There are a lot of neat old Jim Henson commercials and short films floating out there on the internet. My favorite are the two industrial films he made for Wilson's meats, but the old Wilkens coffee ads are also priceless. A couple of the lesser known projects he did in these pre-Sesame Street days are advertising films he made for Pak-Nit--a supposed miracle fabric that didn't shrink or stretch in the dryer. The first was "Shrinkel and Stretchel" and the next was "Shrinkenstein" and the final film was "Stretchelstiltskin" (though I am having trouble finding any information on this last film).
"Shrinkel and Stretchel" is a short film that is obviously patterned after the old story of "Hansel and Gretel". However, in this case, the two characters are thrown into an over by an evil witch---and they come out just fine thanks to Pac-Nit! Unfortunately, the very weird sense of humor that pervades most of Henson's work of the 50s and 60s is missing in this one--and it sure could have used more jokes. My assumption is that the Pac-Nit folks were apprehensive about being THAT weird. Worth seeing if you are a die-hard fan of the Muppets and Jim Henson. Otherwise, probably not worth your time.
