By Dr. Ted Baehr, Publisher
For the fans of the original Muppets, here is a bit of history.
Our Good News Communications, Inc. dba Board of Reference member Bob Savage was the COO of the Jim Henson Company that birthed the Muppets. Bob, like Jim, grew up Christian Scientist, but was saved by Jesus Christ and went to St. Paul’s Church in Darian, CT, while Jim went to Black Rock Presbyterian in the suburbs of New York City. Both churches were famous charismatic Christian centers of the Faith. Bob and I became close friends in the 1970s when I was Director of the TV Center of City University of New York. One of my colleagues and C.U.N.Y. professors in the TV dept. was Jim Day, a Baptist, who was one of the founders of Children’s Television Workshop that produced SESAME STREET, which birthed the Muppets. When I became President of ERTVF, the organization that owned and produced THE LION, THE WITCH AND THE WARDROBE for CBS TELEVISION that had 37 million viewers and won the Emmy Award for National Program Special, CTW was our designated producer and hired famous Hollywood animator Bill Melendez, whose lead animator was Phil Roman, a devout Catholic, who later started the Film Roman company that produced THE SIMPSONS. These friends understood that their art reflected the Creator, in whose image they were created to be creators. God gifted them with Holy Spirit inspired creativity, just as some of the greatest artists of all time, such as Michelangelo and Bach, sought Jesus Christ and the gifts of His Holy Spirit for their creative genius. Perhaps, Bill Prady needs to seek the Truth that will set him free to be as creative and funny as his progenitors. After all, Jesus came and comes to set you free to have a more abundant life (see John 10:10).