Muppets + Violence = Coffee

I just discovered this brilliant ad campaign for Wilkins Coffee that was done by Jim Henson in the late 50s and early 60s. It's great to see early versions of the Muppets in these 8 second adds. It's also good to see that Henson's sense of humor was there from the very beginning.

I ran across these ads in a footnote in Uncommon Grounds by Mark Pendergrast. It mentions Wilkins Coffee as a Washington D.C. roaster from the 50s. But other than that I haven't been able to track down any more info on the company. It doesn't seem that Wilkins is still with us. But thanks to the wonders of YouTube, the ads are here for us to enjoy.

Also, this amazing/scary Muppet wiki explains it all including the vinyl puppets of Wilkins and Wotkins that the company offered in 1958. (Enter into super-scary territory by following Muppet Wiki on Twitter.) I don't know about vinyl puppets but somebody needs to make some tshirts of these guys.