Don Sahlin

Don Sahlin (June 19, 1928 - February 19, 1978) was Jim Henson's primary designer and puppet builder in the 1960s and 70s.

Don Sahlin's work in puppetry spanned the worlds of television, film, stage, and even stop-motion animation. Born in Stratford, Connecticut, his interest in puppetry led to briefly studying with Rufus Rose, puppeteer and builder for The Howdy Doody Show. Drafted into the army but released in 1953, he put his puppet experience to work on Michael Myerberg's stop-motion animated version of the operetta Hansel and Gretel. This led to other assignments in Hollywood as a puppet animator, notably working with the company Project FX on several of George Pal's films. (Pal was the creator of the Puppetoons, whose influence can be seen in many similar Sesame Street vignettes, like "King of 8"). Sahlin's films with Pal included Tom Thumb (animating playroom toys) and The Time Machine, for which Sahlin provided effects shots and even appeared on-camera, as the clothing store's window dresser in a pixilation sequence.

By 1960, Sahlin had moved to New York and was working with puppeteer Burr Tilstrom of "Kukla and Ollie" fame, building and re-building characters for a Broadway show. It was around this time that Sahlin first met Jim Henson, and soon became his primary designer/fabricator. His first character was Rowlf, for television appearances and commercials. Sahlin soon became Henson's primary designer and builder, going on to create and build Muppets for Sesame Street, The Muppet Show, Emmet Otter's Jug-Band Christmas, The Muppet Movie, various commercials, and Tales of the Tinkerdee.

Sahlin is the designer credited among Henson staff as the creator of Ernie and Bert, Grover, Cookie Monster and other classic Sesame Street characters. He is "the inventor" of the Muppet look, from a design point of view. As discussed in the book Jim Henson's Designs and Doodles, many of the Muppets began as Henson's rough sketches, which Sahlin then built and modified as needed. This often included special mechanisms or effects; for the LaChoy Dragon commercials, this meant "devising a system for this early full-body character to actually breathe fire."

The character of Crazy Harry, originally named Crazy Donald, was purportedly patterned after Sahlin's practical jokes, notably rigging an explosion which blew up Dave Goelz's desk.

Sahlin passed away on February 18, 1978; Fraggle Rock is dedicated to him. Jim also had a bench with an inscription put in Don's favorite place on Hampstead Heath in London (the highest point, overlooking London city). The Heath is not far from where the Hensons lived and where the Muppet Workshop was during The Muppet Show. When Jim died, the Henson Company also got a message inscribed on the bench in memory of Jim.

Credits

 * The Muppet Movie (1979) -Muppet Designer
 * Emmet Otter's Jug-Band Christmas (1977) - Designed puppets, including Ma Otter
 * The Muppet Show- Builder of Rowlf, Beaker, Sam the Eagle, Lenny the Lizard, Mahna Mahna, Snowths, and "Special Puppets"
 * The Muppet Musicians of Bremen- Built Leroy the Donkey, Rover Joe, and others
 * The Great Santa Claus Switch- Built Thig, Thog, and various Frackles
 * The Frog Prince- King Goshposh (with Kermit Love)
 * Sesame Street- Designer and/or builder of Bert, Ernie, Big Bird (first version of his head, largely redone by Kermit Love), Cookie Monster, The Amazing Mumford
 * ''Hey Cinderella!- Built Splurge, King Goshposh (with Kermit Love), Featherstone
 * Time Piece -special effects, brief on-camera appearance
 * The Jimmy Dean Show- Built Rowlf
 * The Ed Sullivan Show - Beautiful Day Monster, Sclrap Flyapp, various
 * Commercials- Southern Colonel, Sir Linit, Delbert the LaChoy Dragon, Baskerville

Non-Henson Credits

 * Hansel and Gretel (1954)- stop motion animator
 * Tom Thumb (1957)- stop-motion animator (Devils, Other Toys)
 * The Time Machine (1960)- stop-motion animator, actor (as the window dresser)
 * The Wonderful World of the Brothers Grimm (1962)- stop-motion animator (Elves)