Gymnast

[clipjj27]

Hi, everyone. If you remember Sesame Street from the 1970's, you might remember a gymnast who appeared in several short segments. Upon doing some research on the Web, it stands a reasonable chance that she might be Deborah Eich Romer, who graduated from Seaford High School (on Long Island, NY) in 1972. Is there anyone out there who might agree or concur? Just wondering. Thanks in advance to anyone who might know for sure.

 

[clipjj27]

Hello all:

All eight segments featuring her are in this video, the first upload of lost media for 2023!

 

[YellowYahooey]

If this really is Deborah, did she ever compete in a summer Olympics?

 

[clipjj27]

Hi, YellowYahooey:

Deborah (maiden name Eich) graduated from Seaford High School in Seaford NY (Queens area) in 1972. She was on the gymnastics team, and apparently did well. She then attended Nassau Community College and participated in gymnastics there likewise. Under her married name (Romer), she was coach at several high schools throughout the nation, most notably a few in the NYC area like Great Neck, and one in the Chicago IL area (Lincolnshire) later on. As far as I know, she never was in the Olympic Games, and where the Sesame Street gymnast segments were filmed, I also don't know, though from inspection a gymnasium would be my 'best guess.'

 

[clipjj27]

Hi, YellowYahooey:

Deborah (maiden name Eich) graduated from Seaford High School in Seaford NY (Queens area) in 1972. She was on the gymnastics team, and apparently did well. She then attended Nassau Community College and participated in gymnastics there likewise. Under her married name (Romer), she was coach at several high schools throughout the nation, most notably a few in the NYC area like Great Neck, and one in the Chicago IL area (Lincolnshire) later on. As far as I know, she never was in the Olympic Games, and where the Sesame Street gymnast segments were filmed, I also don't know, though from inspection a gymnasium would be my 'best guess.'

I just got a positive identification from somebody who knew and worked with her. It is Deborah!

 

[YellowYahooey]

I did learn that the last airing of the Gymnast series of segments aired during Season 14.. For those who want to find out the episode with the final Gymnast series airing, it is the "next to/away from" segment in Episode 1824, aired on May 5, 1983.

The least-aired Gymnast segment was the "On/off" segment, which aired only five times - its final airing being on Episode 1671 in April 1982. I don't think the show had "on/off" as a common opposite pairing featured on the show much.

Was the background music used in these segments composed by Joe Raposo? I think some of the music sounds a lot like Raposo's work.

 

[clipjj27]

I did learn that the last airing of the Gymnast series of segments aired during Season 14.. For those who want to find out the episode with the final Gymnast series airing, it is the "next to/away from" segment in Episode 1824, aired on May 5, 1983.

The least-aired Gymnast segment was the "On/off" segment, which aired only five times - its final airing being on Episode 1671 in April 1982. I don't think the show had "on/off" as a common opposite pairing featured on the show much.

Was the background music used in these segments composed by Joe Raposo? I think some of the music sounds a lot like Raposo's work.

Hi, YellowYahooey:

You are correct about Season 14 being the final one for the gymnast (with 'close to-away from' in Episode 1824 being her final appearance) as well as the fact that 'on-off' was the least shown segment out of the eight.

In terms of the music, though, none of it is by Joe Raposo, but rather several library artists (like KPM and DeWolfe).

'Around' and 'Slow' - 'Hummingbird' by Johnny Pearson
'Beginning-End' - 'First Child' by Keith Mansfield
'Between' - 'Pretty Girl' by Johnny Pearson
'Close To-Away From' - 'One More Time' by Alan Parker
'On-Off' - 'Chilli and Grits' by Alan Hawkshaw and Alan Parker
'Over-Under' - 'Tripper' by Hawkshaw and Parker
'Up-Down' - 'What Will Your Momma Say?' bv Peter Reno (instrumental)

On Muppet Fandom, check it out at http://muppet.fandom.com/Gymnast_series

http://muppet.fandom.com/User:MuppetVJ/Sesame_Street_Production_Music

Hope this helps!

 

[clipjj27]

If you want to find out the way the gymnast segments were found, go to the following site and the story begins at the 26:01 mark. The story sounds spooky, to say the least.

 

[clipjj27]

Now the question to be answered (I suppose) is where all eight gymnast segments were filmed originally.

 

[YellowYahooey]

Regarding the "Beginning/End" segment, it appears that the guy who recorded the music for that segment was the same guy who recorded the instrumental song that was used on the pilot episode of the game show Press Your Luck.