Time Piece (1965)

Dislocation in time, time signatures, time as a philosophical concept, and slavery to time are some of the themes touched upon in this nine-minute, experimental film, which was written, ... See full summary »

Director:

Jim Henson

Writer:

Jim Henson

Stars:

Jim Henson, Enid Cafritz, Dennis Paget

Nominated for 1 Oscar.

Cast

Cast overview:
Jim Henson	...	Man
Enid Cafritz	...	Wife
Dennis Paget
Jim Hutchison	...	Male Dancer
Barbara Richman
Diana Birkenfield
April March	...	Stripper
Dave Bailey	...	Drummer
Sandy Patterson
Jerry Juhl	...	Bartender
Frank Oz	...	Messenger boy (as Frank Oznowicz)

Storyline

Dislocation in time, time signatures, time as a philosophical concept, and slavery to time are some of the themes touched upon in this nine-minute, experimental film, which was written, directed, and produced by Jim Henson-and starred Jim Henson! Screened for the first time at the Museum of Modern Art in May of 1965, Time Piece enjoyed an eighteen-month run at one Manhattan movie theater and was nominated for an Academy Award for outstanding short subject.

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Plot Keywords:

time | child | swinging on vine | canary | drinking | 

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Genres:

Short | Comedy | Fantasy

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Details

Official Sites:

The Jim Henson Company

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

1965 (USA)

Filming Locations:

Greenwich, Connecticut, USA

Company Credits

Production Co:

Jim Henson Company, The, Muppets

Technical Specs

Runtime:

9 min

Sound Mix:

Mono

Color:

Color

Did You Know?

Trivia

One of Jim Henson's daughters portrayed the toddler seen running around during the stripper montage.

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Quotes

[first lines]
[last lines]
Man: [only line of dialogue in the film] Help!

User Reviews

Time Piece is a definite far-out early Jim Henson masterpiece

Just saw this early experimental short by the creator of the Muppets, Jim Henson, on YouTube as linked by Amid on Cartoon Brew. It's basically an abstract animated slide show of Henson walking to work, having dinner with his wife, jumping on a pogo (with other people on that at various moments), etc. All done to a constant drumbeat with occasional cries of "Help!" from Henson. There's some adult humor here so I don't recommended this to children. Some of the cuts and montage that I remember from the Muppets' later TV show "Seseme Street" probably came from here. Anyone who thinks of Jim Henson as mainly a children's puppeteer would probably really be blown away with Time Piece. If you liked this, there's a short Henson did with sound man Raymond Scott called Ripples, also on YouTube. Highly recommended!