Sketches and Songs on Sesame Street videos

[GonzoLeaper]

Start-to-Read this Review!

Here's my review of the Sesame Street Start-to-Read video- "Ernie's Big Mess and other Stories". It's a 1987 video- produced by Random House Video (as opposed to SonyWonder, who did so many of the other SS videos- and that's recently changed by the way....http://www.tvshowsondvd.com/newsitem.cfm?NewsID=6953)
The video is approximately 30 minutes long- but it feels like it's much shorter because the picture books fly by pretty fast.

Anyway- this is a bit different kind of video- Carroll Spinney is on board as Big Bird, and he narrates three picture books, with the pages from the book displayed for children to read along with. (Note- Big Bird refers to himself in the first person- as "I", where as in the book, it would be in the third person- "Big Bird said, etc...") (Also, I'm pretty sure it's him doing the voices for everyone in the stories...interesting to hear his imitations of other characters)

All of these "Start-to-Read" videos start with Big Bird's voice singing the "Start-to-Read" intro song...and on screen we see characters show up on the endsheets used in many familiar Sesame Street story books I remember reading as a kid in the 1980s.

(Refer to this post for more details- http://forum.muppetcentral.com/showpost.php?p=359101&postcount=93)

1st. Story- "Ernie's Big Mess" (written by Sarah Roberts and Illustrated by Joe Mathieu)

Plot- Bert and Ernie are best friends, but Bert gets upset at the mess Ernie makes in their apartment. He even says he wished he lived by himself!
Ernie decides Bert doesn't want him there anymore and runs away. He goes from friend to friend looking for a place to stay- Big Bird's nest to Grover's house to Oscar's trash can! He finally sits by Oscar's trash can and falls asleep. At this point, Bert is frantically looking for Ernie and goes from Big Bird to Grover and finally finds him by Oscar's trash can. Bert apologizes for yelling and tells him to come back home. Of course, Ernie winds up spilling all his toys from his suitcase all over the floor- and apologizes for making a mess again. But this time Bert just smiles and says they'll clean it up in the morning and they go to bed.

(And so we learn a good lesson about communication and friendship. And a Biblical lesson too- "Don't let the sun go down in your anger." (Ephesians 4:26))

2nd. Story- "Nobody Cares About Me" (written by Sarah Roberts and Illustrated by Joe Mathieu)

Big Bird wants someone to play with him but no one will. Not Bert, because Ernie's waiting for him. Not Grover, because he's taking a truck to Ernie. Not Cookie Monster, because he's taking cookies to Ernie. Big Bird gets upset and thinks everyone cares about Ernie and not about him. Betty Lou comes by and lets Big Bird know that Ernie's sick with a cold and they go visit him. Big Bird then decides to pretend he's sick so everyone will cater to him. Little Bird comes by to visit then and Big Bird tells him he's sick. Little Bird immediately offers to stay with him and take care of him. Ernie comes by later to ask him to play because he feels better. Little Bird won't let him though- because he's "sick". Though Big Bird claims he isn't really sick, he then starts sneezing and really does become sick from catching the cold. Little Bird, Bert, Ernie, Grover and Cookie Monster all come to visit him. After following the doctor's orders, Big Bird is soon better and goes to play with them all and Betty Lou at the park. (And Big Bird does his trademark laugh at the end.)

And the key is- Don't lie. And don't take advantage of people. Being sick really is no fun.

3rd. Story-"My Doll is Lost!" (written by Dan Elliott and Illustrated by Joe Mathieu)

Herry (wearing his storybook trademark striped pants) skips down Sesame Street with his bag and bumps into the mailman. He finds a letter for him, inviting to Bert and Ernie's party- in which he's supposed to bring his favorite doll. (But he leaves his bag by mistake!) Herry then stops by Betty Lou's house, who is also going. At this point, Herry realizes he's lost his doll (which was in the bag) and they both go to look for it. Herry describes his doll as different things to different friends (who all decide that Herry's doll looks just like theirs based on his descriptions like "beautiful" and "soft and cuddly" and such... and they all go to look for it.) He goes through this process with Grover and Cookie Monster (who gives him a cookie to feel better!) and Big Bird. Herry then sits by Oscar's trash can and yells out, "Where is my doll?" Oscar pops out and tells him not to yell and then finds out that Herry's looking for his doll. Oscar pulls out some dolls he found in the trash- one that he claims is beautiful and must the be the beautiful doll Herry described. (But this doll is incredibly ugly- so, of course to Oscar it's beautiful and it's definitely not Herry's doll.) Then he pulls out one that he says is ugly and of course this is actually Herry's doll. When Herry asks how to thank Oscar, he tells him to just go away! Herry then goes to the party and finds Ernie, Bert, Grover, Cookie Monster, Betty Lou and Big Bird all there with their dolls.

(And so we learn that people perceive things differently.)

-I think perhaps one main fun thing about these Sesame Street books and Start-to-Read videos for me is that many rarely seen characters can show up long after they've ceased being performed regularly on the show. For instance, Little Bird and Betty Lou showed up on this video, and even Herry has gotten to be pretty rare lately. Anyway, it's still a fun video and great for teaching kids to read. And it also offers views of things we don't always see on the show- like Grover's house and bedroom, Betty Lou's house, etc...

 

[minor muppetz]

Here is my review for Christmas Eve on Sesame Street, broadcast in 1978, first released on video by Random House in 1987, released on video by Sony Wonder in the late 1990s, and released on DVD in 2002.

The video starts with the cast at an ice skating rink. The humans are all there, while the Muppets are special full-body costume versions of the characters created for Holidays on Ice (even the Big Bird costume is different. Here he moves both arms but doesn't talk, and this Big Bird costume is obviously lighter than how Big Bird normally looks. Ironically, he's the only Muppet who doesn't talk in this sequence). A special christmas-style instrumental version of the them plays. Ernie, Bert, Cookie Monster, The Count, and Oscar all goof around during this scene, with the Muppets playing hockey by using Bert's shoe as a hockey ball, and the characters playing "jump the barrells".

At one point, Big Bird has trouble ice skating, so a little girl helps him. After Big Bird gets better at it, Feliz Navidad plays in the soundtrack. Meanwhile, the other Muppets skate in circles while holding hands. Bert eventually grabs the handle of Oscar's trash can, and Oscar wants Bert to let go, especially when they spin too fast. Eventually, Bert lets go, but they skated so fast that Oscar goes flying off the rink and crashing through several walls and falling down a flight of stairs, before fallings onto the street.

Big Bird and a girl named Patty (I'm not sure if Patty was a regular or not) confront Oscar, who enjoyed what ahd just happened. Oscar gets annoyed by Big Bird's happy talk about christmas, and points out that chimneys are small, and that Santa Claus is fat, and questions how Santa Claus can fit down the chimney. Big Bird and Patty can't figure it out, and Oscar misleads them into thinking that nobody will get any presents unless Big Bird can figure out how Santa fits through the chimneys. The cast walks to the subway, singign True Blue Miracle. This is the only time in the special when Olivia and David get lines. There is also an appearance by a man who looks like Mr. MacIntosh, but I'm not sure if it's supposed to be him (Chet O'Brien wasn't credited as part of the cast, but I don't think he ever got credited for the role on Sesame Street anyway, and I know that Chet O'Brien had a twin brother who worked behind the scenes as well).

Big Bird and Patty come home to Big Bird's nest area and see Kermit there. They tell Kermit about how they don't know how Santa Claus fits through the chimneys when he's so fat. Kermit startts to think up an answer, and when he can't figure out a solution, he decides to ask the people who know Santa Claus best: kids. Patty points out that she's a kid and she doens't know, and Kermit says that that's one answer there.

Then Bert is taking a bath as he tries to figure out what tog et Ernie for christmas. He accidently sits (or steps?) on Ernie's Rubber Duckie, which fell into the tub, and decides to get Ernie a soap dish to put his Rubber Duckei in. Ernie then coems home and notices that one of Bert's paper clips is on the floor, and decides to get Bert a cigar box to put his paper clips in (shouldn't the censors be concerned with using the word "cigar" on the show?). Then we get a montage of kids telling Grover and Kermit how they think Santa gets down the chimney, some answers of which are very weird.

Then Linda is teaching some kids sign language when Bob comes to rehearse a christmas song with the kids. He is surprised that Linda is at his apartment early, and the kids sing Keep Christmas with You, and soon the kids, led by Linda, use sign language, surprising Bob. In the next scene, Ernie goes to Hooper's Store to buy a cigar box, but since he doesn't have any money, he trades his Rubber Duckie for the cigar box. Bert then comes to trade his paper clips for a pink soap dish. It's obvious that Ernie and Bert are both sad about giving up their favorite things. Then we get another scene with Grover talking to a kid. Grover pretends to be Santa, and the kid pretend sto be sleeping. Grover tells him that he is having trouble getting down teh chimney, and the door and window are locked. Grover considers himself in big trouble.

Cookie Monster is in the Fix-It Shop writing a letter to Santa Claus (I used to wonder what this locationw as supposed to be, until I got the Old School set). Cookie Monster decides to ask for cookies, but gets so excited that he eats the pencil.

Then Kermit comes back to Big Bird's home to read the list of ways Santa gets down the chimney, many of which are nonsense, and don't solve the mystery of how Santa gets down the chimney. Then we get another scene with Cookie Monster, this tiem attempting to type a letter but eats the type writer (look at the keys... There are only a few letters on the typewriter!). Then Big Bird decides to have Snuffy pretend to be Santa Claus, and pretend that a barrell is the chimney. Snuffy puts his first two feet in, then points out that Santa only has two feet, so Big Bird has him pretend that Santa is comming down with a reindeer. Snuffy struggles to get all of his legs in the chimney, but once in, Big Bird thinks he's figured out how Santa gets into the chimney. But then Snuffy asks how Santa gets out (possibly implying that he was tuck, though over the years Snuffy has managed to fit in small objects such as luggage and Oscar's trash can).

In the next scene, Bob wishes Mr. Hooper a happy chaunuka while Mr. Hooper wishes Bob a merry christmas. Oscar hates this, and starst singign I Hate Christmas. Then Ernie and Bert decide to open their presents before bed. Bert likes the cigar box, but when Ernie tells Bert that he got it for Bert's paper clip collection, Bert tells Ernie to open his present. Ernie actually likes the soap dish, but when he's told that it's for Rubebr Duckie, Ernie is speechless... but he's saved by a knocka t the door. Mr. Hooper comes to give them soem presents: Ernie gets his rubber duckie back, and Bert gets his paperclip collection back. Mr. Hooper leaves and they sing Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas.

Cookie Monster decides to call Santa Claus, but although he does reach Santa, he eats the phone reciever before he can talk to Santa, and says that he'll send a telegram. It's nighttime, and Big Bird is sad that he doesn't know how Santa gets down the chimney. After Patty leaves, Big Bird ecides to ask Santa himself. Cookie Monster tells Gordon about how he doens't think he'll get any cookies, but Gordon reassures Cookie that Santa will probably give him some cookies, and suggests that he give Santa something in return. Cookie tries to think of what to get Santa, and Gorodn tells him that most kids leave him cookies. Patty comes to the apartment to tell them that Big Bird is missing (he went back to Big Bird's nest and didn't see him there). The adults then go look for Big Bird.

On the roof, Big Bird notices that the adults look like they are lookign for a lost person, but says that he has to stay on the roof. Big Bird eventually falls asleep, and while he sleeps, Santa's shadow walks past him. He wakes up, thinking that he heard something, but doesn't see any foot prints.

Maria pulls Ocar out of his trash can and gets mad at him for asking Big Bird how Santa gets down chimneys, and that Big Bird is now gone. Oscar didn't think that Big Bird would do such a stupid thing, and decides to go look for Big Bird.

Susan, Gordon, and Patty go inside when they fidn Big Bird, who decided to go indoors to keep warm. He tells them that he was on the roof, and before he can go back, they show him that everybody will get presents after all. Oscar arrives and tells Big Bird that he's glad Big Bird has been found, because h has another question: How does the easter bunny hide all those eggs in one night?

This was a very good special. The only major human not present was Luis (and possibly Buffy). It would have been great if more characetrs were included (perhaps Sherlock Hemlock, Don Music, Biff, Sully, and Gladys), but it's still a good special.

 

[GonzoLeaper]

"Christmas Eve on Sesame Street" is a classic!!! - A Sesame Street classic- and a Christmas classic!!! Thanks for covering it. I should have a few more reviews coming soon...

 

[minor muppetz]

There is one sketch that I forgot to mention being on the Shalom Sesame video I reviewed (well, actually there are more that I forgot, but only one that I remember off-hand). It also includes the animated sketch where a voice-over asks what would happen if a frog had a flies body, and a fly had a frogs body. This sketch is available on Old School Volume 1 (I think it was part of episode 131). Anyway, I'd like to point out that while this whole sketch is presented in english, the voice-over is still dubbed. So it includes a voice-over with a different american voice.

In the Shalom Sesame video, scenes from american songs and sketches where characters count or recite the alphabet are dubbed in hebrew. And the hebrew symbols for hebrew letters are also shown on-screen.

 

[GonzoLeaper]

Start-to-Read Again!

Okay- here's a review of another Sesame Street "Start-to-Read" video.
This one is called "I Want to Go Home! And Other Stories" from 1987 and it runs about 30 minutes.

As always, the video has 3 stories to read along with Big Bird, who narrates all the stories and Caroll Spinney does all the voices- even making a fairly passable imitation of Frank Oz's characters like Bert and Grover. Also, whenever Big Bird is mentioned in the stories, he refers to himself in the first person. And these videos all start with the "Start-to-Read" theme song, sung by Big Bird.


1st. Story- "I Want to Go Home!" -written by Sarah Roberts and illustrated by Joe Mathieu

Plot- Big Bird takes a bus to visit his Granny Bird at the beach. (He says it's his first trip away from home, so for the technical people out there, this is apparently set before "Follow That Bird" ) His friends come to see him off- Grover, Cookie Monster, Oscar, Bert and Ernie. (Incidentally, Big Bird also notes it's his first time seeing the sea.) And in this story, we get to see illustrations of Granny Bird (it seems she was talked about a lot on the show- but I don't know if she was ever shown). Interesting to note that Big Bird is depicted as sleeping in a bed at his Granny's- wonder why she didn't have a nest? Anyway, back to the story. Big Bird gets homesick and misses Sesame Street. So he sends postcards to his friends, and then goes to the beach and builds a sandcastle that looks like Sesame Street. (That's pretty talented!) But a wave knocks it all down! Then he looks for sea shells to give to his friends. Big Bird finds an old boot for Oscar and then meets a boy named Wally, who shows Big Bird his secret cave. Big Bird tells Wally about Oscar and Snuffy (and notes that he lives in a cave.) Big Bird plays with Wally every day from then out. Then he feels sad when he finally has to leave Wally and Granny Bird and head back to Sesame Street. But they become pen pals and Big Bird pledges to visit next summer!

2nd. Story- "Bert and the Missing Mop Mix-Up"- written by Sarah Roberts and illustrated by Joe Mathieu

Plot- Bert is painting, takes a break for milk- and spills it! (But he doesn't cry over it!) Bert sends Ernie for a mop and he goes running down Sesame Street. Ernie finds Betty Lou and asks if she has a mop. She agrees to look for one, but thinks he wants a map. Betty Lou wakes Oscar up to look for one. Oscar tells her he doesn't have one, but then he goes to find Bert a mat, which says "Not Welcome". (You can probably see where this is going... )He asks Big Bird, who hears "mitt" and goes to look for one. He asks Grover, who goes home to look for a mitten. He asks his mom who goes to look. Herry asks Grover to play but Grover tells him Bert needs a mitten. So naturally Herry goes and gets Bert a kitten. Meanwhile, Bert is getting impatient waiting and then everyone comes in with their items. Ernie then rushs home with a mop- but Bert doesn't need it anymore because the kitten lapped up the milk- and everyone laughs heartily! (of course!) (And Big Bird gives his trademark laugh at the end.)

(Very much a "Three's Company" thing going on in this one- with all the misunderstandings...)

3rd. Story- "Two Wheels for Grover"- written by Dan Elliott and illustrated by Joe Mathieu (I guess CTW got their money's worth out of this guy!)

Grover says bye to his mom as he's going with Uncle Jed to visit his cousins in the country. Aunt Edna says "hi" briefly and then Rosie wants Grover to go bike riding with her. Grover doesn't know how to ride a bicycle but doesn't want to admit it. So he says that his mom won't let him. Frank and Grover climb a tree house instead. Next day, Aunt Edna tells Grover that his mom said he could ride a bike. Grover winds up playing and doing lots of stuff with his cousins- but keeps making up excuses not to go riding bikes with Rosie. Grover asks Frank one day when he learned to ride a bike. He says he was 7 and Grover mentions that that's older than he is. (So we apparently have some confirmation that Grover is younger than 7- maybe 5 or 6?) Grover admits to Frank he can't ride a bike and Frank offers to teach him. Grover says that Big Bird tried once to teach him and it didn't work. But Frank says it was because Big Bird's bike is too big. Frank teaches him to ride on his old smaller bike and soon Grover is able to ride with his cousins to get a kitten from Farmer Finn- which he names Speedy because he had to be speedy to get a kitten before they were all gone. Grover goes back to Sesame Street and tells his mom he can now ride a bike and she says that's great- and now she knows what to get him for his birthday!

 

[GonzoLeaper]

I also wanted to mention that I finally got a chance to see "The Best of Elmo" and I have to agree with minor muppetz that it's definitely not as bad as I thought it might have been. There are quite a range of characters shown besides just Elmo- Maria, Ruthie, Zoe, Ernie, Big Bird, Snuffy and Telly- to name a few. I didn't realize this before, but apparently Jim Henson performed Ernie for Ernie and Elmo's version of "One Fine Face". (I'm pretty sure this was originally done as a Bert and Ernie song- but I thought it was only later rerecorded with Elmo due to his rising popularity. I didn't realize Jim Henson actually performed Ernie in the song though. So I guess this was probably somewhere in the late 80s or maybe as late as 1990.
Anyway, I enjoyed this video pretty well. "One Fine Face" is a fun song and I like "Happy Tapping with Elmo" pretty well. And Elmo's rap song "Five Jingle Hammer" (I think that's right) is pretty hilarious! Elmo does a pretty obvious parody of M.C. Hammer! And I really do love the original version of "Elmo's Song" when it's sung with Big Bird and Snuffy. That's a great song. Yeah, this is actually a pretty good video.
I'd just like to see some other "Best Of" compilations- we've had some done for Elmo, Bert and Ernie, Grover and Kermit and Big Bird and Cookie Monster.....
but I'd still like to see one for Oscar, The Count, Prairie Dawn, Herry, Telly, Zoe and lesser seen characters nowadays- like Sherlock Hemlock, Lefty, Harvey Kneeslapper, Forgetful Jones, Betty Lou, Roosevelt Franklin, etc.

 

[minor muppetz]

I am so happy to finally know the plot of I Want to Go Home. I had wondered if it might have been one of those storybooks that was inspired by Follow That Bird.

 

[anytimepally]

I find this thread extremely useful when trying to look for a certain segment.. thanks for all the detailed reviews

 

[GonzoLeaper]

I find this thread extremely useful when trying to look for a certain segment.. thanks for all the detailed reviews

You're welcome- that's what the thread's here for. Hopefully, we'll soon have most all the Sesame Street Home Video releases listed with a review to give an exact breakdown of what segments and songs are located on each. Of course, reviews on most any Sesame Street video release are welcome...

By the way- it'd be nice if this thread could a get a sticky so as not to lose it amongst all the others. I don't know who does that- but I think this one is a pretty useful one to have stickied.

 

[GonzoLeaper]

I've been able to obtain a copy of "Eight Super Stories from Sesame Street" (a video version of Sesame Street picture books) and I've made a discovery. The "8 Super Stories" video is actually a 2 video set that is a combination of "Three Super Stories from Sesame Street" and "Five Super Stories from Sesame Street". So all the eight stories from those two videos are included in one package on this "Eight Super Stories from Sesame Street" video set. And if you want to see the reviews on these, Minor Muppetz has covered both here
and here