterial pneumonia that ultimately killed him.
I feel the Henson's, Frank Oz, and Sesame Workshop should file a lawsuit against Disney that they may have wanted Jim to die and get sick, even though they were remorseful of his death, but would still obsess and chase down them, and now that Jim's influence is lost, especially since Disney doesn't want Frank Oz, Steve Whitmire, and probably Kevin Clash.