Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: FRIDAY, May 18, 1990 TAG: 9005180289
SECTION: BUSINESS PAGE: B4 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: The New York Times
DATELINE: LOS ANGELES LENGTH: Medium
The chief executive of Henson Associates Inc. was a master puppeteer, storyteller and performer who was literally part of his product.
As such, his death Wednesday raises many questions about the future of his organization, which Walt Disney Co. agreed to buy last August.
"Without a doubt, Jim was the guy," said Bob Weiss, a senior vice president at Disney who worked closely with Henson on a three-dimensional film attraction scheduled to open next year at the Disney-MGM Studios Tour in Lake Buena Vista, Fla.
"There are tremendous creative resources within the Henson company, but now it boils down to who is going to marshal those resources? That was Jim's role. He was the key person. This is like Disney dying. This is a huge blow."
Henson Associates is family owned, and several of Henson's five children are actively involved.
Susan Berry, a spokeswoman for the Henson organization, said the children and Henson's widow, Jane, expected to meet soon with Michael D. Eisner, Disney's chairman and chief executive.
Disney officials and entertainment industry analysts said they expected the proposed acquisition to be completed and the projects under way to be finished without interruption.
Henson,53, died in New York of streptococcus pneumonia a day after he was admitted to the emergency room of New York Hospital.
But some analysts suggested Disney would seek to renegotiate the final terms of the contract, which put a price of more than $100 million on Henson Associates.
"I would think they have to negotiate the contract with the estate and that portion of the price associated with his creative services would have to be reviewed," said Paul C. Marsh, an analyst with Bateman Eichler, Hill Richards in Los Angeles. "But how do you value creative services? It's priceless."
Erwin Okun, a spokesman for Disney, declined to comment on whether the company would seek to renegotiate.
"The original deal was for the acquisition of Henson Associates Inc., and accompanying it was a long-term contract for the creative services," Okun said. "Obviously he's gone and that is no longer part of the business. What he has left is an extraordinary company."
Okun said the contract included the services of the other puppeteers and creative staff of Henson Associates and that they had already been integrated into the Disney operation.
On Aug. 29, Disney agreed to spend what analysts said was $100 million to $150 million to acquire the publishing and licensing rights to all Muppets except those exclusively created for "Sesame Street."
The characters not acquired by Disney included Big Bird, Cookie Monster, Oscar the Grouch, Bert and Ernie, and the Count.
At the time, entertainment industry executives said Disney had not only added to its stable of characters a group of "evergreens," or characters that could be introduced to a new generation of children every few years, but had also denied its competitors access to the Henson creations.
Berry, the Henson spokeswoman, said it was too soon to answer questions about the future of the organization, Henson's characters or the unsigned Disney contract.
by CNB