Alexander the Grape

Alexander the Grape is an unfinished animated short film written and produced by Jim Henson in 1965.

The film tells the story of Alexander, an "itty-bitty" grape who lived in the middle of a bunch of grapes in a fruit store. Feeling threatened by Freddy the Fierce, a towering watermelon, Alexander wishes to be a watermelon himself. He goes to the library and studies to reach his aspiration, and after transforming into several larger fruits, he finally becomes a watermelon. Alexander returns to the grocery store to square off with Freddy, but just before their duel, a lady takes Freddy away for dessert. Alexander is left to realize that life as a watermelon is far lonelier than life as a grape in a bunch. He turns back into a tiny grape again, and the story ends happily with Alexander aging to a ripe, old raisin.

Henson started developing the film after experimenting with cutout animation in Time Piece. He wrote the script, drew storyboards and commissioned Billy Mure to write the music. The audio for the short was recorded in November of 1965. It featured the voices of Jerry Juhl as Alexander, and Henson as Freddy the Fierce.

Although Jim Henson never completed the film, in 2009, the Henson Company Archives rediscovered the audio tracks and animated footage that had been finished. The resulting film filled the missing visuals with Henson's original storyboards, and was first publicly shown in March 2011 at an event promoting A Tale of Sand. The archival reconstruction of the short was later posted on the Henson Company's YouTube Channel in November 2011.

External links

• Falk, Karen. "Jim Henson's Red Book", 11/24/1965 – Recorded “Alexander the Grape”