Oscar's Trashman Bruno

[SesameStreetFan]

Does anybody Remember Bruno who was on the show from The Late 70's to the early 90's? He was primarily an 80's charachter, and I remember seeing him quite a bit growing up, one of the last things I ever remember him doing is skating in Central Park while carrying Oscar at Big Bird's Birthday party. I remember a lot of times if a scene took place with Oscar away from his trashcan Bruno would be carrying him. It seems like Bruno got pulled from the show at the same time a lot of other classic charachters did. Once the early 90's came about those classic minor charachters didn't stand a chance. Does anyone remember any memorable Bruno moments?

 

[minor muppetz]

Oh, yeah, Bruno was a good character. It seems like even in the 1980s, when he was used the most, he wasn't used much. I've only seen him in a few Sesame Street books (such as Ernies Neighborhood). With all the big crowd scenes and wide shots of the street in Follow That Bird, it's a shame that he was only in two scenes. It's also a shame that he wasn't in more specials from the 1980s. Too bad he wasn't at the wedding in The Muppets Take Manhattan, and too bad he wasn't in Sesame Street: 20 and Still Counting. He wasn't in any direct-to-video productiosn, either. Sing-Along Earth Songs would have been a good video to have featured him (He did sing a song on the show, Put It in the Trash Can, so that song could have been included).

According to Caroll Spinneys book, Bruno wore out and was not rebuilt.

 

[Mickey Moose]

Did they ever show Bruno when he wasn't carrying around Oscar's trash can? I know that was his primary purpose on the show, but were there any episodes where he was shown just by himself?

 

[minor muppetz]

Did they ever show Bruno when he wasn't carrying around Oscar's trash can? I know that was his primary purpose on the show, but were there any episodes where he was shown just by himself?

There was a song called Put it in the Trash Can, which Bruno sang, and although he was holding a trash can, Oscar didn't appear in the song.

In Follow That Bird, when the cast is getting ready to leave Sesame Street to find Big Bird, Bruno can be seen in the crowd, and he isn't carrying a trash can of any kind.

He can be seen in the audience in The Muppets: A Celebration of Thirty Years, without a trash can. Of course, as far as I can remember, he can only be seen in the first audience scene and in one shot during the closing song. Weird that he wasn't on-screen for more of the special, even if it wasn't noticable (and I have looked for him everytime I saw that special).

And this may or may not count, but in the book Ernie's Neighborhood, he is seen dumping some trash out of a trash can into a garbage truck. Oscar isn't in that can (Oscar was in his regular can in its usual spot).

 

[Drtooth]

Bruno is dead. I am not kidding. The original Bruno Puppet/suit was worn to extinction, and it was waaaay too expensive to rebuild another one. Carrol Spinney once said that somewhere.

 

[mikebennidict]

yeah whatever.

 

[Kiki]

I remember I sketch where Bruno's holding Oscar -which is all he basically did in his time- and Oscar was talking to Bob. He said "Bob, how long have you known me??" and Bob replied "Too long, Oscar!"

 

[minor muppetz]

It's been said that they wouldn't rebuild Bruno because the cost would be too high, but I wonder if he ever has been rebuilt. I've noticed in a number of appearances from the early 1980s (the season 12 "bring your own can night" clip, episode 1899, Follow That Bird, footage Copper Pot Pictures recently uploaded of Bruno and Oscar at an Austrailian concert) his face seems to have mor enoticable texturing and the head looks like it was made from some kind of hard material. But his late-1980s/early-1990s appearances (the majority of footage that fans have access to) the head looks like it's made of a more flexible material. Then again, it could be a result of the head being worn out from use.

I've also noticed a few clips (the "everybody knocks" clip at sesamestreet.org, the aforementioned concert footage) the head seems like it's put on kind of weird, like it wasn't put on properly. It kind of looks like he's facing down most of the time. Considering one of those clips had him rollerskating on a stage, I wonder if it was done to give Caroll a better view of what he was doing.

 

[D'Snowth]

A lot of it could have to do with the quality of the footage you're watching as to what kind of condition he appears to be in.

To my knowledge, there was only one Bruno built, they could have tweaked or done some modifications to him over the years, but again, it's my understanding there was only one built, because Caroll said that instead of being constructed from foam rubber, he was built from foam plastic, which has a tendency to break down, so when he finally just literally fell apart, that was the end of Bruno.

 

[mbmfrog]

I loved the Oscar and Bruno moment at the ending of Follow that Bird, as it was, as Carroll Spinney once said, Bruno's shining moment.