Sesame Street Bloopers/Technical Difficulties

[Splurge]

In the Butterfly Sesame paegant, Herry Monster is suspended by a rope to fly like a butterfly (complete with wings) and as the rope rises, we see that the Herry puppet they used has no legs

I wonder whether he was supposed to have legs that curl behind him, because when the Herry puppet is seen from the back and sides, you see the soles of two sneakers. Maybe he was supposed to be cut off at the knee and have his feet kick back. Whatever it was, it didn't come out that way.

Another paegant issue with Herry, in the flower episodes, when he falls backward and knocks over the flagpole, look for a "naked" elbow to appear.

 

[YipYipYipUhhuh]

Further to Drtooth's comments on Cookie's eating habits...

Most of the time, Cookie simply smashed the cookies (or other miscellaneous items) into his mouth, whereby the cookies & crumbs would usually fall out of his mouth all around him, appearing as though he really ate them. However, there was an early sketch (can't remember specifics) where Cookie was required to actually swallow something. For the life of me, I can remember what exactly. An alphabet letter perhaps? When he jams it in his mouth, you can see something in the back of his throat (a hand?) actually grab it and pull it in. Cookie tries to help it along with his hands, but it didn't get pulled in all the way though. For a few seconds, you can see something stuck in the back of his throat, maybe even hanging out of his mouth (memory foggy) It sort of gives me gagging reflex feeling when I think about it. Then Cookie again tries to push it down and I remember seeing that mystery something again (the hand?) help pull the rest of it in.

 

[Don_Music_2004]

I remember a sketch with Cookie, Ernie, and Cookie's Cousin Monster, anyone remember her? And Cookie eats an Apple and it looks like he shoves it into a little slit that was cut into the Fabric in the inside of his mouth, you see a big bulge in his mouth where the Apple is, then the camera cuts away to Ernie, then when it goes back to Cookie Monster the bulge is gone.

 

[mikebennidict]

boy i don't know what the people who made theese skits would think if they saw all theese things you've all noticed. well anyway, here's a couple i've noticed. the SSU episode with Larry & Phillis were Larry was wearing winter clothes, remember the shodow of the microphone that someone holds over the actors? you didn't see it throughout the tape. i think this was in the middle of the skit. in the western skit with Cookie as the great cookie thief, the guy who was playing the piano, when he stopped after noticing cCookie, i heard what sounded like the person who operated the tape that had the piano music shut the recorder off. also with Ernie and the rhyming game, after he said Bert i think i'm going to read a book now ok? he leaves and you hear this tap. i don't know what it was. probably someone shuting off the microphone of Henson.

 

[Ryan]

boy i don't know what the people who made theese skits would think if they saw all theese things you've all noticed. well anyway, here's a couple i've noticed. the SSU episode with Larry & Phillis were Larry was wearing winter clothes, remember the shodow of the microphone that someone holds over the actors? you didn't see it throughout the tape. i think this was in the middle of the skit.

That's was probably intetnional. A lot of early Soap Operas had that same problem, and they were parodying it.

 

[Splurge]

In "There's Nothing We Women Can't Be" the liontamer sings "And that's why I'm here in this ring!!" when in fact, she's in no ring at all. Also, the puppetry is very bad on that one. Looks like it was possibly a first take?

I have a feeling that the puppeteers for that but was good ol' Jim, Frank, Jerry and Richard. Each operating two women AMs. I can't say for sure, but wouldn't that be fun to watch a behind the scenes of? I'm sure I can envision Frank's style with two of them - probably the astronaut and the green granny type. It's just the way the characters moved.

There were a number of missed cues and confusion over who was to puppeteer which prerecorded voice. "Women can be office clerkers" was one such example. But sometimes it's just a matter of getting the project done and go on to the next one.

 

[matthewxel]

I've got a few:

In Jazzy Spies #8, at the end when the spies open up their thrench-coats to reveal no. 1-10, at some point the singer(Grace Slick)is kind of off guard along with the animation.

In the danger song by Little Jerry and the Monotones, at the ending of the song you can see in the backround the Big Jeffy bumps into one of the red danger signs.

In one of the Trash Gordon episodes there was a little blooper. It was the one where Trash was on the planet with the honkers on it. Well...when Trash had a rubber duckie and a dinger doing "The Honker Duckie Dinger Jamboree",
duing the first verse of the song the dinger was suppose to ding the bell on its head, the dinger did not even tap the bell at all at that point. That just happened only once.

And in the B segment from 1969 in which a bear rides a bicycle, hits a bump, chased by bees flying out from the hole of a tree, when it was shown on show #8, the sounds did not go along with the animation, only in this one show.(example: when the bear crashes into the branch, the chash came before that even happened.)

 

[fuzzygobo]

two early ones

In the E & B skit where Bert takes a nap and Ernie wakes him up ("Pokepokepokepokepoke")

In the last scene, after being woken up, Ernie says "It's time for your nap!"
Bert falls back down on the pillow. Ernie reaches for the blanket to cover Bert up. You can see Ernie's arm, plus the appendage with Jim's arm reaching for the blanket. He doesn't get a good grip, so the blanket stays where it is, but Jim still goes through the motion of covering Bert up.
"Well, sleep tight!"

In another early skit, Ernie has a cookie on the table. He and Bert go through a long list- the cookie reminds Ernie of circles, which reminds him of squares, etc. until it reminds him of his alarm clock ringing.

Ernie: "When the alarm clock rings, eat reminds me it's time to eat my cookie!"
While Ernie's saying this, his left arm is frantically feeling around the top of the table for the cookie, and finally picks it up.

Although these are not technically perfect, and given the short shooting schedule they have, these little bits are still neat to see.

 

[matthewxel]

There are also a few 1969 E&B skits in which the sleeve that connects to Ernie's arm is clearly visible - for example, when he says "Come on Bert, lunch time!"[/QUOTE]


I have noticed the same mistake in the song where Patti LaBelle is singing the ABCs with Chris(of Chris and the Alphabeats)playing a piano and all the SS Muppets come including Bert,Ernie,Grover,Elmo,Count,Telly,Baby Bear,Zoe,Rosita,Herry,and Prarie Dawn. Check it out on the VHS or DVD of the 35th special, "What's the Name of that Song."

 

[magusdude]

I read somewhere that the first time Rubber Duckie aired you could clearly see Henson's hands.

Also, in the "Dee Dee Dee" song, when Ernie is singing and Cookie does what he's saying, there's one point in which Cookie rushes around to get a doodle pad to draw something, however he did everything else in time. Mistake or planned?