Google Logo Celebrates Jim Henson’s 75th Birthday

A new Google logo that’s on the company’s home page today celebrates what would have been Jim Henson’s 75th birthday.

The logo features six new Muppet characters, each of which can be controlled as if you’re the puppeteer. A couple of the Muppets do special actions when you click to activate them. Click the red man (2nd from left) and move your mouse fast enough to make him dizzy, and you might see his animated action. Or, click the red monster (the letter “e”) and get him to look at the green Muppet for a while and you might see a different animation. (By the way, there’s no sound on this doodle; Muppets don’t make sounds — human puppeteers do that.)

Jim Henson, of course, is the creator of the Muppets and was the voice of Kermit the Frog (and other Muppets). Although he died in 1990, his work lives on via The Jim Henson Company. And, as the video below shows, this doodle is a collaborative effort between Google and Henson’s company.

Henson’s son, Brian, has also written a remembrance of his dad on the Google blog.