Jim Thurman
Acting
Biography
James Frederick Thurman (March 13, 1935 – April 14, 2007) was an American actor, writer, director, cartoonist, and producer. He is best known for the writings of TV gags for the likes of Bob Hope, Bob Newhart, Carol Burnett, Bill Cosby, and Dean Martin. Born in Dallas, Texas but raised in Vicksburg, Michigan, Thurman received a degree from the University of Michigan. He began his career as a copywriter at various advertising agencies in Los Angeles, and San Francisco. Later he moved to Los Angeles with his writing partner Gene Moss, where they formed a boutique advertising agency, "Creative Advertising Stuff". Moss and Thurman scripted all 156 installments of the 1965 cartoon series Roger Ramjet as well as the puppet comedy series Shrimpenstein, where Thurman voiced the title character for satirical children's television program. In 1967 Thurman teamed up with Carol Burnett to begin writing gags for The Carol Burnett Show, scripting running gags and writing whole scenes. In 1969, Thurman joined the writing team for Sesame Street, scripting both street and Muppet scenes as well as producing many animated sketches. He also played Digby Dropout's sidekick "Dunce" in The Man from Alphabet, a detective show which appeared in Sesame Street's pilots but was not used in the actual series due to poor testing results. In 1972, Thurman teamed up with Bob Newhart to begin writing gags for The Bob Newhart Show, scripting both therapy and regular scenes. One year later in 1973 Thurman did the voice of Christopher Clumsy for a Cliff Roberts-produced cartoon about shapes as well as Jake the Snake in 1988 (also for Sesame Street). In 1977 Jim worked as a consultant for Warner Cable's innovation Qube system in Columbus, Ohio. He was on the creative team for the interactive "Columbus Alive" news magazine program. In 1982, Thurman teamed up with Paul Fierlinger to create, write, and voice Teeny Little Super Guy for Sesame Street. He also wrote sketches for Jim Henson's The Muppet Show in the fourth season. Thurman subsequently worked on most of CTW's other series, as a staff writer and cartoon voiceover on The Electric Company and 3-2-1 Contact, Fat Albert and the Cosby Kids, and as head writer/senior producer for Square One TV; on the later series, he provided the voice of Mr. Glitch and the off-screen announcer for Mathman, scripted the Mathnet segments, and Dirk Niblick of the Math Brigade. Thurman co-created the Math Talk package with Dave Connell, as senior producer. Thurman also wrote for Muppet Babies. In recent years Jim continued to write, do voice work, and also wrote a weekly column for his local paper, the Berkshire Record. Thurman also wrote and voiced several animated sexual education specials for Buzzco Associates, Inc. He has also done voice work for home video releases such as the Richard Scarry Learning videos and the Dr. Seuss Beginner Book Video series. In 1994-95, Thurman voiced the worm and wrote a few Dr. Seuss stories in Playtoons series. In 2006, he wrote wraparound material and voiced Bob for the Old School Volume 1 DVD. Also in 2006, he wrote Books by You. In 2007, he last voiced SingStar POP Bundle on April 3 (so you can use your microphone). He died in Sheffield, Massachusetts after a brief illness on April 14, 2007, one month after his 72nd birthday.
Known For
Go behind the curtains as Kermit the Frog and his muppet friends struggle to put on a weekly variety show.
The Muppet Show
Square One Television is an American children's television program produced by the Children's Television Workshop to teach mathematics and abstract mathematical concepts to young viewers. Created and broadcast by PBS in the United States from January 26, 1987 to November 6, 1992, the show was intended to address the math crisis among American schoolchildren. After the last episode aired, the show went into reruns until May 6, 1994. The show was revived for the 1995–1996 PBS season as a teacher instruction program, Square One TV Math Talk. Square One was also shown on the U.S. cable television channel Noggin in syndication beginning in 1999, but was removed from its lineup along with other Sesame Workshop shows on May 26, 2003.
Square One Television
A delightful tool to help kids learn their letters, Richard Scarry's Best ABC Video Ever finds Busytown pals Huckle Cat and Lowly Worm discovering that it's Alphabet Day at school. Their teacher, Miss Honey, invites her students to join in a spirited rendition of "The Alphabet Song." Next comes a series of 26 vignettes developed around each letter and cleverly intertwined with Sergeant Murphy's investigation into the mystery of some stolen bananas. Simple, sweet, and as entertaining as it is instructive, this production exemplifies the great care put into the Richard Scarry video series.
Richard Scarry's Best ABC Video Ever!
Teeny Little Super Guy was an animated short featured on PBS's Sesame Street. The shorts featured a small animated man, the Teeny Little Super Guy, who resides in a live-action, regular-sized kitchen. Robert W. Morrow described the shorts as including "parables of childhood conflict and striving."
Teeny Little Super Guy
The Muppets of Sesame Street and the cast of The Electric Company take over the ABC Nightly News when the newsroom staff takes a lunch break.
Out to Lunch
Sesame Street celebrated its 10th anniversary in the spring of 1979 with a half-hour PBS special hosted by James Earl Jones titled A Walking Tour of Sesame Street. The special aired on individual PBS stations at various times between March and May 1979. (Muppet Wiki)
A Walking Tour of Sesame Street
Bob Hope returns to his stage role in this updated theatrical TV presentation of the musical
Roberta
The animated 30-minute piece is designed to act as an icebreaker for discussions between parents and their children.
Talking About Sex: A Guide for Families
A man tries to record a crocodile eating crisp crackers, but he doesn’t hear the cracker sound twice. So he decides to go in the crocodile's jaw to hear it, but the crocodile ends up eating him instead.
Crocodile eating crackers
An very very old man lives with his very old cat, his old old goldfish and his old dog on a houseboat, until one day the wolf Cuthbert Q Divine knocks on the door...
It's So Nice to Have a Wolf Around the House
There are people who think it is more important to choose a philosophical side or team and to stick to its fundamentals, rather than allow free thinking and debate.
Right!
A smoker arrives at a beach via sports car and is surprised to encounter a cloud who encourages him to be a "quitter." The well-informed nimbus delineates the reasons for cigarettes' allure, including the big screen's notorious puffers: John Wayne in Fighting tigers, Bette Davis and Charles Boyer in Now Voyager and Casablanca's Peter Lorre. It also cites incentives for abandoning the habit: cigarettes' terrible odor and the increased risks of heart disease and cancer caused by smoking. The cloud refutes popular excuses for not quitting, nervousness and weight gain, and offers tips to aid the smoker kick the habit
The Quitter
Lily Bunny counts from 1 to 20 in this exciting counting adventure. Huckle Cat, Lowly Worm, Bananas Gorilla, and others help Lily find funny things to count everywhere. Learning to count has never been more fun.
Richard Scarry's Best Counting Video Ever!
Puts a new slant on an old favorite fairy tale, bringing it up-to-date to explain such new age pop-psych phenomena as passive/aggressive behavior, co-dependency, compulsiveness and enabling. It even brings a new insight on the Prince's immediate passion for the sleeping Princess!!
Snowie and the Seven Dorps
One Fish, Two Fish, Red Fish, Blue Fish, Oh, the Thinks You Can Think and The Foot Book...three great Seuss stories all on one video
One Fish, Two Fish, Red Fish, Blue Fish
Based on his own personal memories of his long-time close friend, actor and voice actor Jim Thurman, Fierlinger recounts a number of unbelievable events they experienced together. A memory travelogue.