Before he went full-blown hippie in the late ‘60s, Jim Henson would have been called a hipster by the standards of the day- a young white jazz enthusiast who grew a beard before it was acceptable and probably smoked reefer before the Beatles made it cool. Of course, that era’s Henson looks a lot like one of today’s hipsters as well- a skinny bearded artsy guy who gave everything a try before anyone else.
 
Subcultural noodling aside though, what I really came here to point out is just how freaking cute he was back then. I grew up knowing him in his later hippie incarnation (which he basically held onto for the last 20+ years of his life), which was endearing but never attractive. Images of the young Jim, though—before he grew his hair but after he grew his beard—are always entrancing. He’s a bearded boy in man-clothes, all gangly limbs and twinkly eyes. In other words, he’s Kermit the Frog in hipster human form. And seriously, what could be hotter than that?
(written by Guest Cougar Elle!)