The Muppet Income Tax Show

The Muppet Income Tax Show was the working title of one of several 1970s proposals for Muppet specials built around holidays or seasonal events, similar to the aired The Muppets Valentine Show.Jim Henson's Red Book. "2/15/1971 – ‘Goldie Hawn Special Air’." Less of a traditional holiday, The Muppet Income Tax Show took the concept of taxes and paired it with a monetarily inclined guest star.
The concept was laid out in the start of the proposed outline: "This is a holiday special based on that great national non-holiday: Income Tax
Day. The guest star for this money-oriented show is, of course, Jack Benny.""The Muppet Income Tax Show" by Laura Leff, editor. The Jack Benny Times newsletter, May-August 2013 issue. Proposal text supplied by Craig Shemin, reprinted by permission of The Jim Henson Company. The most famous aspect of Jack Benny's comedic persona was his blend of stinginess and utter greed, and he and Jim Henson had crossed paths a couple of times on the talk/variety show circuit (particularly a January 23, 1974 Tonight Show encounter). Benny had encountered the IRS periodically on his radio and TV show (responding "Yipe!" when they show up).
No specific names are used for any of the Muppets, although use of Muppet monsters is specified multiple times. The proposed special would be sketch driven, similar to the Muppets' appearances to date as well as Jack Benny's own variety show specials. The proposal makes extensive use of Benny (opening with a shot of a dollar bill which, upon zooming in, has not George Washington but Jack Benny, welcoming the audience to the show). He explains that he plans to make Income Tax Day a national holiday, and to merchandise it, selling greeting cards (a regular sideline of his character since the 1940s) and worn clothing and shoes. He expects to make a significant amount of money, "maybe enough to pay his taxes." A choral group of Muppets come out to perform "traditional Income Tax Carols."
The rest of the proposal loosely gives "ideas of how the musical numbers and comedy sketches might look," most featuring Benny in some incarnation or another. The sketches reflect a mixture of patriotism (seeing taxes as a proud duty) and broad satire. Jack Benny died in December 1974, curtailing any further development.
==Sketch ideas==
*A troubador with a lute sings of the impending tax day, as a shot of a model town shows a gigantic ominous figure crushing everything in its path. The singer stops the scene to say that's a misconception, and a spotlight reveals the giant isn't a monster but a kindly Uncle Sam. Sam reminds the audience that the United States of America is a democracy and "Tax time is your opportunity to actively participate in the running of your country." Sam (noted as reminiscent of "the Jolly Green Giant. Ho ho ho.") shakes hands with smaller Muppet people.
*Jack Benny plays an executive in a large corporation, whose board is trying to scheme how to pay the least amount of taxes. After much discussion, the other executives decide to sacrifice Jack, saving thousands of dollars and dividing his assets (home, car, and even wife) among themselves.
*The bluegrass ballad of average taxpayer John Hay, working on his return when "a shady fast-talking accountant" urges him to exaggerate one expense. The singers tell him everyone does it and "it's the American way, John Hay." The IRS calls to investigate, and the accountant tells John to bribe him, resulting in John's arrest and lengthy jail sentence. The song is repeated on a sadder note, "with much sniffing and blowing of noses."
*A prehistoric sketch with cavepeople (described as ape-men) who have a freshly killed mastadon. Jack Benny, as an official caveperson, appears to collect taxes with a cleaver. He cuts away portions for state and municipal taxes, deductions for children, charitable contributions, etc. "In the end, the cave man who killed the animal is left with one foot and the right ear."
*Muppets sing a sad "The Best Things in Life Are Free" as they file into an IRS building, with stacks of cash, briefcases, and even piggy banks. They come out wearing barrels but still singing. 
*The Internal Revenue Bureau in Washington, D.C. has installed two enormous Muppet computers to double check the returns, with an engineer present. The machines find that someone in the bureau is siphoning off millions of dollars. Computer one identifies computer two as the culprit who "must be destroyed" as the engineer shouts stop. "It's another Muppet blow-up ending." 
*For the closing sketch, Jack Benny (as himself, or at least the established comedy version thereof) is called to the IRS to explain his deductions. The bureaucrat is "an evil-looking IRS Muppet who grins with false friendship and warmth." (Though not specified in the proposal, this was the function Frank Nelson typically filled on Jack's series and specials.) As organ music plays, the official claims to care about Jack, the little man, justice, and truth, and turns into a song number. "We care, if you really made those contributions/We care, if you've really told the truth/We care..." and the song becomes a rousing finale, with foot stomping, hand clapping, and the entire cast entering, including John Hay, Uncle Sam, the taxpayers, the cavemen, the executives, the computer... and Jack Benny. "At the end, Jack and all the taxpayers pay their taxes, and all of us are proud to be part of The American Way."
==Sources==
Category:Unfinished TV
Category:Finance