The Muppet Movie and The Muppet Show with Harry Belafonte at Museum of the Moving Image

In tribute to Harry Belafonte after his passing, July’s Jim Henson World screening of The Muppet Movie was preceded by his Muppet Show episode. Widely hailed as one of the show’s finest, Belafonte’s guest star turn included his performance of his biggest hit, “Day-O,” a drum battle with Animal, and the powerful “Turn the World Around,” accompanied by new Muppet characters inspired by African masks. At a Jim Henson Legacy event in 2003, Belafonte reflected on the experience: “Nothing has ever been quite as enduring and as satisfying as those days and those hours and those moments I spent with the Muppet family.”  

Jane Henson and Harry Belafonte at the Jim Henson Tribute event at the American Film Institute in 2003.

Jim’s colleagues, Arthur Novell, Martin Baker, Al Gottesman, and Diana Birkenfield with
Harry Belafonte at the American Film Institute, 2003.

African mask puppet created for Harry Belafonte’s “Turn the World Around” song on
The Muppet Show. Photo: Caroly Wilcox.