Don Music

[minor muppetz]

Lately I have been wondering if maybe Don Music was originally intended to appear in just one skit, before being brought back as a regular character. The majority of his appearances that I know of are from newsflash segments, though he did appear in other segments. The Muppet Wiki page for him lists some of his sketches, and the sketch listing only lists two non-newsflash segments that he was in. I guess he might have been a major character in the street stories, though Muppet Wiki only has one episode page that mentions him being part of the street story (though I do know of two other street scenes with Don Music).

I think that Mary Had a Bicycle was his first appearance, and that he was later brought back for more, maybe making one new appearance per year at first. It seems odd that he'd be on the show for nearly a decade and a half and only have appeared in a handful of inserts, many of which were close to being the same.

Anyway, my thinking that Mary Had a Bicycle being his first appearance comes form a few things. That sketch is his earliest-known appearance to the wiki, for one thing. The set used for his living room would also be used for Kermit's living room, and I think that sketch is the only one where that room is used. Most of the others use a different room, which is usually the same room. While Muppet Wiki claims that he first appeared in the fifth season and Mary Had a Bicycle is a sixth season sketch, I think Muppet Wiki might be wrong. There are quite a few characetrs with debut years listed which aren't sourced. I think those years came from the Sesame Street Encyclopedia and Complete Henson Database, fan sites which didn't cite their sources.

 

[mikebennidict]

I doubt it.

 

[Drtooth]

I wouldn't doubt it. A lot of characters besides Ernie and Bert seemed like one skit characters that just became so fun to write for or popular that the writers and puppeteers lobied to bring them back. While I cannot certainly vouche for it, it is a reasonable question.

 

[minor muppetz]

I wouldn't doubt it. A lot of characters besides Ernie and Bert seemed like one skit characters that just became so fun to write for or popular that the writers and puppeteers lobied to bring them back. While I cannot certainly vouche for it, it is a reasonable question.

There are a lot of characters who I've often wondered if they were meant to only appear in one sketch, who later became regulars (or semi-regulars). Characters like Chris and the Alphabeats.

There are also characters who I know were meant to be regulars, but though many of them seemed to have lasted a decade or longer on the show, many don't seem to have appeared in many sketches. Sure, quite a few of them seem to have appeared in street scenes, though I don't know of many street scenes with a lot of these characters. For example, it seems like Sherlock Hemlock didn't have many sketches, but was on the show for nearly three decades. I know that he was in at least four sketches from the secodn season, his debut season, and he starred in at least four Mysterious Theater segments later on. But there aren't too many more that I know of.

 

[Drtooth]

There are a lot of characters who I've often wondered if they were meant to only appear in one sketch, who later became regulars (or semi-regulars). Characters like Chris and the Alphabeats.

I can almost be sure that Little Jerry wasn't meant to be a regular, since his first appearance looked completely different in his first appearance. I would gather any Muppet character that went through multiple changes like that wasn't even considered for a come back performance when they were first concieved.

 

[mikebennidict]

I don't think it's nessesary to assume many of these muppets weren't meant to return just because they were changeed.

They might of just decided to changes their looks for whatever reasons.

 

[Drtooth]

Not so much an assumption, though a lot of characters both on SS and outside of it were only meant for one or two things, but caught on. And someof them evolved into something slightly different. Bugs Bunny is a prime example of this.

 

[minor muppetz]

Actually, I don't think that band in Surprise was Little Jerry and the Monotones, even though they are lsited as the band in some albums. I think that the album just incorrectly cited the band as them. I know that the singer of One Way was ncorrectly listed as Chris and the Alphabeats on a single release, and Sesame Street's Best incorrectly lists Don Music's back-up singers from Mary Had a Bicycle as The Alphabeats, instead of the Monotones.

I know that Little Jerry's song Mad appeared in the second season, and they looked closer to their regular look (though some member slook slightly different). The band also appeared in a second season sketch where Grover talsk about the word exit, though in that Little Jerry had black hair.

 

[Drtooth]

Piggybacking on this thread, I just had a hypothetical thought. Hypothetically, would Don Music be the song writer for the Alphabeats and/or the Monotones? I've seen the Alphabeats sing the songs he (and Kermit )wrote. And we all know that a lot of bands do not write their own songs.

So, Hypothetically, could Don have written some of their music.

 

[wiley207]

I think Don Music's funny. I picture this scenario from little kids watching him...

Don Music: Oh I'll never get it, oh I'm sorry Ludwig, OH! (BAAAAAAAAAANG!)
Kids Watching: Hey, let's bang our heads! (BANG! BANG! BANG! BANG!)

Actually, the Don/Kermit segments aren't neccesarily in the News Flash series since Kermit only mentions Sesame Street News in a couple of the skits, and do not have the opening logo/announcer or standard formula the News Flash segments do. I think they're part of a totally separate series dedicated to Don Music!