I walked in off the street that day in 1989, on the chance that someone at Henson Associates would agree to view my work. Will Morrison, President of Production, saw a few of my pieces and brought them to Jim Henson. Henson said he’d give me a few minutes during his break, and ended up sitting with me for almost 4o minutes. He really got into my goofy little characters, and asked about the stories behind each one. He was excited by my ideas and the way I made them come to life in my characters, which I sculpted out of plastilina clay and kneaded erasers and painted in bright colors.

At the end of our interview, he turned to Will and said, “This stuff is great... but how are we going to use him?

Will answered, “Character development.”

“Sol, I’ve been wanting to develop a puppet that looks like a Picasso, but no one’s been able to come up with one. Let’s see what you can do.”

That’s how my Picasso character was born. Tragically for the world, Jim Henson died unexpectedly shortly afterwards, and all his projects were put on hold... including character development.

Bronx Boy | Character Development for Jim Henson

In the years just after WWII, we used to make our own toys out of stuff we found. We saw the older kids on the block making scooters out of orange crates, and nails, and the wheels off old ball-bearing skates. We re-created our own versions and raced them down the hills, waging scooter smash wars with the kids around the block. Sometimes we were motorcycle cops giving tickets to the parked cars lining the gutter, and sometimes our scooters were Flying Tigers and we were leather-helmuted, goggle-wearing adventurers!

El Symbiotico | Character Development for Jim Henson

Mayan is nearsighted and sturdy, walking long distances in his official duties, constantly losing his ceremonial ornaments as he goes.

Ryan is a headdress with a purpose. In exchange for an easy ride, he willingly climbs down, rescues the ornaments as they fall, replaces them, and climbs back up to his perch.