40 years later, juggler Michael Moschen recalls working with David Bowie on Jim Henson’s Labyrinth

40 years later, the juggler from Jim Henson's Labyrinth looks back

To pull off the elaborate hand tricks, Henson, who directed the film, hired a juggler named Michael Moschen. During the scenes, Moschen hid behind Bowie, pressed up against his back, with his arm inserted under Bowie’s armpit. He would then manipulate the crystal ball — without being able to see it — in a position where it appeared as though it was Bowie’s own hand. Despite the crudity of the effect, it's entirely convincing onscreen.

Indeed, as Moschen tells Polygon on the 40th anniversary of The Labyrinth, the original plan was to have Bowie do the tricks himself and for Moschen to teach him. However, it quickly became clear to Moschen that there was a much more practical solution — he just had to convince Henson and Bowie.

Meeting Jim Henson

Michael Moschen didn’t appear in Labyrinth via an audition for jugglers. Instead, a chance meeting with Jim Henson led to Moschen flying to England’s legendary Elstree Studios and working with David Bowie, one of the biggest music stars of the 20th century.

Michael Moschen: I met Jim Henson through a friend of mine, a great sculptor named John Khan. He was teaching Jim's son sculpture and John had an opening of his work and he had a big party. He asked me to perform, so I did some of the crystal ball stuff and Jim was there. Well, it turned out that Jim Henson's birthday was in a couple of weeks, so his people got in touch with me and said, “Would you perform at his birthday party?” I said, “Sure, let's do it.”

For Jim Henson’s birthday, it was a big ballroom show. I was nervous, but I did a good job. The next thing I knew, they whisked me offstage and brought me up to meet with Jim and the producer of Labyrinth. They said, “What would you say to going over to London and trying to teach David Bowie how to do your stuff?” The next week, they flew me over and I sat in a room with David Bowie and Jim Henson for an hour or so, trying to work out if there was any way to teach him.

Now, a quick little digression. A couple of years before, Miloš Forman, the director, was making the movie Hair and he brought in me and my partner at the time to meet with Twyla Tharp and dancer Peter Martins to try to teach them the fire swinging that we were doing in our routine.

So, going into this meeting with David Bowie and Jim Henson, I had experience with trying to teach somebody that didn't have the background, but did have physical skills. So I went into this meeting and said, "Look, I'm kind of a specialist, and either David Bowie does it mediocre, or I do it really well, if we can work it out [for the camera]." I didn't care one way or the other. I thought it would be cool if I got to teach David Bowie, but Jim realized, “Let's just have you do it, Michael.”

Working with David Bowie

While Moschen had crafted his crystal-ball juggling routine for his act, doing it in Labyrinth presented a new challenge, as he had to do it entirely blind and usually with one hand while crouched behind David Bowie. That was difficult enough, but Moschen also had a more personal concern as well.

Moschen: The crystal ball piece was my first artistic piece. I had done a great deal of research for it and there was a lot of emotion in it. I crafted it because my sister was dying of cancer and it was all about that. It was the first technique I made in my career that was very much an expressive piece, so I wrestled with the idea of the crystal ball stuff going worldwide as David Bowie's thing. Bowie was a million times bigger than me, so it was one of those things that I had to work out. I actually asked the producer about this directly, I said, 'You know, I've got a fear about this' and I explained it to him. And his response was great. He said, 'Well, we think we're paying you enough money, so you should relax.'

They told me they needed the ball to roll up his arm and then go around his hand and then have him hold it while delivering his lines. I went, "Okay, let me just practice that.” If you've seen "The Making of Labyrinth," you can see me over in the corner, practicing for hours, closing my eyes and trying to roll the ball up my arm and around my hand. There was a lot of trial and error because this was the first time I was doing it blind. I was also doing it with a leather glove on — with studs.

During filming, we tried it a number of times and it was not looking as good as we wanted it to because I was being kind of protective. As a performer, there are times when you can push things and times when you hold back. I was holding back because I didn't want to drop the ball on his foot. I didn't want to smash David Bowie in the face with a crystal ball. I didn't want to be the infamous guy that smashed Bowie's face.

But I found some courage and loosened up a bit more, and we got it. I give a tremendous amount of credit to Dave Bowie. He was very patient with having this guy in the same clothes as him, trying to be his arm doing this — and I don't have long arms! He gave me no problems, and he was amenable to doing the best work. That's the mark of a real top-notch professional, as far as I'm concerned.

As for Jim Henson, I remember, on a day off, he invited me to lunch at his house. Then we and a couple of people went out to a nearby park and flew kites. He was just such a generous guy and, to get to know him, it was thrilling for somebody who was just starting a career.