Bert and Ernie NOT named after the cops in IAWL?

Cafe Society
1

I just checked the IMDB for their listing on Sesame Street*. Under “Trivia”, they mentioned that, contrary to widespread belief, Bert and Ernie were not named after the cops in It’s a Wonderful Life. Hm. Is that really not true? Has anyone ever heard a verifiable claim that they were?

*Reason I was looking up Sesame Street, I was trying to find info on that one cast member who was arrested for drunk-and-disorderly, all the time bleating, “You can’t arrest me! I’m Paul from Sesame Street!” Or is that a UL?

2

I’ve heard it was pretty unlikely. Jim Henson supposedly never claimed to be an especial fan of It’s a Wonderful Life. He created the Sesame Street characters before the film had begun its regular run on TV so at the time it was just another obscure old movie.

Incidentally, my grandfathers were named Bert and Ernie and predate both the movie and the muppets.

3

I see. Thank you. Actually, I’m glad to hear that my beloved Muppets were not tainted by an association with that bilge. (Apologies to fans of IAWL.)

Cool!

Any word on the other anecdote?

Oh, and I’m inclined to believe that Statler and Waldorf were, indeed, named after Henson’s former professors who told him puppetry was a useless art.

4

I had heard that they were named after the hotels. In fact, when Waldorf’s wife appeared in one episode of the Muppet Show, her name was Astoria.

jayjay

5

Oh for god’s sake…

6

So far, all of the responses to this thread are correct.

Check out the FAQ’s at Muppet Central

7

Are you talking about David

8

They didn’t have anything about my grandfathers. You heard it here first.

I think the word you’re looking for is “whoooosh”.

9

Roger Ebert was once asked the Bert and Ernie question, which he turned over to the good people at Jim Henson Productions. Their response: “It’s just a coincidence.”

Besides, It’s A Wonderful Life didn’t really become popular until it fell in the public domain.

10

Minor nitpick. Re the Bert and the Ernie in “It’s a Wonderful Life,” one was a cop and one was a cab driver. Not sure which was which; I think Bert was the cop and Ernie was the cab driver, but it could have been the other way around.

11

Bert was the cop, played by Ward Bond. Ernie was the cab driver played by Frank Faylen.

12

Maybe. I didn’t see anything in that link about an arrest.

samclem, thank you for the link!

13

Interestingly enough, the IMDB states states in its trivia for “It’s a Wonderful Life” that the Muppets were named after the characters from the movie. click here for the IMDB page. Of course, all things being equal, I tend to believe the guy that actually created the characters, so I guess I can chalk it up as just another UL. Pity. I always liked that one.

14

Well, I liked the “professors” one. :frowning: I knew there was a Waldorf hotel, but for some reason, I thought it was Stater hotel, not Statler, so I didn’t make the connection.

P.S. Do I have your permission to quote you in my sig?

15

As far as I’m concerned, go for it! You are obviously a person of refined and discerning tastes, judging by your apparent reading material.

16

Why thank you! :::blush:::

17

I used to give tours at the University of Maryland, Henson’s alma mater, and part of our standard schpiel was that Statler & Waldorf were in fact based on two university professors who told Jim to lose the puppets and get a real major or career plan. They weren’t named after the profs, but their personalities derived from them.

18

Ohhhhhhhhhhhhhhh.

Okay.

19

It was David from Sesame Street, and it appears to be true. Here are some articles from the Nashville Tennessean that were posted on alt.tv.sesame-street when the subject came up a few years ago.

20

Apparently, the grief of losing Maria to Luis was too much for the poor guy.