Google Honors Puppet Pioneer Jim Henson’s 75th Birthday with Cool Interactive Doodle (video)
Posted By Vicki McClure Davidson on September 23, 2011
Cool, cute, and a little creepy at the same time — and just plain amazing. An interactive Google doodle on the search engine’s homepage pays tribute to what would have been creative puppet pioneer Jim Henson’s 75th birthday on September 24.
By clicking the buttons displayed under each of the six animated characters — which look much like Henson’s distinctive Muppets created for Sesame Street, The Muppet Show, and many films — Google users can then control head and body motions of each. Moving the mouse cursor about the screen moves individual character’s movements, left-clicking makes the character’s mouth open and close. There is at least one “Easter egg” secret — rapidly left-clicking on the second puppet (the little bald man wearing glasses) will cause him to shake his head back and forth and flip his glasses up into the air. If there are other “secrets” or “tricks” in this doodle, I’ve not yet discovered them. There is no audio in this interactive doodle, presumably because users are to be the head puppeteers and supply their own voices.
The Jim Henson Company and Google partnered to honor Henson’s 75th birthday with what they are calling “digital puppetry.”
Jim Henson’s Google Doodle
A video capture of the interactive doodle in action:
Henson died in 1990 at the age of 53 from organ failure resulting from Streptococcus pyogenes, a severe Group A streptococcal infection that causes strep throat, scarlet fever, and rheumatic fever. His sudden, unexpected death stunned millions of fans across the globe.
This isn’t the first time that Henson has been honored by Google. In 2009, there was a multiple-day tribute to Sesame Street’s 40th anniversary, using many of Henson’s beloved Muppet characters. Henson was one of the creative forces behind the successful children’s learning program’s longevity and popularity.
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Update on the lack of sound from BeatWeek Magazine:
One problem, though: when you click on the individual Muppet characters they act like they’re speaking but there’s no audio. Users around the internet have expressed surprise that the latest doodle is a silent one, with some of them mistakenly believing that it’s an issue with their browser. Google’s own Chrome web browser includes a microphone button at the right of the search box, which some users initially assumed was the mechanism for making the Muppets speak. However, the mic icon is tied into Chrome’s standard search mechanism, which is why it’s not visible when google.com is viewed on competing browsers such as Safari or Firefox; in any case, it has nothing to do with the Jim Henson doodle.
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if you click rapidly on the far right one, there is another trick. it might take a while.
Oh, my!!!! Thanks for the heads up, Jesse! That was brutal, but HILARIOUS.
Clicking on or interacting with the rightmost puppet for a few seconds encourages him to eat the tall green puppet next to him. The green one eventually reappears from below the counter.
Totally macabre — loved it!
or just hold the spacebar down on the green one