Famous Photo, Rare Skit

[cjd874]

This photo shows a behind-the-scenes shoot from the mid- to late 1970s, showing Jim, Frank, Jerry, and Richard filming a Muppet insert with Ernie, Bert, Count von Count, and Sully. The photo has been featured in Jim Henson: The Works, for example, and has surfaced a lot on the internet. But there doesn't seem to be any footage of this skit. Does anyone know if it exists?

 

[Oscarfan]

I really want to say that it's a staged photo, but I dunno.

 

[sesamemuppetfan]

In 5 days, it will have been 11 years since I have been aware of this photo (that's when I first read Jim Henson: The Works). Don't ask me how I remember that, but that's just how it is with me.

Now, for that amount of time, I myself have pondered whether this was a skit or not. If yes, it's probably somewhere in the back of Sesame Workshop's archive- I really wouldn't be surprised if that was the case.

@fuzzygobo do you have any memory of seeing this skit? If yes, what happened in it and what's the earliest season/year you remember seeing it in?

 

[fuzzygobo]

In 5 days, it will have been 11 years since I have been aware of this photo (that's when I first read Jim Henson: The Works). Don't ask me how I remember that, but that's just how it is with me.

Now, for that amount of time, I myself have pondered whether this was a skit or not. If yes, it's probably somewhere in the back of Sesame Workshop's archive- I really wouldn't be surprised if that was the case.

@fuzzygobo do you have any memory of seeing this skit? If yes, what happened in it and what's the earliest season/year you remember seeing it in?

I've seen this photo 20 years ago, and I would've been around when this skit would've aired(circa 1977), but I have no recollection of seeing this skit either. So the mystery continues...

 

[minor muppetz]

I guess the best way to really know would be to see the skit itself. Unfortunately, not seeing it wouldn't be much help, because not seeing it doesn't mean that it doesn't exist.

If only one of us could be an archivist for Sesame Workshop and watch every episode in the archive (or just every episode from the 1970s). Or if one of us could get official listings of every segment. I recently found an article from 1999 that talked about the workshop making digital copies of every episode as well as a special search to to help find any segment necessary, where you can find clips by keyword search. I'd like to use that and type in "Ernie Bert Count Sully" and see if anything comes up (my second-best bet would be to search Sully and see a list of everything with the character).