Rare "Cracks" animation from 1970's Sesame Street

[gravy]

The sad thing is, there are a bunch of crack jokes in the comment section of that video.

 

[Drtooth]

Sad? Don't you mean obvious?

 

[gravy]

Sad? Don't you mean obvious?

Meh, I guess you have a point.

 

[Luke kun]

Do you know who animated Felines or the beatnik bat skit?

 

[Blue Frackle]

Let's reignite this old flame.

MuppetCentral S/O!

@Oscarfan, maybe this will explain to you why people care so much about this short.

 

[mr3urious]

We also need some ID on who did that creepy "Bird" cartoon, who may have also been responsible for that psychedelic Bic lighter theatrical ad that Ben of the Oddity Archive riffed on.

 

[GonzoLeaper]

Thanks for posting the video about the search for this animation clip....very intriguing. (Though I still don't find it all that scary or anything- it would probably help if I remembered seeing it as a kid.) And the bird video above seems fine too. However, I do kinda love that Sesame Street has video clips like this in its archives that seemed to air for no apparent reason other than to freak kids out a bit. Jim Henson definitely didn't seem to have any problem with having a little bit of scary stuff here and there aired in children's programming. (See Sesame Street, The Muppet Show, Fraggle Rock, etc.)

 

[Drtooth]

I'm more of a mind to say that SW just can't keep track of everything it ever had created for the show. There's thousands of hours of footage, thousands of episodes... I don't think they have the money, resources, and manpower to sift through all that, especially when everything has multiple sketch names inconsistent with their actual archival titles.

What some kids find scary is eye of the beholder stuff. Kids have weird fears that can go all over the map, and a sketch one kid can find horrifying another can find perfectly alright. Cracks does seem like something that can creep a kid out, but I don't think they'd get enough complaints or bad reactions from the short to have it pulled. I mean, if it tested poorly before hand, it simply wouldn't have made it into the show. I doubt they willfully pulled it, and it's more of a case of just being lost in the shuffle and being passed over for more popular, kid friendlier sketches. Not all lost Sesame Street comes off as a creepypasta. Lots of lost Sesame is very banal and inoffensive. Like Leslie Mostly. Those are just dull and forgettable.

That said, that's a very interesting story behind how Cracks was found, some of us actually remember it going down right down to the note from the animator mis-attributed to it. I even said "Hey, you may not have the Cracks video, but you got an original sketch of Scooby-Doo from one of his animators." Can't lie, I'm more jealous of that than getting that random clip.

But the story I want to hear is how the heck Seven Monsters, a sketch that was reportedly never on the show, fell into our laps with no inquiries or even so much as a request.

 

[Blue Frackle]

However, I do kinda love that Sesame Street has video clips like this in its archives that seemed to air for no apparent reason other than to freak kids out a bit. Jim Henson definitely didn't seem to have any problem with having a little bit of scary stuff here and there aired in children's programming. (See Sesame Street, The Muppet Show, Fraggle Rock, etc.)

He was so busy; something tells me he didn't even know a short like 'Cracks' existed.

I'm more of a mind to say that SW just can't keep track of everything it ever had created for the show. There's thousands of hours of footage, thousands of episodes... I don't think they have the money, resources, and manpower to sift through all that, especially when everything has multiple sketch names inconsistent with their actual archival titles.

What some kids find scary is eye of the beholder stuff. Kids have weird fears that can go all over the map, and a sketch one kid can find horrifying another can find perfectly alright. Cracks does seem like something that can creep a kid out, but I don't think they'd get enough complaints or bad reactions from the short to have it pulled. I mean, if it tested poorly before hand, it simply wouldn't have made it into the show. I doubt they willfully pulled it, and it's more of a case of just being lost in the shuffle and being passed over for more popular, kid friendlier sketches. Not all lost Sesame Street comes off as a creepypasta. Lots of lost Sesame is very banal and inoffensive. Like Leslie Mostly. Those are just dull and forgettable.

That said, that's a very interesting story behind how Cracks was found, some of us actually remember it going down right down to the note from the animator mis-attributed to it. I even said "Hey, you may not have the Cracks video, but you got an original sketch of Scooby-Doo from one of his animators." Can't lie, I'm more jealous of that than getting that random clip.

It just all comes down to why did dycaite's clip come with a title card? That shows they're even more organized than we think.

My thought is that it was phased out as well, and all the weird stuff that ensued just perfectly fell into place for the enigma it has become.

But the story I want to hear is how the heck Seven Monsters, a sketch that was reportedly never on the show, fell into our laps with no inquiries or even so much as a request.

Hmmm... I never looked into this. Not to derail this thread, but do you have proof it never aired during the second season?

Btw, the animator uploaded it. Cracks, well that's quite the opposite.

I mean, there's some people in the comments who said they saw it, and just like Cracks they wondered if it was a false memory.

 

[Censored]

But the story I want to hear is how the heck Seven Monsters, a sketch that was reportedly never on the show, fell into our laps with no inquiries or even so much as a request.

That's not true. The Seven Monsters sketch WAS on the show. Take it from someone who is old enough to remember seeing it as a kid.