Mud and Muppets

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Today marks Jim Henson's would-be 75th birthday.  And here's something you might not know about the man whose hands first felt the felt-lined depths of Kermit the Frog's backside: he got his big break doing coffee commercials.

It's hard to believe his majesty of marionettes found his earliest success in two slapstick sadists pimping instant perk brands that haven't existed since Barry Manilow was mainstream.  But these 300 syndicated spots, which ran between 1957-61, propelled his puppeteer career and gave him easy green to start his studio, thus making them directly responsible for Fozzie Bear, Bert and Ernie and Gobo Fraggle.

The ads were first (and most notably) commissioned for Washington DC-based Wilkins Instant Coffee, but their memorable style later promoted other brands as well, even a few in that then-new fancy shmancy thing called technicolor.

Get a load of these ancestral Muppets, named "Wilkins" and "Wontkins."  Though Wontkins most closely resembles Grimace of Golden Arch fame (perhaps with a few Beaker-esque facial features and Rowlf's voice), tell me we're not seeing little Kermie as a tadpole in Wilkins—albeit with a significantly more aggressive disposition.  Their fame grew so that the coffee company, "for a limited time only," even slapped mail-in plush toy offers on their cans.  (A cursory eBay search turned up niente, but I still hold hope to someday score some to stage on my desk with a rubber mallet).

So the next time you see Big Bird, Miss Piggy, Yoda or that '80s flick with David Bowie and the gremlins, first thank him—then look down and thank your cuppa.

Now to fulfill my dream of getting a certain toque blanche-sporting Swede in here for an incomprehensible culinary guest video column...

Click here for a complete history of Wilkins Coffee ads at Muppet Wikia