Jim Hill
Page 2 of 3

So why wasn't Henson's illness caught in time? To be honest, the bulk of the fault here falls on Jim himself. You see, Henson had been raised as a Christian Scientist. Though he no longer practiced the faith, Henson still loosely followed Christian Science's doctrine and tenets. Which meant that he typically eschewed medicine, preferring to let everyday ills like headaches and colds run their course without benefit of medical treatment.

Plus Jim was a pretty humble guy. He didn't want to come across as a hypochondriac to friends and family, someone who was constantly complaining about all his petty health problems. So Henson wasn't exactly feeling up to snuff during the last week of April / first week of May. Big deal. He just decided to soldier on, tough things out with the hope that -- eventually -- the cold / flu / whatever it was that was getting Jim down would burn itself out.

These decisions -- to not bother his friends & family with concerns about his health, to just let nature take its course -- may have seemed minor at the time. But the outcome would eventually prove to be tragic.

I'll say this much. For someone who was obviously feeling under the weather, Henson covered a lot of ground in early May. During the first part of the month, Jim flew out to Los Angeles to put in an appearance on "The Arsenio Hall Show." The very next week, he flew back to New York City -- where Henson met with Disney representatives to map out plans for additional Muppet projects. Among the ideas that Jim was supposedly most enthusiastic about was "Muppet High," a new sitcom that would show how Kermit and his cronies as high school students.

That weekend, Henson flew with his daughter, Cheryl down to North Carolina to visit with his father and step-mother. Once there, Jim took part in a game of croquet as well as a big family meal. When relatives commented on his weak, somewhat raspy sounding voice, Henson insisted that he was fine. That he was just battling a sore throat.

The next day, though, Jim's cold seemed to be getting worse. Since Henson was scheduled to take part in a Muppet recording session the next morning, Henson and Cheryl elected to cut short their North Carolina excursion and grab an earlier flight back to New York City.

It was only after they landed on Sunday evening that Cheryl got her first real hint of how truly sick her dad was. As Jim slumped against a radiator in the NYC arrivals area, Cheryl asked her dad if he was okay. Henson replied with "I'm just tired." A moment later, using his Kermit the Frog voice, Henson said "Hi ho, Kermit the Frog here."

This really unnerved Cheryl. It wasn't like her dad to do that sort of thing in public. So she bundled Jim up and took Henson home to his apartment at the Sherry-Netherlands Hotel.

The very next morning, since he still felt punk, Jim opted to postpone the Muppet recording session. Family and co-workers dropped by the apartment repeatedly that day to check up on the master Muppeteer. It was obvious that Jim was sick ... But no one seemed to realize how truly ill the man was.

By 2 a.m. Tuesday morning, Henson was having difficulty breathing. By 4 a.m. -- after much cajoling from his wife, Jane -- Jim finally agreed to go to the hospital. Of course -- in true Muppet fashion -- this trip didn't exactly go according to plan. The cabbie who drove Jim and Jane to New York Hospital ended up dropping them off at the wrong side of the building.

Realizing his mistake, the cabbie immediately offered to drive Jim & Jane around to the Emergency Room entrance. Not wanting to trouble the guy, Henson demurred. As sick as he was, Jim still sent the cab away and walked around the block to the proper entrance at the hospital.

Henson was admitted and ... Well, things started going downhill quickly after that. By 8 a.m., Jim was put on a ventilator and moved into the intensive-care ward. Jane and four of the five Henson children stood vigil at Henson's bedside, while Frank Oz quickly put the word out to his fellow Muppeteers that things were looking exceedingly grim.

When they got word of how gravely ill Jim really was, friends and family hurried to New York Hospital. Steve Whitmire and his wife, Melissa even flew in Atlanta that night (but only after zooming to the airport at 140 MPH to catch the very last flight to NYC) to offer aid and comfort.

The end came suddenly at 1:21 a.m. Wednesday morning. After two cardiac arrests, Jim's heart finally gave out. After all resuscitation efforts had failed, doctors broke the news to the Henson family and Oz. It was then left to Frank to tell the Muppeteers who had gathered at New York Hospital that "Jim passed away."

An awful silence fell over the hospital waiting room. But -- just as the tears started to fall -- something ... well, muppet-tational happened.

Suddenly -- echoing down the hospital corridor -- the grieving Muppeteers hear laughter as well as this really weird sound. The two metal doors leading into the waiting area bang open. And here come two nurses who are giggling hysterically as they push along a gurney.

So what's making these nurses laugh so hard? It's this little tiny Asian woman who's laying down on the gurney. Who -- perhaps because of the medication she was on at the time -- is spewing forth this steady stream of high-pitched gibberish. Still giggling, the nurses quickly push the gurney through the waiting area, down the corridor and disappear from sight.

And -- with that one brief bizarre occurrence -- the somber mood in the room was broken.

Later, when people who were in the waiting area that night discussed what had happened at New York Hospital, they were all in agreement about one thing: Jim did that. Sent that tiny Chinese woman sailing through the room at that exact moment, spouting gibberish.

Why? Because it was the Muppet thing to do. Something that allowed all those who were gathered at the hospital that night to let go of their grief -- even if it was just for an instant -- and smile.