Any help with the following clips?

[Mark The Shark]

You know how when you watch a show every day for years when you're a kid, and don't watch it again for *many, many years* but you still have all these melodies and segments and lines and catch phrases spinning around inside your head...well, that was my experience with "Sesame Street." And when I got to see the "Unpaved" shows a couple of years ago for the first time, it all came flooding back to me. I hadn't really watched the show probably since the mid-1970s, probably when Roosevelt Franklin was still on. But I could identify with that animated "Deja Noggin" guy who would say "I *totally* remember this!" (But, like, you know, I probably wouldn't have said "totally")

Anyway...here are a few (sometimes vague and quite fragmentary) memories of segments I recall from my youth...if anyone can help me to fill in the blanks, that would be great, and if anyone can give me any hints on where I might find some of these clips, that would be great too.

* Some time in the first 3 or 4 years of the show, there is an Ernie and Bert skit in which Bert says to Ernie:

"You sound like some kind of a nut!"

Sorry to say, I remember *nothing else* about the segment. But I do remember that (proving the great educational value of the show) I repeated that line to my *kindergarten teacher* (so this is 1972-1973) and she grabbed me by the arm, dragged me into the bathroom, grabbed me by the shoulders and *shook* me, muttering at me about how I am never to speak to a teacher that way again, understand? Does that line ring a bell with anyone?

* The human cast (most probably from the 1971-1972 season including Rafael) singing a song including the phrase, "We all work together."

* Snuffleupagus singing a somewhat sad song about his disappointment over not being able to stick around to meet Big Bird's friends including him saying something like "so I'll go back to my house..."

* Ernie drinking a glass of water (?) and throwing the glass away (literally) when he's done. You see Ernie just throw the empty glass in the air, hear it fall and break, and then Ernie tells viewers not to do that at home.

Ring any bells?

 

[Boober_Gorg]

* Snuffleupagus singing a somewhat sad song about his disappointment over not being able to stick around to meet Big Bird's friends including him saying something like "so I'll go back to my house..."

This song is called "Nobody," and was used on the 1973 "Live" LP (which doesn't sound very live if you ask me).

Nobody seems to see me
Though I stand here night and noon
I guess I'll just go back to my house
And make believe I'm the moon

Nobody seems to hear me
When I try to talk or sing
I guess I'll just go back to my house
And make believe I'm Spring

Everybody opens up their heart to the moon and the Spring
And I know why
Everybody opens up their heart to familiar things
But strange things make them shy
And afraid sometimes

Nobody seems to want me
Though I wish on stars above
I guess I'll just go back to my house
And make believe I'm love
And make believe I'm love

 

[mikebennidict]

You know how when you watch a show every day for years when you're a kid, and don't watch it again for *many, many years* but you still have all these melodies and segments and lines and catch phrases spinning around inside your head...well, that was my experience with "Sesame Street." And when I got to see the "Unpaved" shows a couple of years ago for the first time, it all came flooding back to me. I hadn't really watched the show probably since the mid-1970s, probably when Roosevelt Franklin was still on. But I could identify with that animated "Deja Noggin" guy who would say "I *totally* remember this!" (But, like, you know, I probably wouldn't have said "totally")

Anyway...here are a few (sometimes vague and quite fragmentary) memories of segments I recall from my youth...if anyone can help me to fill in the blanks, that would be great, and if anyone can give me any hints on where I might find some of these clips, that would be great too.

* Some time in the first 3 or 4 years of the show, there is an Ernie and Bert skit in which Bert says to Ernie:

"You sound like some kind of a nut!"

Sorry to say, I remember *nothing else* about the segment. But I do remember that (proving the great educational value of the show) I repeated that line to my *kindergarten teacher* (so this is 1972-1973) and she grabbed me by the arm, dragged me into the bathroom, grabbed me by the shoulders and *shook* me, muttering at me about how I am never to speak to a teacher that way again, understand? Does that line ring a bell with anyone?

* The human cast (most probably from the 1971-1972 season including Rafael) singing a song including the phrase, "We all work together."

* Snuffleupagus singing a somewhat sad song about his disappointment over not being able to stick around to meet Big Bird's friends including him saying something like "so I'll go back to my house..."

* Ernie drinking a glass of water (?) and throwing the glass away (literally) when he's done. You see Ernie just throw the empty glass in the air, hear it fall and break, and then Ernie tells viewers not to do that at home.

Ring any bells?

the Ernie skit you're referring was where he was demonstrating what happened if you throw an object over something and in this 1 he's standing in front of that brick wall you commonly see in many muppet skits. 1st he throws a red ball over and it just bounces then he throws a drinking glass over witch break though he does tell the audience that you shouldn't throw glass object because they'll break and that he was just showing what happenes when you do that. i don't rememebr the ending of the segment other than like so many of these kind it had a gimck of some sort. > Mark mention an E&B skit were Bert calls Ernie a nut. i wonder considering SS is a little kids show, what they were thinking when they made that 1? and that wasn't the only such skit were 1 muppet called another a name. the Kermit skit were he was talking about feelings and Cookie comes up and eats the smilely face and Kermit explode at him and says you stupid monster! on the Hooper Fan page and in a 1971 magazine article they have there, it mentions how some parents were bugged by such name calling.

 

[Mark The Shark]

This song is called "Nobody," and was used on the 1973 "Live" LP (which doesn't sound very live if you ask me).

Thanks! I only ever heard it the one time, and had almost no info to go on. Thanks!

 

[Mark The Shark]

the Ernie skit you're referring was where he was demonstrating what happened if you throw an object over something and in this 1 he's standing in front of that brick wall you commonly see in many muppet skits. 1st he throws a red ball over and it just bounces then he throws a drinking glass over witch break though he does tell the audience that you shouldn't throw glass object because they'll break and that he was just showing what happenes when you do that. i don't rememebr the ending of the segment other than like so many of these kind it had a gimck of some sort. > Mark mention an E&B skit were Bert calls Ernie a nut. i wonder considering SS is a little kids show, what they were thinking when they made that 1? and that wasn't the only such skit were 1 muppet called another a name. the Kermit skit were he was talking about feelings and Cookie comes up and eats the smilely face and Kermit explode at him and says you stupid monster! on the Hooper Fan page and in a 1971 magazine article they have there, it mentions how some parents were bugged by such name calling.

You're right! He was indeed standing in front of a brick wall!

My parents wouldn't have been bugged by hearing characters call each other names, because they called each other names and they called me and my sister names. Was that right? Probably not. But I wouldn't go so far as to say that the show was a "bad influence" or they (the producers/writers/performers) shouldn't have done that, or whatever. It's the job of parents to be responsible for their kids. It's not the responsibility of TV writers, producers and performers. If parents don't think something is appropriate for their children, then it's their job and their responsibility to monitor that, and I do realize that no one can police their kids 24/7, but seriously, if someone is bringing a child into this world, then there are responsibilities that come with that, and there are many tools available to assist them (including educational TV) but ultimately it is the job of the parents. I think SS did a great job of educating in an entertaining way in the years I watched it, because that's what got us to watch. We watched it because it was a good show and it was funny. But everything doesn't have to be so sensitive like that. In the early 1970s, there was all that stuff going on about TV being a "wasteland" and how children's programming needed to be educational and "redeeming" and all that. And that's all well and good, but I actually agree with a lot of the local Chicago TV personalities and producers who were having difficulties with all those requirements at the time. As I said, I don't think *everything* has to be educational, all the time. One of my favorite shows (in Chicago) was "Bozo's Circus," which was *definitely not* an educational show (until the last few years; it finally went off the air in 2001, and lasted 40 years). The producer of "Bozo's Circus" tells a story about getting a letter from someone's mother, complaining bitterly that the show wasn't educational. The producer (Allen Hall) explained (and I am in total agreement with what he said) that the show was actually providing an important thing for children: "We provide a break," he said. The show aired at noon, and lots of children would watch it when they came home from school for lunch. "We are educating them about something very important," he said. "We're teaching them that it's all right to have fun." I applaud this statement wholeheartedly. In fact, in later years, the show did add a number of educational features. Another Chicago guy, Bill Jackson, did a great show ("BJ & Dirty Dragon") with characters that were very similar to the Muppets in many ways, but actually predated "Sesame Street." And I think anything Bill Jackson did with his puppets was at least as good or better than anything SS ever did. But because he was on a small UHF station, he struggled to survive, and found the only way he could keep going was to turn his show into an educational program which would meet with FCC approval, "because that was the only reason they'd hire me," Jackson said. So he created "Gigglesnort Hotel," which ended up being syndicated internationally, and is still on in some places, and at one point, even some PBS stations were running it, though never in Chicago. And he did his best to keep the show entertaining and fun, but I have to acknowledge that I think his earlier show was a lot more fun, because it felt a lot less constricted. If all children's TV has to be educational, then the corollary to that is that all *adult* TV has to be National Geographic and The Discovery Channel.

 

[fuzzygobo]

Ernie and the glass

If memory serves me well, first Ernie threw a ball over the wall, and we hear it bounce. Then he throws the glass over. "It's got a chip in it, so it's no good anymore". We hear it shatter. Very thoughtfully he mentions he's gonna clean it up afterwards, and he doesn't want us throwing glasses like that.

Finally he throws a watermelon over, which is supposed to make a big SPLAT!
He heaves the melon, but only dead silence follows. We find Cookie on the other side, eating what's left of the rind. Nice skit, great punchline.

Think about this though. Jim had one arm in Ernie's left arm, his right arm in Ernie's head, and his assistant (Caroly Wilcox or Richard Hunt at that point) in Ernie's right arm, throwing that watermelon high enough to make it over the wall. Everybody's arms are over their heads. Now throw a heavy object like a watermelon OVER the wall. it's nothing short of amazing how they defied physics. But that's Jim for ya!

 

[mikebennidict]

i knew there was some gimmick to it probably involving Cookie but couldn't rememember.