As a fan of children’s television and Muppetry, I’ve always been interested in Sesame Street. I’m one of many children who have learned how to read from it, and as I got older, I still watch it now and again for the Muppetry and clever humor which can be enjoyed by any age. That’s why I found it interesting that two Sesame-related things will show up tomorrow which should be of interest to all Sesame fans- or Muppet fans in general.
Tomorrow night (check your local listings) on PBS, Independent Lens will air a documentary entitled The World According to Sesame Street. This documentary comments on how the show has been adapated for children in almost every country of the world, focusing on Sesame’s production in Bangladesh (Sisimpur), Kosovo (two different versions in Serbian and Albanian), and South Africa (featuring an HIV-positive Muppet character).
The documentary will be available for sale from Sony Wonder on the same day, alongside a new 3-DVD set (3! 3 DVDs! Ah-ah-ah!) called Old-School Sesame Street Volume 1: 1969-1973. This cool-sounding set features the season premieres of Sesame’s first five seasons, plus over 50 bonus sketches including classic animation clips, appearances by celebrities such as James Earl Jones and Johnny Cash, and classic Sesame songs such as C is for Cookie, AB-C-DEF-GHI, and the Top 40 hit Rubber Duckie, plus Jim Henson’s original pitch film featuring Kermit, Rowlf, and a Muppet boardroom (“Isn’t this show being made for kids who don’t know anything? Then why don’t we call it Hey Stupid!”) Here’s a review from the good folks at Muppet Central.
I don’t work for Sesame Workshop, I just love what they do and I thought other Dopers would be interested in this look at Sesame Worldwide, and Sesame Street B.E. (before Elmo). My only question is that why, after 37 years, do we still not know how to get there?
Thanks for the heads-up! It seems our local station is airing this tomorrow at 9 PM, and not being a big evening TV watcher on most nights, I would have most likely missed it if not for this thread.
Sesame Workshop has some clips in Flash from the Old-School DVD on their site. Looks pretty good. (And, as it points out at the bottom of the page, they’re a non-profit organization- all of the proceeds they make go directly into production of Sesame Street and other projects, as they have for years. Why can’t more PBS kids’ show producers be like that?)
Thank you very much for pointing this DVD out!! My brother and I have been enjoying watching whatever old clips we could find on YouTube. Now we’ve got DVDs to enjoy.
I’m going to buy sets for all of my friends who just had babies. This is GOOD STUFF.
I am looking forward to the Independent Lens thing, too. Ever since they started showing that promo in the summer that proclaimed “How does a bird teach the world to read?” I have been wondering when I would find the answer. Now I know!
That is wrong, but hilarious I love Joe Pesci-Grover asking the little kid “Do I make you laugh? Am I here to fuckin’ amuse you?” Yes you are, Grover, yes you are.
Do they have the one about the Aligator King and his Seven Sons?
Or the one about the number 10 - Ten Tiny Turtles on the Telephone talking to the grocery man, we would like some lettuce please send us ten heads, please, and ten sweet potatoes and ten rutababgas with-a dimples on their knees?
I swear that damn turtle bit has been in my head since I was ten years old…
Once the set is in my hands, I’ll post a complete list of sketches. I’ll just leave you with one useless fact: the “Ladybug’s Picnic,” “10 Turtles,” and “Aliigator King” sketches mentioned were among a handful animated by Bud Luckey, who later wrote and sung the Boundin’ short for Pixar which appeared in front of The Incredibles. Now that I think about it, the voice sounds pretty much the same (no surprise)!
Hold on, I might be wrong about the Alligator King, but it’s on another one. I’ll post next time we see it, I’m postive that one’s somewhere in our collection.
I just finished watching The World According to Sesame Street on PBS and found it very interesting. I think it proves that Sesame Street, in whatever form, can bring joy and information to a child. It was surprising all of the political violence in Bangladesh and racism in Kosovo that the producers had to put up with.
Here’s the first in my list of Old School contents, focusing mainly on the pitch film. This list is both to inform those interested in the set what it contains and can be used as a reference to those who already own it:
disc one
FBI warning
Sony Wonder logo
Sesame Workshop promo with Whoopi Goldberg v/o
Electric Company DVD promo
menu: Ernie sings “Rubber Duckie” on TV set
Pitch film 1968
CTW co-founder/Sesame creator Joan Cooney introduction (cut off at beginning)
Joan explains goals of SS, to teach in style of commercials
Kermit and Rowlf introduce film on circles
title card “ROUND,” film on circles in everyday places (traffic light, etc.) to jazz soundtrack
Rowlf explains “new CTW show” (intentionally not using name) which will use Muppets
Muppet boardroom is introduced, plans to come up with name- “2 And 2 Are 5 Show” (“How about The 2 And 2 Ain’t 5 Show?”)
The show will be entertaining so “kids’ll race home from baseball” and costs a lot of money to make!
Cartoon: little girl sings ABCs, is criticized (“next time won’t you sing with me?” “There won’t BE any next time!”)
Cartoons will be repeated to teach the lesson- “commercials for the alphabet”
Rowlf explains advisory board- “any frogs on this advisory board?”
Live-action film: hands compared to construction equipment. One kid “breaks down” and has to be repaired
Boardroom suggets “Little Kiddy Show,” which is made more specific
Rowlf introduces countdown films, three cartoons on counting backwards
Cartoon #1: Man counts down from 10 to 1, rocketship falls over
Cartoon #2: Man counts down, rocket blasts off at 4
Cartoon#3: Man counts down, he blasts off instead!
Cartoon: 1-10, “1, 2 erase your shoe”
Boardroom, title has grown to “Itty-Bitty Farm & City Witty Ditty Nitty-Gritty Dog & Kitty Pretty Little Kiddy Show”, one member eats the table
Dr. Jerry Lesser of Harvard, chairman of advisory board explains process of creating short film
Cartoon on “J” sketched out, debated- are the words to complicated? Is it too fast/slow?- voiced, and animated
Final cartoon: Story on “J”, man with junebug put in jail- lesson? Don’t jive a judge by jamming a junebug
Cartoon is tested on children: what letter did we see? Which word starts with J?
Boardroom is falling asleep, thrown out after suggesting “Hey Stupid”
Kermit comes up with “Sesame Street”- a street where neat stuff happens (open sesame)
Cooney explains show will start in fall, should be aired M-F 10AM east/west, 9AM midwest, rerun afternoon
