On May 9, 1955, a new TV series debuted on WRC in Washington, DC. Sam and Friends logged in around 1,000 episodes over six years, even though each episode was only five minutes long, and was tagged onto the beginning of the local news. Even if you've never heard of Sam and Friends, looking back, it was a historic day, because that was the first TV show produced by Jim Henson, and is considered as the founding of the Jim Henson Company.
Henson had been working in TV and making puppets since high school. Sam and Friends was his baby, though, and he made some new puppets for it. They weren't any particular species, but one with ping pong ball eyes named Kermit had a particular charm about him. Kermit eventually became a frog and hosted his own TV show, The Muppet Show, beginning in 1976. So today can also be considered Kermit's 70th birthday! Read up on the origins of Jim Henson's television career at Cracked. Videos are included.
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