SesameMike
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- Nov 2, 2004
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You know that video about milking cows from the very first episode of Sesame Street, which is on the DVD?
There's a scene in there where they show scenes from a large-scale dairy operation. What they have there is a device called a "rotolactor", where the cows are milked on this large rotating platform. Notice how in some of the scenes, there's an observation window overhead. I think that was filmed at the Walker-Gordon dairy farm in Plainsboro, NJ. In 1971, I visited that farm with my nursery school, and you really could observe the rotolactor from overhead. The dairy ceased operations that same year, and today the site is all houses. But if you look on a map, there is a residential street there called "Elsie Drive", since this was the same farm where Elsie the Cow originated.
A picture of the device may be seen here:
http://www.plainsborohistory.com/walker-gordon-rotolactor-big.jpg
Also: This entire film was rather long, as Sesame Street films go. I think that an edited version of the same film was shown on later episodes. Not sure exactly which scenes were cut, but one I do remember was: you know when they fade from a cow pasture scene to a conveyor belt of milk cartons for the second time, toward the end of the film? When the film was edited, they kept the scene outside in the field, i.e., the scene didn't complete its dissolve, so all we saw was an eerie, ghost-like image of some milk cartons moving against some cattle out in the field.
There's a scene in there where they show scenes from a large-scale dairy operation. What they have there is a device called a "rotolactor", where the cows are milked on this large rotating platform. Notice how in some of the scenes, there's an observation window overhead. I think that was filmed at the Walker-Gordon dairy farm in Plainsboro, NJ. In 1971, I visited that farm with my nursery school, and you really could observe the rotolactor from overhead. The dairy ceased operations that same year, and today the site is all houses. But if you look on a map, there is a residential street there called "Elsie Drive", since this was the same farm where Elsie the Cow originated.
A picture of the device may be seen here:
http://www.plainsborohistory.com/walker-gordon-rotolactor-big.jpg
Also: This entire film was rather long, as Sesame Street films go. I think that an edited version of the same film was shown on later episodes. Not sure exactly which scenes were cut, but one I do remember was: you know when they fade from a cow pasture scene to a conveyor belt of milk cartons for the second time, toward the end of the film? When the film was edited, they kept the scene outside in the field, i.e., the scene didn't complete its dissolve, so all we saw was an eerie, ghost-like image of some milk cartons moving against some cattle out in the field.