Sesame Street films

[SesameMike]

More factory films

No one I have ever talked to seems to recall the following 3 manufacturing films from the earliest years; do you?

Each of these films follows the usual format of having 2 or more kids do the voiceover.

1. Automobiles. We see the inside of an auto assembly plant. Upon seeing a close-up of the assembly-line chain in motion (on the return side?) one of the kids says its there "so the men don't have to move/carry it". At the end we see the finished product being test driven out of the building, as the kids make various "rrrrrmmm" sounds. The film ends with a freight train at the other end of the factory lot rolling off; with its auto racks, the cars are destined for "New York, Virginia, all OVER the place."
(Was this the first time New York was mentioned on the show, for as many references as there are to the place?)

2. Peanut Butter. The film begins with a farmer hand-pulling a lone peanut plant out of the ground. The kids say the peanuts have to be roasted first or they taste yucky. (Note: in my experience, raw peanuts are not that bad. I think the local Asian grocer sells them in shell) The film then shows the inside of a factory showing the process of making PB. My favorite line is where one kid says "The jars are on a merry-go-round!" We then saw an extended sequence of circular jar-filler machinery, with that 3/4-time carnival music (calliope?) playing as we watched the jars fill up with peanut butter.

This is probably not the same film as the "It takes a lot of nuts..."; could they have used some of the same footage?

3. Ice Cream. This one showed a facility that manufactured ice cream -- soft-serve probably. Among the narrators' lines:
Upon seeing some white stuff attached to the wall/ceiling of one room.
"That looks like snow."
"It is... it is snow!"
Upon seeing some appetizing looking mixtures...
"...and it's YUMM-MEEE"
Upon watching an assembly-line process of delivering a topping:
"Squirt... squirt... squirt..."

At the very end of the tour, we saw some kids receiving and beginning to consume some of the finished product, on cone, I think. Although they were not in phase with the voiceover, their excitement suggested these kids were oour narrators actually appearing on film! At this point they kept repeating "Double dip triple dip!!!"

4. (Bonus) A supermarket. Don't remember this one other than it had a bunch of kids running through a large grocery while some brass-intensive music played in the background -- one source elsewhere suggests that the musical score was actually the 1812 Overture. I think the first voiceover was (kid's voice) "A supermarket can hold a lot of people."
If I remember correctly, the first appearance of this film followed a street scene with Bob and some children going over transportation models. They said that a train, a bus, and a (commercial) plane can each carry a lot of people, but one kid says that he knows something that can hold "much much more people", then they cut to the supermarket film.

 

[mikebennidict]

I recall most of those. i didn't know the car film was that old don't recall seeing it till the late 70s. while I never saw the Supermarket film I read about it. if you go to this site, wich has been mentioned, besides pictures, it has a transcript from an old publication about the show's backgrond that the film's mentioned though I can't recall what chapter. http://members.tripod.com/~hooperfan/index-2.html

 

[Ziffel]

I remember the peanut butter one the best out of those. Most likely it was shown into the early 70's whereas the others may have ceased recurring sooner. I recall that carnival music as the peanut butter jars were twirling around filling up with peanut butter. I think at the end of the film the boys made sounds like, "dupe do do do dee do, dupe a dupey do dee do". Pretty wild description but the best I can convey how I recall the sound of it!

 

[superfan]

And the ice cream one...
The one I remember (probably posted this before...) is the one where the kids are sitting outside and a woman is making ice cream in a pot of sorts and churning the cream by hand. "Ice cream, Ice cream, that's how they made Ice Cream a long long time ago.." and then it cuts to the factory where the kids do a walking tour of the place. At the end they all have their ice cream cones "fresh from the factory." sitting outside.

Or Perogies! Just hundreds of perogies being made in the ...perogie factory.

 

[fuzzygobo]

Peanut Butter

I remember the peanut butter one also. We see a farmer pulling a few out of the ground, while there's harpsichord music in the background. A kid's voiceover does mention "The raw peanuts are horrible, my grandpa bought some". Then they go to the factory see the peanuts being pulled out of the shells (Kid voiceover: And now they'll get all ground up!)

Then some faster music plays, as the peanuts get shaken along a conveyor belt to remove any impurities, then they are heated and ground up.

Then we see a shot of the peanut butter in a vat being mixed, and reaching a creamy consistency. (Kid voiceover: PEANUT BUTTER!!!)

Next we see the peanut butter getting pumped into jars, lids screwed on and labels attached, and you're right. Here's where the calliope music in waltz time is played.

In the end, we see the finished jars, waiting to be sent out to a store near you, and you can hear the kids "doo, bee doo, bee doo bee doo". Frank Sinatra would've been proud!

 

[Ziffel]

Ah ok yeah I think your "doo bee doo bee doo" description of the finale is a better descrition than my "dupey do dee do" one! And boy what awesome and amazing memories you guys have, fuzzygobo and Sesame Mike. Plus you give such thorough, intelligent, and impressive synopses of the sketches and films. I could only dream about having such brain power!

 

[Rosewood]

In case you havn't seen this on the other thread......

"What do you do with a fruit?" written and sung by Joe Raposo
music 3/4 beat, * - means sentance is spoken instead of sung

"What do you do with a fruit?
There jucy, and healthy, and cute.
But to eat 'em, its true....
Theres a few things to do.....
If you want to get through to the fruit!"

*First theres the "peeling problem" - very tricky!*

"Now bananas are nice, with a soft easy skin.
Try peeling a melon, what trouble your in!
A grape is a pleasure! There's nothing to do.
While a pineapple's MURDER! Let em fix it for you!"

*Give it to Mom. She'll cut up some nice, easy pieces for ya'.*

"Now an orange is tasty. The peel's rather thick.
But DON"T EAT A LEMON! IT MIGHT MAKE YOU SICK!
And grapefruits are sour sometimes. No one knows why.
And I wouldn't quite trust 'em! They'll squirt in your eye!
But a nectarine! Now theres a fruit! A nectarine!
Where do such things come from? Half a peach, half a plum?
And very clean! You wash 'em so their very clean!
And be sure when you do there's no bugs in there, too!"

"So what do you do with a fruit?
Their squishy and run down your suit!
But you really can't beat 'em! So bite in and eat 'em!

*MMMMmmm(slurp!)* "They really deserve a salute!"

"Every apple and cherrie has me feeling merry!
I guess I'll just holler and hoot!
'Cause thats what I dooooooooooo With a fruit!"

*Were quite a pair (pare)!*

They have a really cute film of kids eating fruit that goes with this, but, IMO,
it's the way Joe sings it that really makes this memorable!

 

[mikebennidict]

don't think this was mentioned. a Ginny Pig and her young babies and the Raposo song called New Life Comming.

 

[Rebel 'L']

was it in the Electric Company when they would have the twins or some guy go and beat people up for their sandwiches and the sandwhich was always something odd and they would say "peanut butter and banana our favorite!"...?...anyone?

 

[Rosewood]

Actually, that was one of the "Spider Man" segments

was it in the Electric Company when they would have the twins or some guy go and beat people up for their sandwiches and the sandwhich was always something odd and they would say "peanut butter and banana our favorite!"...?...anyone?

What your thinking of is the Spider Man segment where he was going after the 2 characters called "Konk" and "Bonk", who were famous for going after kids and stealing their lunches by giving them "The Old 1-2", where one guy would smack the kid on the head, and the other would punch him in the gut! (and this was a kids show!) Spidey eventually caught the villians by dressing up as a school kid with a lunch and getting them to try to steal it from him!