Little things we've noticed

[LittleJerry92]

There could be! Maybe we just haven't seen it yet.

Oh, sure! And we got a TV version of "Four" by Little Jerry so we can see how the Monotones were introduced! Right?

In seriousness, that would be cool if an Ernie and Kermit skit existed.

 

[Pig'sSaysAdios]

In seriousness, that would be cool if an Ernie and Kermit skit existed.

And if it doesn't, we could always write it ourselves, as it could've been.

 

[cjd874]

Big Bird and Oscar in scenes together, or discussing the other isn't uncommon.

And there was an interesting bit of dialogue when Ernie and Bert go camping, and Ernie hears a frog croaking, to which he asks Bert, "Does that remind you of anybody we know?"

These days, it isn't rare for Oscar and Big Bird to be in the same scene. But in the 1970s, it seemed pretty rare. I think that it started happening more frequently in the 1990s. According to Caroll Spinney in the SS Unpaved book, he talked about using dual-channel stereo technology to record the characters' voices, and then he'd operate Big Bird while Jim Martin or another puppeteer operated Oscar.

I also remember watching that E&B clip as a kid, but I never realized that was an in-joke about Kermit.

Well, Frank's characters have interacted with each other from time to time. They even did a song together:

Take a look at the comments wondering how Frank could have done all three characters at once.

I just realized that in Prairie Dawn's pageants, all of Frank Oz's Sesame characters interact, especially in the face pageant where Bert and Grover do the ear verse together. So I guess it isn't as rare as I thought. Props to you for recalling and finding "Take a Rest" as well.

 

[D'Snowth]

Obviously, there's extra effort that goes into having multiple characters from the same performer in a scene together, which is one of the reasons why Cookie went to David Rudman instead of Eric Jacobson like Frank's other characters, so those two characters could interact together in scenes with greater ease. I remember an old Letter of the Day insert that started out with Frank doing Cookie, but then after a break and we came back, David performed Cookie for the rest of the bit while Frank had switched to Super Grover.

 

[LittleJerry92]

I turned on the closed captions for the Lena Horne alphabet song, and I noticed how the captions label Mr. Johnson as "Simon."

Granted, it was a case of same puppet, different character and Johnson wasn't named yet, but I just found it amusing, out of all names, they'd call him "Simon."

But, granted that I'm guessing the videos are probably captioned and digitized by unpaid interns, it's probably just a simple mistake of mistaking the puppet for Simon Soundman.

(And then again, othe captions have him referred to as "man" and "customer." )

 

[D'Snowth]

Closed captions for SS always over-simplify the dialogue that's actually being spoken . . . I guess they figure little kids can't read too well yet and don't need to be exact word-for-word in their captioning.

 

[LittleJerry92]

Good point. I always like turning on the captions to see what slip ups they made.

 

[D'Snowth]

Oh yeah. I remember one time having captions turned on, I don't even remember what I was watching, but the character on screen was chuckling, and the caption read "[Laughing awkwardyardely]".

 

[LittleJerry92]

I don't know what they were smoking, but I want some of it.

 

[cjd874]

Obviously, there's extra effort that goes into having multiple characters from the same performer in a scene together, which is one of the reasons why Cookie went to David Rudman instead of Eric Jacobson like Frank's other characters, so those two characters could interact together in scenes with greater ease. I remember an old Letter of the Day insert that started out with Frank doing Cookie, but then after a break and we came back, David performed Cookie for the rest of the bit while Frank had switched to Super Grover.

If I'm right, this might have happened in two bits for the letters N and O.

In the first one, Super Grover intervenes, but is too exhausted to do much good. Cookie Monster says, "Maybe you need a nap!" So Super Grover asks Cookie to hold the cookie while he lies down, with predictable results.

In the second bit, Cookie wraps the cookie in a package and asks Mailman Grover to take it and hurry. Grover returns later with a package for Cookie: the same one that Cookie sent off in the first place! But to me, it sounds like Frank did BOTH voices. Maybe David lip-synced to Cookie's voice, while Frank performed Grover's voice and puppetry. Any thoughts?
**Side note: If this isn't a great example of Frank's uncanny ability to ad-lib lines, I don't know what is. "What style, what design, what savoir faire!"