Has anyone seen this segment before?

[ssetta]

This clip has been on Sesame Street's official YouTube channel for over 10 years now, in fact I think it was one of the very first clips they ever uploaded. However, with all this episode info on Muppet Wiki from the early 80s (which one YouTube user commented this is when the song was from), I have not seen any info on it on Muppet Wiki whatsoever. However, I will say that it does not sound very Sesame Street-like, in fact, I know of a children's musician whose music I think it sounds a LOT like. I wonder if it was written by her. Listen to this and how similar it is:

 

[LittleJerry92]

You shouldn’t trust YouTube comments when it comes to air dates of skits. They’re usually almost always incorrect or assumptions.

I haven’t been up to date with the guides, but 20 - onward are complete as far as I know. Give it time and we’ll likely have all of the 80s guides completed. But if I’m being honest, this sounds more like it came from the 70s.

 

[minor muppetz]

I'm pretty sure that I recently saw it in a guide, I'm thinking for either season 12 or 13, but I'm searching the wiki and can't find it. I've searched the wiki pages for B and letter segments and can't find it there, typed "Letters Make Words" with no results, also searched "sesame street letters make words" on Google but can't find any images that link to the wiki. It sounds like Jeff Moss providing the voice-over so I checked his article but don't see it listed among his songwriting credits (I also checked Joe Raposo; of course there are a lot of songwriters I have not yet checked).

That is an awesome segment. I wonder if it was part of a recurring sketch series. When I first saw it, I wondered if it actually came from Sesame Street or if it might have come from The Electric Company (as some EC segments had made their way to sesamestreet.org).

 

[Oscarfan]

It was first shown in #1512, and (possibly) last seen in #1809.

 

[sesamemuppetfan]

20 - onward are complete as far as I know.

As well as Seasons 1 and 10-13.

 

[YellowYahooey]

I remember the segment. It was during a time when my interest in the show was in its peak period. I remember the stop-motion animated letter magnets forming a circle surrounding the B in the center. It wasn't shown as often, but maybe slightly more often than the rarely seen Anything Muppet version of "Beep" or the "Herbert Birdsfoot M and W" segment, the latter of which, according to Muppet Wiki, was known to be shown only six times.

 

[minor muppetz]

I remember the segment. It was during a time when my interest in the show was in its peak period. I remember the stop-motion animated letter magnets forming a circle surrounding the B in the center. It wasn't shown as often, but maybe slightly more often than the rarely seen Anything Muppet version of "Beep" or the "Herbert Birdsfoot M and W" segment, the latter of which, according to Muppet Wiki, was known to be shown only six times.

The wiki may have more complete guides than ever before, but it's still missing complete guides for seasons 2-9 and 14-19, so those could have aired in those episodes. The Herbert Birdsfoot one is from around the second season, I suspect that might have aired a bit more during the 1970s.

 

[YellowYahooey]

The wiki may have more complete guides than ever before, but it's still missing complete guides for seasons 2-9 and 14-19, so those could have aired in those episodes. The Herbert Birdsfoot one is from around the second season, I suspect that might have aired a bit more during the 1970s.

I did find out that some guides for Seasons 14 and 15 are completed, but nothing much from Seasons 2 through 9 at this point, though there are some guides from Season 2 published, including the one with the first appearance of the Herbert Birdsfoot "M and W" sketch.

And I believe that particular segment was the very first sketch involving a camera rotating 180 degrees. It's slower rotation was probably designed to make it sound like some off-screen guys was rotating the set, leading viewers to think that someone like Biff and Sully may have rotated the wall along with Herbert and the very stubborn M.

That segment also paved the way for other "upside down" sketches, such as the blonde Anything Muppet girl and the upside down number 11 segment, a skit involving two Anything Muppet boys vs. an upside down 8, and also "Upside Downton Abbey". I know the 8 segment had no rotating camera, but did "Upside Downtown Abbey" have a rotating camera angle?

I also wonder if "Beep" was shown more in the 1970s than in the 1980s? I do remember seeing it in 1982 and by spring 1983. I do not recall seeing it afterwards, and I stopped watching a couple of years later.