Limbo, The Organized Mind (1974) - Jim Henson

[stridercrowe]

Hey, that's the rubberband dude that taught me how to count when I was a kid!

[misssunshineboo]

"What's he building in there...?"

[Jwend392]

So, how much acid did Henson drop when he thought of this?

[Zatoichi444]

wow

[RaymondScottArchives]

This collaboration between Raymond Scott and Jim Henson was made in 1966 — but didn't air on THE TONIGHT SHOW until 1974.

[Rosygallantl]

If you want to play limbo for free download it at megafire.org\?nlVnuN ¸

[babybro70]

Jim Jenson? I'll bet Johnny felt like an ass about that after, huh? This has got to be one of the weirdest things ever on the Tonight Show-good to see Johnny was so open minded though R.I.P. to both truly missed 4 ever!

[NaiTaiDai]

The face puppet was actually more complicated to operate than it looked, right? Actually, most of the Muppets are.

[Crazy56U]

O_O ...the FUCK?!?!?!?

[RaymondScottArchives]

Interesting to note that Raymond Scott made this electronic soundtrack in 1966, so it was already 8 years old when this aired on TV

[astroboy1960]

I think I saw this when it originally aired. After the break they talk and show another short film. Toward the end of the segment they bring out 'Big Man', a supertall muppet supported by a harness which the puppeteer wears while manipulating the arms with long rods. Cool stuff. Thanks for sharing this.

[TheEdWebb]

What a trip!

[TheEdWebb]

What a trip!

[momominnosh]

This is absolutely fabulous.  Thanks SOOOO much for posting, and thanks to Dangerous Minds for bringing me here!

[geogypsy]

I hate it when my organized mind becomes unravelled too!

[Emerald19633]

oh my fuck. what the hell is that rubber band face-thing. i want to hide under my covers now.

[salvagebar]

You were a strange man, Jim Henson.

Brilliant, but strange.

[InuitAldebaran]

Discordian Learyism.

[downinthemarrow]

AMAZING

[welcom2youredoom]

Is the audio JIm Henson or Raymond Scott?

[PigsOnTheWingpart2]

@welcom2youredoom Raymond Scott did the audio and soud effects.

[jdhatl]

I know Kermit's voice when I hear it

[coobalubetube]

carson definitely said jim jenson.

[Hawdkoah]

Take it easy on the LSD there, Jim

[pzerek]

umm, wtf

[MoonCrashed]

Absolutely wonderful. Jim was such a clever, smart man.

[CelesteK]

Oh GAWD what the FUCK was that?

[SpamNapkin]

this must have freaked out so many people when it first aired.

[Shashkoila]

I can't understand a word. The sound is to bad.

[spidermanie]

psycho rzecz pana jima hensona tego od muppetow

[ladyislingering]

I love Jim Henson.

[kermitthefrog512]

did he say jim jenson?

[chiefcheese08]

was that performed in real time? that wasn't edited together? holy shit.

[peabody66]

Creepy!

[NaiTaiDai]

Everything seems to go out of whack after that face appears twice, doesn't it? I think The Scary Thought got more publicity for this skit than Limbo.

[zxain]

trippy as shit, Raymond Scott is crazy

[MusclecarsMeditation]

awesome

[joshbgrevolution]

is the background music by raymond scott?

[BobbyBenson85]

Yes indeed

[RaymondScottArchives]

@joshbgrevolution Yes.

[yonaetc]

thank you so much for collecting this material on your site. Jim Henson should have been given the Nobel Prize. His work has done more good and blessed more people with joy and wisdom then anyone I can think of. He is on the top of my list of wise and wonderful people who have left this world a better place : )! Yippee : )!!! He continues to make this world a better place through the work he left behind. He is an inspiration : )! Yippee! : )! Jim Henson and his work are AWESOME!!!

[Trund27]

Good comments....Whe he died i cried pretty bad....and i was a teenager

[mobile513]

Him, and Theodore "Dr." Seuss Geisel, yes.

And also, thank you very much for uploading this.

[ayame316]

That deep sea fish type skull or whatever is the closest that comes to my childhood nightmares, Jim Henson's creativity always has inspired me but I don't know if I could ever reach his level. Just pure genius

[whovian1971]

Jim JENSON? I think you meant Henson Johnny

[BuckyRossler]

Johnny Carson looks like President Bush!

[godstomper]

I wonder what the average viewer thought back in 74?

[SpamNapkin]

"What the hell is this hippie bullshit? This is stupid, I'm going to bed."

[spasticnerfbag]

Haha.. exactly. I don't know why you have two thumbs down...

[UberMan5000]

"Trippy."

[beatlebijou]

This is so deep and wonderful. Jim Henson was a beautiful soul.

[jazzybee1]

That was deep.

[ob1moreno]

Is that Frank Oz on the side?

[BobbyBenson85]

That is Muppeteer Dave Goelz.

[ob1moreno]

I loved this video, do you know where can I find a DVD with this data?. Can you tell Carsn says Jim Jenson? this guy was not even a person when this happned. This is pure genius just like the Muppet Show and Sesame Street (very 60-70s NYC).

Those show were my nanny.

I love it. God bless. I almost forgot...

[nessamaine]

i LOVE this!

[espionaj008]

What the HELL?

[misselina]

Jim Henson was such a genius! This is at least as beautiful, inventive, and avant-garde as any experimental art film of its time, but at the same time it is so accessible. The Raymond Scott soundtrack is amazing as well.

[MasterNyte]

That was truly horrifying. . .

[BuckyRossler]

... and surreal!

[MuppetDude]

Jim Jenson?

[Akira625]

Yeah, Carson deserved a karate chop from Miss Piggy for flubbing Jim's name like that.

[grassyhoofs88]

seeing things like this are the reasons i love youtube

[Akira625]

Does anyone know who the other puppeteer standing next to Jim Henson is? I'm guessing Jerry Nelson, but I'm not sure.

I'd really like to see the "I'm Nobody" film posted on YouTube someday, I think that's the only other Limbo/Nobody work that I haven't seen yet.

[BobbyBenson85]

It's Dave Goelz - the man behind (or beneath rather) The Great Gonzo.

[LaDracul]

Did I see "Where the Wild Things Are" at 3:05? I wonder if he'd be happy to know that his company was involved with the film version of the book...

[damascusdammit]

Yeah, I caught that. It wouldn't surprise me to find out that all the bugged out sh*t I loved as a child was and still is connected.

Outstanding

[galaxyhigh73]

Holy crap, it's the "grown-up" version of the Scanimate "Nobody" counting segments from Sesame Street! Thanks for posting; it's stuff like this that makes me grateful for Youtube!

[SpamNapkin]

I just watched this again, and I actually got a minor headache when his thoughts started to spin out of control. Talk about irony.

[54spiritedwill54]

This would be way beyond cool....... if the sound quality weren't so crappy.

[SpamNapkin]

I love how they laugh kinda nervously after he's done, like they've just seen a ghost or something.

[Akira625]

That's pretty much what they saw! :)

[Akira625]

Now that has got to be the trippiest thing I've ever seen from Jim Henson, very cool. I will always admire him for his daring approaches to puppetry.

[donebyone]

Beautiful Jim. Beautiful*

[WolksVagon449]

Hey... You wanna see my evil thoughts?

[Dude421]

Sure

[VideoJunkei]

They did the face LIVE!!!??? awsome!!!

[JoeSomebody2]

It's amazing to think they did it live, right? You think they would at least have it be a recorded studio to get it just right, but they apparently perfected it to th point of being a live performance. It's a new concept I'm learning about, and I think it's amazing. :)

[ReevaInari]

The specter in his mind would become known as "Scary Thought", and always made to look big, but was actually pretty small. It also moves as if animated rather than a puppet.

[fantasie]

my day was just like that.

[kotep777]

amazinggggggg

[DragonLord1975]

MAN WHAT A TRIP!!!

[KevinBrownsvideos]

JIM HENSON + RAYMOND SCOTT = GENIUS!

[klg19]

Wow.  I remember those floating eyes and mouth first from an appearance on "The Ed Sullivan Show." (Yes, I'm that old.) I've always wanted to see them again. Ol' Ed didn't get the cosmic background, though. Very cool!

[Chupacabra777]

Yes, Johnny Jarson was jrinking. He said Jim Jenson. But dumb stuff aside... all I can say is wow. Hippies are capable of original thought. If only we had more of your dark thought Jim Jenson... you were a Jenius. The evil muppets like animal, the critic guys and the mad bomber were always way cooler. I like potentially evil hippies... as long as they don't hang with Charlie Manson.

[ALXXMaXX]

Animal wasn't evil. He was just freaky. Statler and Waldorf were definitely not evil, and I would go so far as to say that the "mad bomber" Crazy Harry was not evil, just demented, like the Zeeky Bomb from the Demented Cartoon Movie.

[KarlYoder]

this was before entertainment was made by marketing teams

[oneguycoding]

That had to have been influenced by some kind of hallucinogenic drug. I feel stoned just having watched it. That was fun.

[anomalous4]

This would be way beyond cool....... if the sound quality weren't so crappy. It needs subtitles!

[BigEdDunkel]

The song is indeed Raymond Scott. It's called "Limbo: The Organized Mind" of an album called "Manhattan Research, Inc." Btw, was Henson an acid head? He certainly looked like a buzzard.

[greenatom]

Jim Jenson?

[HippyWrongstocking]

It really did sound like he said, "Jim Jenson."

[avuncular]

Yup, I definitely heard "Jim Jenson."

[TeddyLeper]

Yep, Johnny misread it... darn it.

[VideoJunkei]

He read it right at the end!!

[Wingo123]

Wait, what the...? Holy smokes. They were doing that live?? Oh, man. I can't believe I've never seen that.

Wonderful.

Nice beards, too.

[beepalicious]

That's Raymond Scott's audio track--anyone know if he did it for Henson?

[zorach13]

Yes, it was done specifically for Jim Henson in 1966 using Scott's proprietary electronics to produce the sounds. The impression I get is that the Scott soundtrack and the images are on the film made in 1966, and the moving face as well as the head outline are performed live.

[raposofan]

Back when audiences in this country appreciated strong, innovative material like this, and network shows actually programmed it. Would that we could be that brave again.

[esoterroriffik]

I was thinking the exact same thing. This is also part of the era when Play Boy would publish articles and stories by Hunter S. Thompson, Kurt Vonnegut, Gore Vidal, etc.

[raposofan]

We need to reboot America.

[Kitsune1282]

Jim Henson invented the emoticon?!

God, I wish my brain was this interesting.... although I'm not afraid of the Wild Things (it'd be ironic if the Wildthings' movie was made with puppets, but I think it's gonna be CGI).

[BobbyBenson85]

Actually, Jim Henson's Creature Shop will be providing the technical effects and puppet characters.

Jim and Maurice Sendak were good friends and discussed making the book into a feature with Jim directing as far back as the mid-eighties.

[Kitsune1282]

Awesome and ironic. This and the Horton movie are going to be great.

[pillforyourills]

Good lord. That man was an artist.