Ernie tries to buy a scale from Lefty

[Dantecat]

What's Happens in this Skit and What year was it?

 

[mikebennidict]

i think lefty the salesman began the very 1st season probably lasting til the early to mid 70s. watching the SSU shows and though i don't recall seeing any in the 1969 SSU shows, with the fact that the backround was an bage color i think, i think that was used only in the 1st season since that's what i saw in the muppet segments for the 1st years. 1st season saleman skits include Lefty selling an 8 and R, a bottle of air, a stop sign, and a box.

 

[Ziffel]

Yeah definitely early 70's. Lefty tries to sell Ernie a scale. He keeps giving food examples saying things like, "Suppose the recipe says use two pounds of this." Then he puts the food item on the scale and it weighs two pounds. But the catch is it always weighs two pounds. He is trying to sell Ernie a defective scale. I like how Lefty twice uses real salesmanlike manner by saying, "A scale is something no home should be without." But Ernie doesn't end up buying it. Not because he is smart enough to recognize the con, but because he says, "We already have a scale." Then he tries to get the salesman to sell him all the food he put on the scale as well as lots of other food items. But Lefty isn't interested in selling the food (the food was legit, that's why!) and walks off the screen disappointed that he couldn't get Ernie to buy the scale, as Ernie persists in giving him a list of food requests.

 

[mikebennidict]

how did you know it was defective?

 

[Ziffel]

Well Lefty kept using "two pounds" as the example for all the food items. He'd say suppose the recipe calls for two pounds of this. And two pounds of that. Then he'd put the food on the scale and it would come to two pounds. I took that as Lefty trying to con Ernie into purchasing a scale that always comes to two pounds. That would also fit with his character trait of always trying to sell worthless items to Ernie. As well as like that number 8 skit. Lefty kept saying how useful the 8 would be because if you ever want to know how many reindeer Santa Claus has, how many arms an octopus has, etc. you can just look at the eight and then know. But what if you wanted to know how many months are in the year or how many innings are in a baseball game? Do you just look at the eight then? And that's the con. I think that's similar to what he was trying to pull a fast one on Ernie with the scale.

 

[Censored]

Yeah definitely early 70's. Lefty tries to sell Ernie a scale. He keeps giving food examples saying things like, "Suppose the recipe says use two pounds of this." Then he puts the food item on the scale and it weighs two pounds. But the catch is it always weighs two pounds. He is trying to sell Ernie a defective scale. I like how Lefty twice uses real salesmanlike manner by saying, "A scale is something no home should be without." But Ernie doesn't end up buying it. Not because he is smart enough to recognize the con, but because he says, "We already have a scale." Then he tries to get the salesman to sell him all the food he put on the scale as well as lots of other food items. But Lefty isn't interested in selling the food (the food was legit, that's why!) and walks off the screen disappointed that he couldn't get Ernie to buy the scale, as Ernie persists in giving him a list of food requests.

I had almost forgotten about that one. It was funny. What Lefty should have done was come back in the skit where Cookie Monster wrecks Ernie's scale. His timing as a salesman was terrible. LOL

 

[Dantecat]

What would happen if Lefty came back in the skit where Cookie Monster wrecked Ernie's Scale for GeeBee?

 

[Censored]

What would happen if Lefty came back in the skit where Cookie Monster wrecked Ernie's Scale for GeeBee?

Well, if that was Ernie's only scale from home that got wrecked, he might want to buy one from Lefty then.

 

[minor muppetz]

I wonder what would have happened if lefty regularly appeared with other characters? grover has occassionally been a door-to-door salesman. I wonder what an encounter between the two woudl be like (whether grover appeared in the form of a salesman or not)? Guy Smiley would also be a good character to appear with lefty. Guy is often loud, and Lefty is often trying to keep Ernie quiet. And I wonder what woudl happen if lefty tried to sell somethign to Biff, Sully, Oscar, Herry, or Sherlock Hemlock.

back to the topic of this skit, I wonder if Lefty needed to eat the food that he was using, therefore unwilling to sell the food.

 

[fuzzygobo]

Maybe his profit margin wouldn't be as high for selling the food than for selling the scale. Although buying a scale or two pounds of anything these days for a nickel would be a sweet deal indeed. I'd even take him up on it.

What other foods did Ernie ask Lefty if he had? I haven't seen this clip in decades, but I do remember Ernie asking for zucchini and artichokes.