Sketches and Songs on Sesame Street videos

[GonzoLeaper]

see above and below

 

[GonzoLeaper]

Here's a review of "Let's Make Music" - a 2000 video with a 40 minutes running time.
Stars Kevin Clash as Elmo, Carroll Spinney as Big Bird and Oscar and Martin P. Robinson as Telly AND Jerry Nelson and Frank Oz!!!
Also- Alan Muraoka is on there as Alan, of course
And cast of "Stomp" is there -one of which is Luke Cresswell (the only one specifically mentioned)

Video starts out with Stomp cast playing Sesame Street theme song in the arbor area (they actually start inside of what is now Gina's vet office). They make the music by clapping and tapping on stuff.
2 of them find Telly's tuba sitting on a chair by itself and take it to try to find the owner.
*Classic sketch- Bert hears someone playing a tuba in a park and it turns out to be Simon Soundman making the noise himself, who then tries to teach Bert to do it! Bert winds up making a "moo" and having a cow come after him and chase him! (I loved this one as a kid- never thought about it much until I saw it on the video and the memories just rushed back! )
-Back on the street, while Gina, kid and Honker are in Hooper's Store, Alan talks to Telly as he tells him about making music with a music group that day, but he can't find his tuba, which he needs for when he meets the music group (which is Stomp). Telly enlists Alan to look for the tuba while Stomp dudes make music with a broom in the background.
*Stop motion live action clip (pictures of shoes tapping and doors closing)
*live action clip- six black girls do a rhyme and stomp dance on a playground about the number six
-On the street, some kids are playing a similar clapping game while Elmo tries to console Telly. Elmo sings a song to Telly about what makes music. (And if you haven't figured it out yet, the point of this video is that anything can make music! ) As Elmo sings, the kids join in along with Alan, 2 Honkers and a Dinger and Oscar and a Grouchkateer briefly chime in too.
-Elmo then tells Telly that there's music everywhere as a Stomp member comes by shaking something.
*live clip of hands shaking stuff, beating on cans, shaking paper, etc. All you see are hands sticking out from the top and bottom of screen.
*live clip of 2 girls and a boy beating pots and drums in a house
-On the street, Elmo and Telly sit on 123 stoop and talk about using your voice for music. Elmo even does an impromptu rap. Then Elmo tells Telly about using your voice to count and make music. He then demonstrates by singing the "1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9,10,11,12" animated pinball song! and Telly joins in. Stomp members add to the rhtyhm by coming by and beating brooms on the floor. (They never say anything though)
*Animated pinball clip -#12
-On the street, Oscar holds a Grouchkateer meeting where they beat on rusty cans in their "Can Can" game. Stomp guys from start of show ask about the tuba, but Oscar doesn't know about it and he tells them they're playing their "Can Can" game right now. One guy asks if it's because they use 2 cans and Oscar gives him his famous "Ding Dong, you're wrong!" line as he explains it's called "Can Can" because you can only do it with cans. Since the Stomp guys need to ge their cans, they tell Oscar they'll be right back and they come back wearing barrells tied to their feet and walking with them on.
*Classic sketch- Bert sings a song about Oatmeal boxes and how he makes a beat with them. (He sings his famous "Chicka Chicka Boom" line in this song)
*live clip of African kids playing drums
-On the street, Telly checks in with Baby Bear, but he can't find the tuba either. Baby Bear inadvertently figures out he can make music by blowing into a bottle at Hooper's Store. He then shows it to Telly and the Stomp guys demonstrate for a skeptical Telly.
*Animated clip of animals marching along single file. (Ladybug, elephant, zebra, ostrich, frog and armadillo, all of which end up on the elephant's back by the end of it)
*Black girls sing a song with handclaps and one of them teaches a younger girl how it's done. (This is the "Grandma's sick in bed, Called the doctor and here's what he said- "Let's get the rhythm of the..." etc. song) Then all the girls do it together. (I remember this one from my youth too!)
-On the street, Rosita, Elmo and kids learn to make rhythms with their bodies from Luke Cresswell (of Stomp).
*live "Body Dance" rap with kids in city clip (I also remember this one- good old late '80s rap! )
-On the street, Elmo introduces Stomp to Telly. They and kids start beating on everything to make music. One member even jumps out of Oscar's trash can and Oscar pops up to tell him "And don't come back!"
-Honkers, a green Dinger, Baby Bear, Big Bird and Alan join in the music-making of Stomp and the kids. Telly finally finds the two guys with his tuba and gets it back and then everyone plays music as the ending credits roll.


Overall, I liked this video. There's definitely some great classic skits with Bert that I had totally forgotten about. And some other good songs I remember too. Oscar again had some good interaction in this one too.

 

[minor muppetz]

That's odd. I made a list of what hasn't been reviewed, yet I forgot to list both videos that were just reviewed.

I have thought about buying Let's Make Music, though I haven't been able to decide if I should or not, but knowing that Simon Soundman appears in that video helps me out with my decision.

I saw a short clip of the Fiesta song in the DVD samples feature on various Sesame Street DVDs, and that looks like it's a segment from the show. Is there anything that helps prove that it was or wasn't created for the video? I haven't actually seen it on the show, so I don't know.

 

[GonzoLeaper]

Well, I'm just guessing the "Fiesta" song was just made for the video. It could have been used on the show- I just haven't seen many songs on Sesame Street that star Rosita- though I guess it's been a while since I've seen more of the current episodes.

 

[GonzoLeaper]

Here's another review!

From the Sesame Street Kids' Guide to Life series, we have the entry "Telling the Truth". This is a 1997 video (released on DVD in 2003) and it guest stars Dennis Quaid as Telly's Uncle Tommy!

There aren't any classic clips used on the video, which I'll have to admit is one of the main reasons I like to check these Sesame Street videos out. But I think the storyline is a good one and it should be engaging for kids. It certainly does a good job of getting the point of the video across- to let kids know that lying is wrong and we should always tell the truth.

I should mention that the video starts off with a theme song for the "Kids' Guide to Life" series, which actually does use a couple of classic clips from the show here and there. (They're mainly live action shots of kids- I think I recognized one from the "Brushing My Hair" song)

The main storyline takes place at Gina's Day Care service, located next door to the Furry Arms hotel. So I guess there's one plus right there, for fans of the "Around the Corner" part of the Street. Of course, Allison Bartlett-O'Reilly is there as Gina and there are also a bunch of kids and AMs at the day care. The main characters though are Telly, Elmo and Baby Bear. Everyone is excited about the circus being in town as Elmo and others excitedly talk about what they saw at the circus. Telly is the only who hasn't been to the circus yet and he's getting sick of hearing all about it all the time. Gina calls everyone over for storytime and she reads the story of "The Boy Who Cried Wolf". Leo, the boy watching the sheep, decides to test out his call and his whole family comes running to catch the wolf. After seeing that there wasn't a wolf, they launch into the first song, called "Believe You Me". Back at the day care, Elmo is getting sleepy but he tells Gina to keep reading. As Gina goes on with the story, Elmo falls asleep and dreams that he is part of the story. Leo calls the family again to show off for Elmo and again they coming running. At the day care, Gina has to stop the story for a second to answer the phone. During the sudden break, the kids start talking about the circus again and Telly finally blurts out to Baby Bear that his uncle Tommy is a ringmaster at the circus who's also been shot out of a cannon. Though Telly begroans to the camera over why he's saying all this junk, he goes right on with his story until he gets a little shock when Gina tells him that the phone call was to say that Uncle Tommy would be coming to pick Telly up that day! Of course, everyone is thrilled at the prospect of meeting a circus ringmaster!
Telly was immediately panicked (as Telly can do so well) and Gina went back to the story, in which Leo called his family a third time for a joke and then after that time a wolf really did come along and the family refused to come. Elmo sent Leo to physically get his family while Elmo guarded the sheep, but Elmo passed out when he saw the wolf. The family finally came back and found the wolf tied up because the sheep had taken care of him.
When Uncle Tommy does arrive, and Telly goes out to greet him and finally winds up telling him about his lie. Telly and Tommy here sing the 2nd. song on the video "I Wanna Take It Back". Tommy encourages Telly to tell the truth and when the kids and Gina come out, he does just that. And they all forgive him. And then all join in singing a song called "The Truth". (Leo and the sheep join in on this song.) And the kids are even more excited when Telly tells them that Tommy is really an astronaut! Tommy then has to get Gina to take Telly home because Tommy gets a phone call on his cell phone and finds out that he has to go blast off to the moon, which he literally does as NASA people show up to give him a space suit and helmet and he blasts off with a backpack on, waving goodbye to the kids. And the credits roll as Tommy rises up into space.
At the end of the video, Dennis Quaid also has a personal message to parents about helping teach children to tell the truth!

Overall, it was a good video approximately 30 minutes long that did what it set out to do. It doesn't really utilize any classic clips, but it does do a good job of teaching kids to tell the truth and would be a useful tool for parents.

 

[minor muppetz]

That sounds a bit sad that Telling the Truth doesn't have any clips. Two clips that I would have included (if I was in charge of the video) are the Sesame Street News skit where Kermit interviewed Pinnocchio and the first season sketch where Ernie ate Bert's cake and lied about a monster taking the cake and framing Ernie.

 

[GonzoLeaper]

Yeah, those would have been good ones to include. I think most of the "Kids' Guide to Life" series doesn't tend to include classic clips- though I think maybe a few of them do. When I get time, I'll have to try to check out some more.

 

[minor muppetz]

Yeah, those would have been good ones to include. I think most of the "Kids' Guide to Life" series doesn't tend to include classic clips- though I think maybe a few of them do. When I get time, I'll have to try to check out some more.

As far as I know, there are three "Kids Guide to Life" videos. I've read that Big Bird Get's Lost does not have any segments at all, and as stated in my review, Learn To Share has a few classic clips. I don't know if What is Friend? is considered "classic" or not (though I think it was more recent at the time the video was released), but Sharing and Two Heads are Better than One are both classics. I think they are both from the early 1980s.

 

[GonzoLeaper]

A different kind of review...

Well, a few of these have been covered before, but since I just got through watching this video, I'll go ahead and put up a review for this one. It's a 1991 video called "Ernie's Little Lie and Other Stories". This is one of those videos that is a stop motion film- it uses the illustrations from Sesame Street books to tell the story. There are 3 books covered on this video.
"Ernie's Little Lie", "That's Not Fair" and "Why are you so mean to me?"

Though it's not quite the same as watching the show itself, these videos are still neat to watch because a lot of characters sometimes show up in the books that don't show up much on Sesame Street anymore. And Carroll Spinney did the narration for all three stories. So of course his Big Bird voice was dead on- though funnily enough his Oscar voice sounded a little off, but maybe that was just me. He also attempted to imitate Ernie and Bert and Grover throughout the stories and that was pretty funny hearing that. (And he did a pretty decent job with Grover's voice.)

In "Ernie's Little Lie"- Ernie eyes a paint set at Mr. Hooper's Store and finds out that it's the prize in a painting contest. So he goes home to paint a picture of Rubber Duckie. The mailman comes by and gives Ernie a letter from his cousin, which includes a superb painting of a tiger. Ernie sees how awesome it looks and thinks about saying that this is his entry, but then realizes it'd be lying and decides not to. Bert comes home and sees the tiger painting, which he compliments and tells Ernie he'll be sure to win with it. And he's so excited, he takes the painting for Ernie to enter in the contest, even though Ernie tries to tell him that it's not his, but Bert goes off before he can tell him. Big Bird and Oscar are the other two entrants- Oscar with a painting of his trash can and Big Bird with a painting of his nest and Mr. Hooper is officiating. He awards Ernie the prize and Ernie finally breaks down crying and tells everyone the truth about the painting. And Ernie decides to give the paint set to his cousin and everyone is happy again.
-Main cool factor here- Mr. Hooper shows up!!!

Then there's "It's Not Fair"- which I thought was a pretty interesting look at Bert and Ernie's relationship. Ernie suggests to Bert that they set up a lemonade stand and Bert winds up doing all of the work to get it set up. Ernie buys oranges instead of lemons from Mr. McIntosh's stand (yes- even Mr. McIntosh shows up and has a few lines!!!) Then Bert goes to get the lemons and leaves Ernie to finish painting the sign he was making. When Bert gets back Ernie has made a mess, so Ernie goes to get a bath and Bert makes the lemonade. Then when everyone comes to get some lemonade (including Big Bird, Grover, Bob, Susan, Gordon and Mr. McIntosh), everyone compliments Ernie. Bert finally can't take it anymore and explodes- saying that it's not fair that he does all the work and has to fix all of Ernie's mistakes. Ernie goes off to get a surprise for Bert to show him he's sorry and he brings Bert a new dust pan and broom, which Bert goes nuts over. And of course, all is forgiven and everyone's happy.
- (And yes- Bob, Susan, Gordon and Mr. McIntosh all have lines- but the only one doing any voices is Carroll Spinney- so it's fun to hear his take on all the characters)

And finally there's "Why Are You so Mean to Me?"
This one stars Grover. Grover's mom sends Grover off to school, who's excited because it's the day of the class picnic. His mom gives him a baseball bat and he can't wait to play baseball (he's never played before.)
He tells Truman about this on the way to school and then they get to the picnic. He has fun there up to the time after lunch, when they're ready to start the baseball game. Truman and Jill pick the teams and Grover is last to be picked and Truman is forced to take him, but he thinks Grover will lose the game for them because he's never played before. As it turns out, they do lose the game and Grover misses all the pitches. All the kids (mostly AMs) make fun of him (apparently including Betty Lou- hmm, I would have expected better of her)
Grover walks home sadly later on and stops by Oscar's trash can where Big Bird is working on a painting of Grover. Grover is upset and tells Big Bird that his painting stinks and consequently makes Big Bird upset, who asks Grover, "Why are you so mean to me?" Finally, Grover spills the story out and Big Bird practices baseball with Grover, using Oscar's battered old baseball that he lends them, and then tells them to get lost. Finally, Grover is able to hit the baseball and Big Bird misses all his tries, pointing out that he's even worse than Grover! (Big Bird is definitely a good friend in this story.) Grover tells Big Bird that he didn't mean what he said earlier and that he likes his painting and asks if he can have it, and of course Big Bird says yes. Grover gets home and tells his mom about what happened and she comments that Big Bird is a good friend to Grover and they hang up Big Bird's painting. And Grover's mom tells Grover that even if he isn't good at baseball, he'll always be good at being Grover!

And there you have it. Oh, one other thing I should mention. Big Bird also sings a song at the start and end of the video- most of the lyrics comprising of "Read along with me" (so it's an original song for the "read along series" which is kinda cool.) And the start and end of the video has the endsheets used on a lot of Sesame Street storybooks I used to get as a kid in the '80s- you may remember them- with everyone sitting on or around the 123 stoop reading a book- Ernie, Bert, Herry, Cookie Monster, Grover, Big Bird, Sherlock Hemlock, Little Bird, Betty Lou and Oscar.

And the end of the video says that's there's three others in this series.
"Don't Cry Big Bird and other stories", "I Want to Go Home! and other stories" and "Ernie's Big Mess and Other stories".

 

[CBPuppets]

I have some favorite SS songs and sketches. For instance I love the Light and Heavy Sketch with Kermit and Grover. The first two times Kermit carries the light things (Big Bird's Feather, and Ping Pong Ball) while Grover Carries the heavy things(Piano, and Boulder). Finally Grover asks Kermit to switch so that he does the light and Kermit does the heavy. Kermit Carries a Hoagie (or a sub) and Grover Carries a balloon which carries him away. Another one was when Ernie was a doctor and Bert was the patient. He does all the things a doctor is supposed to do. Then when Bert wants to know if he's healthy Ernie says he will tell him in about 23 years. My favorite songs are Monster in the Mirror, I'm a Bookworm Baby, Do De Rubber Duck, The Word is No, and Me Lost Me Cookie at the Disco.