Time Piece

Time Piece title card.

"Help!"

Time Piece is an experimental short film produced, directed, and written by Jim Henson, who also played the leading role.

Henson began the project in the spring of 1964 and continued to work on it for nearly a year, between commercial projects and various Muppet television appearances. The short film premiered in May 1965 at the Museum of Modern Art and was distributed through Pathe Contemporary films to arthouse theaters and the film festival circuit. It played in New York City along with the French feature A Man and a Woman.

The surrealist film, which runs slightly less than 9 minutes, follows a nameless man who lies in a hospital bed awaiting examination by a doctor through a wide range of experiences. Mundane daily activities are intercut with surreal fantasy and pop-culture references. The relentless passage of time is a recurring motif, both visually, through various clocks, and aurally, through a rhythmic percussion soundtrack which "ticks away" throughout. Key setpieces include an examination of workplace drudgery, a prolonged dinner sequence (intended as a spoof of a scene from the film Tom Jones), and a nightclub visit satirizing the striptease (including a dancing roast chicken and a marionette skeleton). The man also rides a pogo stick, shoots the Mona Lisa, escapes from prison, and gradually applies a coat of pink paint to a living elephant. He assumes different costumes and identities throughout and repeatedly utters the only dialogue in the film, a plaintive cry of "Help!" from increasingly incongruous and perilous positions.

Apart from the rapid montage cutting and superimposition of objects, Jim Henson used animation heavily to create an impressionistic feel. He personally animated scenes of moving patterns, anticipating those later utilized in various Sesame Street inserts. Don Sahlin supervised the use of pixillation and reverse motion to further "stylize" the movements.

Trivia

• Several Henson Associates employees appear briefly in the film: Frank Oz (as a messenger boy in the workplace sequence), Jerry Juhl (as the nightclub bartender), Don Sahlin (as the comedian taking the pie in the face), and Diana Birkenfield.
• Seagrams receives a "Special Thanks" credit, for multiple shots of Seagrams liquor bottles in the film.
• At a MuppetFest panel, Kirk Thatcher stated that one of Henson's daughters portrayed the toddler seen running around during the "strip" montage, but jokingly refused to specify who for fear of strangulation.

Awards

Time Piece received several film festival awards, including the Blue Ribbon Award from the American Film festival in 1967, and was nominated for an Academy Award in the "Best Short Subject, Live Action Subjects" category.

Cast

Jim Henson as the Man

Enid Cafritz as the Wife

With the Talents of

Jerry Juhl, Frank Oznowicz, Diana Birkenfield, Sandy Patterson, Dave Bailey, April March, Jim Hutchison, Barbara Richman, Dennis Paget

Credits

• Director of Photography: Ted Nemeth
• Music: Don Sebesky
• Percussion: Ed Shaunessy, George Devens
• Music Recorded by: Rudy Van Gelder
• Costumes and Makeup: Carroll Conroy
• Sound Effects: Frank C. Andriello
• Sound Effects Recorded by: Bill Schwartau
• Animation: Jim Henson
• Special Effects: Don Sahlin
• Special Thanks: Karl F. Meyer Clock Shop, Restaurant Copain, AMF, Seagrams
• Written and Directed by: Jim Henson
• Produced by Muppets Inc.

See also

• Time Piece: Film Study
• Time Piece Characters