Rent Follow That Bird, a feature film from the 80’s to find out.
Watched it recently with my 2-year-old son. And, man, that freaked me out! For this film they created a higher budget Sesame Street set that extended further in both directions** and had lighting to mimic actually being outdoors. But then at one point during a conversation we get shots from various angles - one of which shows the other side of the street! It’s almost as bad as if we got to see other side of Mr. Rogers living room.
Another interesting thing is that they designed it to really have that inner city feel. It looks like how a midwesterner like me imagines a typical residential street in New York looks.
Compare it to the more recent Elmo Lost in Grouchland, where Sesame St. looks more like Paris complete with an outdoor cafe. Grouchland was really freaky too because it is so reminiscent of the Kroffts’ Lidsville. There is even a grouch character who bears a strong resemblance to Hoodoo which can’t be a coincidence. Lidsville! It still makes me shudder to think about it.
** Originally Sesame St. ran from the Fix It Shop (now Mail It Shop) to Big Bird’s pad and no farther.
What’s on the other side? I’m still trying to figure out how to get there.
But it’s funny that NCB said “The Electric Company,” when I was little I always imagined that the Electric Company was at the end of the street just off camera, and that the ZOOM studio was at the other end. (Of course, I realized at the time that Sesame St. would have had to go all the way to Boston, but it seemed possible.)
Speaking of Mr. Roger’s Neighborhood, as a kid I was convinced that there was another “Land of <something>” between the entrance to the Trolley tunnel in Mr. Roger’s House and the exit in front of King Friday’s Castle that we never got to see. I watched everyday in the hopes that we’d get to visit the other place rather than the boring ol’ Land of Make Believe. It never happened naturally, but I had a reoccurring dream about this other Land for years.
I had similar ideas as fiddlesticks about the trolley, but I thought these other lands were located far behind Mr. Roger’s neighborhood since the trolley went back that way at the end of the show. Of course, I also looked at the model of the town as the credits were playing for traintracks. Since I never saw any, I figured Trolley Trolley must have been magical. Strange childhood.
I also believed the Electric Company was located around the corner on another block from Sesame Street.
What’s across the street? I’m betting on a check-cashing place, a MacDonalds, a liquor store, and a mini-mart that’s a front for the crackhouse in the back. Maybe a rundown church too.
I remember a few years back, Sesame Street extended its boundaries “around the corner.” Besides a hotel run by monster called The Furry Arms, I forgot what was on this part of the street.
It’d hard to wear pants when you’ve got a hand up your butt.
As for the trolley’s journey, I must’ve been a stupid kid, 'cause I thought it just passed into another…well, plane of existence is too complicated for a kid, but I figured that the Land of Make Believe was somewhere you couldn’t get to in a car.
That damn trolley car used to bug the hell out of me for some vague reason. The Banana Splits also installed a vague sense of unease that has persisted well into my thirties.
Ah, memories…
On a semi-related note, during the early seasons of Roseanne, the opening theme was a rotating shot, with the family sitting around the kitchen table playing cards/arguing/whatever with the camera (apparantly on the table) doing a complete 360. This is the only time you could ever see the “front” of the kitchen.
While I never imagined there was a stop between Mr. Rogers’ house and The Land Of Make-Believe, I always imagined the trolley’s journey through that tunnel was extremely long (i.e., the Land wasn’t just on the other side of the wall)
Personally, I loved it whenever we’d see the Land model on his kitchen table, complete with mini-trolley!
TG–geeze I feel so old now. I remember going to see that movie with my mom and siblings when it was in the theatre.We happened to be at the Sears getting her car fixed and rather than drag three whiny,hot kids through the mall,she plopped our butts in a nice,chilly theatre. I remember crying when Big Bird sang “Blue Bird of Happiness” and being scared when Big Bird had to jump out of the cage onto the top of Gordon’s car.
That was the same year I went as a Dodo Bird (yes…a Dodo Bird!)for Halloween.
