The Classic Electric Company Memories Thread

[LittleJerry92]

Happy 50th to Sesame Street’s sister show!

Let’s celebrate with orange juice, a glass of milk, iced tea, a cup of coffee and all the sweet rolls!

 

[fuzzygobo]

I’ll bring the ham, bacon, sausage, hash and eggs.

 

[fuzzygobo]

Just curious, Cullen. 50 years ago I was (don’t laugh) three and a half years old. How old were you?

PS coming up on January 9, it will be 50 years of Zoom. Great time to be alive.

 

[YellowYahooey]

I recall many segments were animated by the Hubleys for The Electric Company, including "True Blue Sue", "Low Down Clown", "Glad Gladys" and most notably the Letterman segments.

I also learned that Bruce Cayard animated some inserts for The Electric Company too. The only one that comes to my mind is the one with a girl named Myrna.

I believe Al Jarnow animated the "Why Me?" song segment, as the words displayed use the same lettering style as the "Yakity-Yakity-Yak" and the "man demonstrating up and down" segment - both from Sesame Street.

I wouldn't be surprised if Jeff Hale animated the "Right on!" segment. I believe many early segments Hale animated involved African-American characters, like in "J for Jacket, Jenny and Jeff" and "The Yo-Yo Master and the Lost Kid" segments - again, both from Sesame Street. And this was long before the Ringmaster and Consonant Sound segments which involved Caucasian characters.

Do you suppose that the reason why the animators for Sesame Street also worked for The Electric Company, is because their contract to animate for those shows is for the Children's Television Workshop and not just specific individual shows?

 

[fuzzygobo]

I don’t know if the animation studios were contractually bound or not, but CTW did give them quite a bit of work.
One other Hubley cartoon. Kit/kite.

A father is in his chair reading the paper. He has a present for his son. He opens the box which says “kit”.
But Dad insists it’s a “kite”, even though there’s no silent e on the box.

The boy asks “you mean the e makes it ‘kite’l.
Dad affirms yes.
“Why?”
Dad: “Come on, son. Let’s go fly a kite”.

 

[fuzzygobo]

Cullen, I don’t know if this was mentioned yet, a cartoon song with words ending with “mp”.
I believe Douglas Grant sings it, Jim Simon animated it.

Dear Mom, about this camp.
I crossed the creek, me and Scamp.
That’s why my socks are damp.

I tried to jump over this stump.
But he tripped me up, my head went thump!
That’s how I got this bump.

I beat up on this little shrimp
But his brother was a big fat blimp
That’s where I got this limp.

There’s something wrong with this camp.
It’s hard to find a postage stamp.
But it’s fun. Your son, Champ.

The song ends as a skunk walks by and Champ passes out.

 

[Xerus]

Just curious, Cullen. 50 years ago I was (don’t laugh) three and a half years old. How old were you?

PS coming up on January 9, it will be 50 years of Zoom. Great time to be alive.

I was one year old when TEC first aired in 1971. So I don't remember any of seasons 1 or 2. I have vague memories of seasons 3 and 4. And the final two seasons kept rerunning through the 70's and early 80's.

 

[Xerus]

Cullen, I don’t know if this was mentioned yet, a cartoon song with words ending with “mp”.
I believe Douglas Grant sings it, Jim Simon animated it.

Dear Mom, about this camp.
I crossed the creek, me and Scamp.
That’s why my socks are damp.

I tried to jump over this stump.
But he tripped me up, my head went thump!
That’s how I got this bump.

I beat up on this little shrimp
But his brother was a big fat blimp
That’s where I got this limp.

There’s something wrong with this camp.
It’s hard to find a postage stamp.
But it’s fun. Your son, Champ.

The song ends as a skunk walks by and Champ passes out.

I remember that one too. That huge brother who slammed that guy really creeped me out.

 

[Xerus]

I don’t know if the animation studios were contractually bound or not, but CTW did give them quite a bit of work.
One other Hubley cartoon. Kit/kite.

A father is in his chair reading the paper. He has a present for his son. He opens the box which says “kit”.
But Dad insists it’s a “kite”, even though there’s no silent e on the box.

The boy asks “you mean the e makes it ‘kite’l.
Dad affirms yes.
“Why?”
Dad: “Come on, son. Let’s go fly a kite”.

I love that Dad's soothing sounding voice. "Come on son, let's go fly a kite."

Yes, a lot of Sesame Street cartoonists worked on TEC like Wantu Studios, John and Faith Hubley, Cliff Roberts, Tee Collins, John Korty, Fred Garbers.

 

[Xerus]

Does anyone remember this cartoon? Two clams see a third clam with sunglasses. Clam one asks, "Who is that CLAM?" The second clam replied, "That's CLYDE. The CLEVER CLAM from CLEVELAND. Clyde took out a suitcase and a shower popped out soaking Clyde, while he started gargling soap. When the shower stopped, Clyde made a huge toothy smile. His suitcase went back to normal, and Clyde picked it up and started scooting away. Clam 2 said, "The CLYDE, he's CLEAN." And Clyde made two cute jumps and went away.