After reading This website about Grover and laughing out loud a bit, I was generally recalling my fondest Sesame Street memories.
Sesame Street is where I learned French for the first time, where I found out about Peanut Butter and Banana sandwiches, and about sharing, and singing, and fun.
I watched Sesame Street recently, and it isn’t the same at all. I mean, why can the adults see Snuffy???
Anyway, please share some of your favourite Sesame Street moments for all of us to remember, relive, and put smiles on our faces.
Sing… sing a song… keep it simple to last the whole day long…
The reason Sesame Street’s changed so much is because they do a lot of research, and the show is designed around it.
I have to confess, I watch Sesame Street almost daily. It’s my and Aaron’s time together, and I look forward to it. I sing all (or most) of the songs to him, and when it comes time for the Letter of the Day (a short sketch with Cookie Monster trying to use the willpower he doesn’t have to not eat the cookie with the LoTD on it), I tell him words that start with that letter, especially words that are familiar and relevant to him. Today, the letter was B, so I told him about “baby” and “boy” and “Booga” (his nickname).
I think it helps that I grew up on Sesame Street, because I’m already familiar with most of the songs and characters. Aaron loves to hear me sing along, and I talk to him about what’s going on on the show. The time we spend together is absolutely the best hour of the day.
Robin’s dead right - nothing, not a thing, happens on SS by accident. I recall reading that they decided Snuffy had to be visible during the child sex abuse panic in the mid-80s, because they wanted kids to understand that they could get adults to see what, after all, is actually there.
My memories? Oh, Kermit-the-Frog reporting on the wolf’s destruction of the various pig houses. And (of course):
The biggest change to Sesame Street since we were kids is that the average audience age has gone down from about 4 to about 2, so they’ve simplified things a bit.
The episodic stories that were set “on the street” and used to be told throughout the show are now told uninterrupted, for instance.
I have always thought it was neat to be part of the very first generation of Sesame Street (which debuted when I was four.) Oddly, I do not recall any French, but I do remember learning a pretty fair amount of Spanish.
My favorite things about the show:
The cartoon segments about different letters and numbers (Ladybug Picnic, 10 Tiny Turtles On The Telephone, The Yawning Y, The O That Rolled Over and Over, etc.)
Ernie’s Boogie Woogie Sheep
The “Gift of the Magi” Christmas scene, where Bert & Ernie have each traded their most prized possessions to buy something special for the other - Ernie traded Rubber Ducky for a box to put paper clips in, and Bert traded his paperclip collection for a soapdish for Rubber Ducky. In the end, Mr. Hooper (man oh man, I miss him still) brings their treasures back. Holy smokes, just thinking about that brought me to tears again.
But… does anyone know whatever happened to David??
I liked the Keith Haring animations with giggling babies and barking dogs.
I used to laugh and laugh when Cookie Monster would go nuts and stuff the cookies into his mouth, making those “Myaaa-yaa-yum-yaa-yum” sounds and making cookie bits fly everywhere.
Also, I have vivid memories of the Doodlebugs (although their voices annoyed me) and the Chenille Aliens; “yeeeeep-yep-yep-yep-yep, uh-huh-uh-huh”
Mom said I went nuts when James Taylor came on to sing “Up On The Roof”. I guess I had a crush on him even then.
I always loved the “The Is Your Life” segment with Guy Smiley, with the talking fruits and vegetables and stuff.
Ooh, and that really short-tempered pianist who would bang his head on the keys going; “I can’t do it! I can’t do it!” I wish I knew his name. I guess his hair and his temperament would indicate he was a parody of Beethoven. I loved him.
There was a thread a few months back in which people recounted the Sesame Street skits that scared them. One of mine was when Harry (one of the big, blue monsters) roared at the lens and fogged up the screen (the image was just whited out) with his eyes showing through. Another one was a skit with Kermit doing a news report on the “Six Dollar Robot” (a spoof of the Six Million Dollar Man) when the robot went out of control and start sparking and smoking and moving about the lab after its head had fallen off. The Count also scared me when the room went dark and there was thunder and lightning (sorry, kung fu).
As for good memories, I always laughed at the baker who would be carrying something like ten coconut cream pies and announce it loudly just before tumbling down the stairs. Bert and Ernie were always funny (and no, I never thought of them as being gay, in fact I was too young then to even understand any concepts of sexuality, homo- or otherwise.) I also liked the skits devoted to a single letter or number. I can’t think of too many other specific skits, but I’m sure others will post them here.
She’s a real beauty, my number 9 cutie
She’s got 9 hairs on her head
1, 2, 3,4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9
Tied up in ribbons of red
She’s got 9 eyes, all the same size
Looking up, down, 'round, and straightahead
She’s got 9 holes in her turned up nose
And she snore when she goes to bed
She’s got 9 arms, that’s one of her charms
Each just like the other
Some people say she looks like her pa,
Some say she looks like her mother.
She’s got 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9 little toes on her foot
She likes to go hopping, but doesn’t like shopping
So mainly she just stays put
9!
Sorry for the song lyrics, but that is my fondest SS memory.
Wow… so many things that come back when others mention them! I loved the coconut ream pies thing… and the 1-12 song! Yay Sesame Street! Thanks to everyone who has put smiles on my face this afternoon yip yip yip yip uh huh!!! more more more!
Regarding the change in Sesame Street, my son is only two yrs old yet he prefers the older video tapes from the 80’s that I get from the library to what is on TV today.
Remember the blond-haired, mustached character in the sweater that laughed uncontrollably? It seems he had a foil who would usually get a letter pasted to his shirt. Vague memory here.
I loved the skits with “Bald Blue Man” and Grover the clumsy waiter.
I also loved the vaudevillian type humor and style of music in general prevalent in the old show.
Rest in peace, David* and Mr. Hooper.
*Mr. Hooper gets his name forever associated with the store, his portrait on the wall near Big Bird’s nest because he his character died within the context of the show. David just gets forgotten. I find this sad.
I have a book called Sesame Street Unpaved by David Borgenicht that is full of lyrics, pictures, scripts, and other information about the show–especially about its early days. The blurb on the back of the book states that it is the “first-ever authorized book about Sesame Street for adults”. It was published in recognition of Sesame Street’s 30th season. You other Sesamephiles might want to go check it out :).
Anyway, according to this book, the guy who played David, Northern Calloway, died in 1989. IIRC, he died of stomach cancer, and he had already left the show at that time. David was one of my favorite characters. I went to a Sesame Street exhibit a while ago at our local children’s museum, and they had a monitor showing Luis and Maria’s wedding. David did not look well then, IMO.
The head-banging piano guy was Don Music. They got rid of him because of complaints that kids were imitating him on their pianos at home!
They still show the pinball 1-12 sketches sometimes. They also still show the sketch where Ernie brings home a puppy and makes Bert guess what his surprise is. I always wondered what happened to the puppy after that!
I enjoy watching the show with my daughter (she’s 6, and still a big fan, although Cyberchase and Zoom and Yu-Gi-Oh are now her favorite shows). My favorite season was one from when she was a baby–Slimey became an astronaut and flew to the moon. It was also the last season before they really messed with the formula–the next season had “Elmo’s World”, and that turned me off the show a bit. I like that there are female monsters now, though–especially Rosita!
I’ve always been Bert to my little sister’s Ernie. (I actually thought that they were brothers when I was a little kid. They seem like siblings to me.)
Ten tiny turtles on the telephone
Talkin’ to the grocery man
Oh, we would like some lettuce
please send us ten heads please
And ten sweet potatoes
and ten rutabagas
with dimples on their knees
That will be with me forever, but I can’t remember the rest!
That’s not too bad considering I haven’t seen any Sesame Street sinc about 1980.
I also loved the one about the Aligator king and his seven sons. They all gave him gifts…what was it? Something about ruby rings and he broke all his teeth?
Lady Bug Picnic was another fav.
There is also something in the back of my mind pertaining to an operatic ode to the “Letter I”.
I loved Sesame Street. It was way better than Captain Kangaroo.
One of my favourites was when Cookie Monster sang a song about himself to the tune of the theme from ‘Shaft’.
But the bit that I remember for the wrong reasons becasue it freaked me out was when Ernie or Bert (sorry, a long time ago!) didn;t get any sleep and his eyes went all weird and spaced out. Used to hide behind the couch for that one.
Overriding memory is of my Dad getting annoyed and shouting at me when I recited the alphabet - ‘it’s zed, not zee!!! Stop sounding like an American’ (I am Australian).
Oh, man. I never suspected that “David” had died. I thought he just disappeared one day while I wasn’t watching. Curious Canuck, it just occured to me that you probably saw the Canadian version of Sesame Street - which would explain why you got French and I got Spanish.
My daughter was frightened of only two things she saw on SS - one was a Muppet named Chicago the Lion - he just scared the bejeebers out of her for some reason. The other thing was a takeoff on the Billy Idol song Rebel Yell - it was the Rebel L (and it sang “la, la, la”). In the background of the clip, there were flashing police lights, and this absolutely terrified Kate.
Hey sulasmith, check this out: Ten Tiny Turtles on the Telephone! How could you forget: “Ten eggplants, over easy! / That’s one of our little jokes (ha ha ha)!”
Ah, Kermit doing the News Flashes…the Doodlebugs…the aliens…so many memories. But here’s a quick favorite muppet skit: the golden AN. Remember, you take the golden AN, and put it in the TAN VAN, take it to DAN, who’ll take it to FRAN. And it’s not a brown truck!
I leave you with this. ahem.
This is the vase
That I’ll put in the vat
Away from the villain
In the Panama hat.
David was one of my favorite characters. I went to a Sesame Street exhibit a while ago at our local children’s museum, and they had a monitor showing Luis and Maria’s wedding. David did not look well then, IMO.