Little things we've noticed

[minor muppetz]

I recently heard the song "Nobody", the recording from the Sesame Street Live! album. And I noticed in the lyrics Snuffy keeps saying "I guess I'll go to my house..." But Snuffy lives in a cave, not a house. And the house line doesn't go with any rhymes in the lyrics (he could have said cave or home and it wouldn't make a difference). I wondered if maybe the song came before it was established that he lives in a cave, but just now I was listening and after he sings he says that he'll be heading for his cave, so clearly he did live in a cave at the time.

Also, there's one lyric I don't understand: Does he say he'll "go back to my house, and make believe I'm love" or "make believe I'm loved"? If it's the "loved" line, it's odd as he lives with his mommy (and most likely daddy) so he wouldn't need to make believe that. Unless it hadn't been established yet that Snuffy lived with his parents.

Also, I wish I could see video recorded footage from the Sesame Street Live! show that was recorded onto an album, because the part after the "Nobody" song is confusing with just audio. After Big Bird brings Bob and Maria to meet Snuffy, Snuffy obviously shows up behind them but they refuse to turn around and look at him. I wish I could know whether Snuffy was walking in front of the stage as they were facing Big Bird/the stage curtain or if he did come in behind them to maybe take a bow and they refused to look. I guess it's a good thing Big Bird told them not to bother looking when Snuffy left, as opposed to them giving in and looking just when it was too late, but I wonder if that was done so they wouldn't guess when to turn and risk accidentally seeing Snuffy (as it was a live performance as opposed to pre-recorded).

Also, for some reason, as I listen to this, I keep imagining the original 1971 Snuffleupagus on stage, instead of the one we're all familiar with. Snuffy had changed by the time the album was made, and I've only seen one episode (totaling only two scenes) with the original puppet. I've seen plenty of other Jerry Nelson-as-Snuffy performances, so I don't know why hearing Jerry's voice as Snuffy would make me picture the original puppet.

 

[minor muppetz]

I've noticed that whenever Sully appears in a scene where several characters sing, he he tends to not sing along with the others, instead just dancing to the tune or whatever, keeping his mouth shut. Examples include when Tito Puente sang "El Timbalo" (and I might be mispelling that), there's a shot of characters singing and Sully is just shown dancing. And in The Muppets: A Celebration of 30 Years, when we see a close-up of various Sesame Street Muppets singing in the finale, Sully is just smoothly moving his body, without moving his mouth.

But his reason for not talking is because Biff typically interrupts him. If he's supposed to be singing with everybody, then he can't really get interrupted (maybe he doesn't actually know the lyrics like everyone else?). Though I think he has moved his lips in numbers with wider crowds singing, when you can't really tell. I'm pretty sure I saw him moving his mouth during the carol sing in A Muppet Family Christmas.

 

[cjd874]

In the song "Eating Cookie," the one about the four seasons, I realized Cookie Monster isn't wearing any clothing in the winter scene. No hat, no gloves, no coat, nothing. Yes he has fur, but regardless, wouldn't he be really really cold?

 

[Oscarfan]

Fur keeps him warm, much like animals.

 

[cjd874]

But we've seen Grover wearing winter clothing, like in the Shakespearean "Richard the Last" parody they did on SS. I think Elmo, Zoe, and Telly have worn winter clothing too. Oh well, it's a rather minor inconsistency, but still it's a little thing I've noticed.

 

[minor muppetz]

Anyone ever notice how the tune for "Beautiful Baby" sounds similar to "Together Again", especially the beginning music? And yet Jeff Moss did not write the song (I thought it was Joe Raposo, it sounds like his singing, but I checked Muppet Wiki and it's neither Moss or Raposo). Many of the songwriters used the same basic tunes for multiple songs, but these two songs had different writers.

 

[Mary Louise]

Look at this bit starring Ernie and Lefty.

At 1:16, Ernie’s earmuffs appear to have slipped.

 

[minor muppetz]

One thing I think I just realized: It seems like it was rare for multiple Jim Henson characters to appear in the same segment. I previously mentioned that The King's Nose has all three of his main Sesame Street characters (Ernie, Kermit, and Guy Smiley) but we never see more than two at a time (same is true for Frank Oz's characters in this sketch, but there are others with multiple Oz characters where he's obviously not performing more than one), and the only other sketch to feature all three of Henson's characters is Do De Rubber Duck. Guy Smiley only popped up in a few other skits with Henson's characters (he's walking by in the News sketch where Kermit wants to know what makes people angry, and he's at the movies with Ernie and Bert in another, even having a different voice and performer).

With nearly all the other Sesame Street performers, we often see multiple characters together, whether they talk or not. Many of Prairie Dawn's early pageants featured all three of Frank Oz's main characters (or just two of them), Big Bird and Oscar often have the occasional conversation (though it seems like during the early years it was rare to even see them both in the same shot), and there's scores of scenes with multiple characters from the same performers.

In the early years, it was common for Jim Henson to perform multiple one shot characters in the same scenes, requiring pre-recorded voices. And it was common for his Muppet Show family of characters to be seen together in scenes, on The Muppet Show, Jim Henson Hour, the movies, and the specials. And yet with his regular Sesame Street characters, it was quite rare to even see them together on screen (well, we did see them together the various times Sesame Street characters appeared in Muppet productions).

Of course, pretty much all of Jim Henson's Sesame Street characters were "sketch characters". With the exception of Ernie and to a lesser extent Kermit they all seem like they'd be hard to work into the plot of a movie, special, or Sesame Street Live show. Guy Smiley is often in game shows, Bad Bart and Sinister Sam often in old west settings (though Forgetful Jones and Rodeo Rosie were often in street scenes), and Bip Bipodotta limited to songs (though I think he could have worked in street stories or specials).

Of course, there are sketches with both Ernie and Papa Twiddlebug, though I think in those cases if Ernie and the Twiddlebugs were seen together they used camera tricks, taping Ernie separately from the Twiddlebugs.

 

[cjd874]

Bumping this thread because...

Big Bird has owned a teddy bear named Radar for many years (if I recall, it was a gift from Mr. Looper…I mean, Mr. Hooper). Similarly, once Baby Bear became an established character on the street, he received a pet parrot named Ralphie. It's weird that there's a bird who owns a bear, AND a bear who owns a bird in the same neighborhood.

 

[cjd874]

One more thing: in the Sesame Street News Flash with Jack be Nimble (circa 1974), Kermit reports on Jack jumping over the candlestick. After several failed attempts (going under and around), he finally jumps over it but crash-lands. Then Kermit says: "He did it! Jack jumped over the candlestick." To which Jack replies, "Yeah. Jack also broke every bone in his body, frog!" while rising to his feet. HOW can you get to your feet if you've just suffered serious injuries like that? Then, to top it all off, once a cow challenges him to jump over the moon, Jack WALKS AWAY while casually talking with her.

Jack must be superhuman. Join the Justice League already, you indestructible hip dude.