Seven decades of Muppets

It’s the 70th anniversary of the Muppets this year! I, and probably many people, associate the Muppets with the 1970s and ’80s — the era of “The Muppet Show” and films like “The Great Muppet Caper.” They really started in 1955, though, when University of Maryland students Jim Henson and Jane Nebel (later Henson) created a live puppet show, “Sam and Friends,” which aired live twice every weekday in Washington, D.C.