Your Thoughts: Sesame Street 40 Years Hardcover Book

redBoobergurl

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I just got the book for Christmas, haven't had much time to page through it yet, but from what I've seen so far, the pictures are incredible! I can't believe some of the back stage footage shown!
 

minor muppetz

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It's interesting to see how many early photos there are of Caroll Spinney wearing half of the Big Bird suit, considering he's made a policy for so long of not posing for pictures in half the suit. In a recent interview he said that it's because in 1970 a photographer from Look Magazine managed to get a picture and Jim Henson then told him not to let that happen again. And a few pictures show other people in the suit (I can't identify them... Could one of them be Daniel Seagren?).

There's a few things I find awkward/interesting... On the various performer pages, after listing the characters they often end with either "Anything Muppets" (some say "assorted anythign muppets", some say "Ocassional anythign muppets"), and some just say "etc.", but on Jerry Nelson's page, it lists "anything muppets" and then a "etc."

On the Richard Hunt page, there is a quote from an interview during season thirteen. Before the quote it points out that that's "the year his blind muppet Aristotle was introduced". That's fine, but the quote doesn't really have anything to do with the character. I don't know what the point of that was. Of course Aristotle wasn't listed among his characters (one nitpick I have is that Sully was also ommitted... Grrrr....).

There's a few pictures that appear to be mirror-reversed, though I've never seen the pictures elsewhere so I don't know for sure. There's a picture of Richard with Ernie hanging from his arm. It appears that he was operating the left hand as opposed to the right hand (though he could have been performing the body andd right hand, maybe for a pre-recorded song that Jim might not have been available for). And in the "colorful characters" section, there's a few on-location shots of the Count that look like Jerry Nelson was performign the body and the right hand, with an assistant as the left (though on recent inspection I can see that it's definately a reversed view... the monacle is in front of the wrong eye).

In that same section, when listing some of the characters that have come and gone, it says that Roxie Marie is the niece of "Biff (the one that talked)". But there's not really any discussion of Biff and Sully as a duo, casual fans unfamiliar with them might not know what it's talking about (according to the index Sully is never mentioned by name... But there is a picture of the duo in the alphabet section).

I like how many script pages, sheet music, and official documents are pictured (it was interesting looking at Ray Charles' contract... I would have thought it'd be written in braile), but don't like how portions of many are blocked or obscured. I especially don't like how they put The Count so close to the file of guest stars, to the point that his elbow blocks some names out. Also, and this might belond in a general discussions thread, there are times when the clapboards are pictured and under show it says "WILD". ANybody know what "WILD" means in this case?

Much of this book looks like it could be an honorary "Sesame Street: The Ultimate Visual Guide". Like the "Ultimate Visual Guide" books released by DK, most sections are two-pages long (though there are some that last longer).

Finally, I wonder why it was called "Toy Timeline". There were lots of toys shown in the timeline, but very little mention of years each toy came out. The section had two different timelines (one at the top of the page, one at the bottom), one of which was about notable non-Sesame Street things that have happened, the bottom focusing on Sesame Street but not much toy history.
 

Oscarfan

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Also, and this might belond in a general discussions thread, there are times when the clapboards are pictured and under show it says "WILD". ANybody know what "WILD" means in this case?
Unlike writing what episode is is for, the clipboard says it's just "Wild", being used for any episode.
 

Gelfling Girl

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This book is completely amazing. :smile: I especially love all the sheet music. :sing::super:
 

minor muppetz

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Anybody notice how in Martin Robinson's page, it says that Buster was originally performed by Frank Oz? I know that Oz performed the puppet in the Kermit News: Hickory Dickory Dock sketch, but I doubt he was called Buster then. Jerry Nelson also performed the puppet in Kermit News: Humpty Dumpty. If Hulu is correct, Humpty Dumpty is from season 5, and Hickory Dickory Dock is from season 6.
 

minor muppetz

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Anybody notice how in Martin Robinson's page, it says that Buster was originally performed by Frank Oz? I know that Oz performed the puppet in the Kermit News: Hickory Dickory Dock sketch, but I doubt he was called Buster then. Jerry Nelson also performed the puppet in Kermit News: Humpty Dumpty. If Hulu is correct, Humpty Dumpty is from season 5, and Hickory Dickory Dock is from season 6.


Oops! I just watched it again, and Nelson didn't perform Buster, though the puppet was used in thw background in the Humpty Dumpty sketch.
 

BIGMuppetFan

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I got the Book for Christmas and I love it, it has everything you want to know, and great pics, I started reading it and its awesome! I am so glad it has every season including season 40, I liked Sesame Street Unpaved but I think This Book is much better! I give Thanks to everyone who worked on this book! :smile:
 

CherryPizza

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I just found myself having a brief look at Google's online hosting of alt.tv.sesame-street, which is now just another landmine in the usenet wasteland.

It just reminded me how irritated I used to get when people would treat Unpaved as though it was the be-all-and-end-all source of Sesame insight, and one was on the outs in that group if one tried to point out that the book wasn't as reliable as one would hope.

While I would never endorse people relying on a single source for all their insights, I'd be a few thousand times happier at people treating this book as a bible than people doing the same with Unpaved.

That said, I was always expecting the book to be purely coffee-table material to set it apart from Street Gang (which I am sad to say I have not yet found in Australia), but I won't spend too long being disappointed about it not being purely superficial and light fluff :wink:
 

minor muppetz

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On page 120, there's an image of Brian Henson with some food, I can't tell what the food is, but a photo caption implies that it's from when he counted peas. It's obviously not peas, but I don't know what it is he was eating. It looks like it might be a still image, but I don't think I've ever seen that film, or any images from it elsewhere. Has anybody else seen that scene pictured?

Also, it says that Brian Henson counted "peas and other foods" in Sesame Street inserts. But as far as I know, he only counted peas on the show. He did count various types of money.
 

dwmckim

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He's eating chocolate ice cream in the photo. The picture's not from one of the Baker films but is from the film where Brian and another kid's playtime is intercut with footage of machinery. The two eat chocolate ice cream at the end when the other kid freezes and Brian asks "whatsamatter?" "I'm broken". Brian "winds him up" and the kid starts eating his ice cream super fast and robotic like as Brian giggles.
 
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