What sketches scared you as a kid?

[SillyJoeBob]

I don't recall ever seeing ANY of these segments.

SillyJoeBob

 

[Philo and Gunge]

The Word Is No

When I saw The Word Is No it scared the **** out of me (it was probably the beginning). Now, I think it's one of Sesame Street's best songs.

 

[Elizabeth]

The skit that scared me (and still sorta does) was the one with all those little ramps set in a pitch black room, an orange ball ran down the ramps and through a serise of little flags and tunnels..then at the end it went through this little machine and ball gets turned into powder which a little girl comes over and eats. Its strange...obscure and I wonder today who came up with that idea. I think the thing that bothered me so much was the setting. It was a weird item set up in a weird, undistinguisable place. It was like it had no setting at all.

Shannon

Hee hee!! Me too! I remember one version of it, where the ball falls into a box at the end and you see a hand come and crank a lever, then another hand comes and powder comes out of a spout from the box into the hand. Nobody eats the powder. But there's another version of it (my kids have it on one of the videos) it's the same exact thing, but then at the end, the hand comes and cranks the lever and three cherries come out of the spout and land on ice cream sundaes, and that's the one where the little girl eats one of the cherries.

Elizabeth

 

[Elizabeth]

Did any of you have moms that watched sesame street with you and have fun? It's part of being a good parent.[/QUOTE]

Oh yes, it was my mom who saved me from my scariest moment!! Okay...this is waaaay back, early 70's, and it ironically came on after the "Polluter" segment. Does ANYONE remember MR. JONES???? (That's what I always have thought his name was, could it have possibly been James Earl Jones??) It's a big, bald face filling up the entire screen, staring out at you and saying..."A...B...C...." through the WHOLE ALPHABET!!!! ohmigoodness it scared the bejiggers out of me! I distinctly remember my mom turning the "contrast" knob (we had a black and white TV) and blacking out the whole screen except the white letters that popped up in the corner as Mr. Jones ominously recited them!!!!

So several years later, I am a sophomore in high school, and I was babysitting and was watching Sesame Street with the kids, and what comes on, but the "Polluter" segment.....don't know if Mr. Jones was to follow again because I SHUT IT OFF!! (I still might today, now that I think of it!!)

Am I nuts? Does anyone else remember that??

Elizabeth

 

[Censored]

That is James Earl Jones. That skit used to scare me too as a child and my parents had to change the channel. Doesn't bother me now though, it just seems a little monotonous.

 

[Censored]

Hee hee!! Me too! I remember one version of it, where the ball falls into a box at the end and you see a hand come and crank a lever, then another hand comes and powder comes out of a spout from the box into the hand. Nobody eats the powder. But there's another version of it (my kids have it on one of the videos) it's the same exact thing, but then at the end, the hand comes and cranks the lever and three cherries come out of the spout and land on ice cream sundaes, and that's the one where the little girl eats one of the cherries.

Elizabeth

I heard that they changed to the cherries on sundaes ending because the powder finale was too much like the ball had "died". I don't know if this is true.

 

[SillyJoeBob]

When I saw The Word Is No it scared the **** out of me (it was probably the beginning). Now, I think it's one of Sesame Street's best songs.

Why did that skit scare you so much? I look forward to hearing why this is.

SillyJoeBob

 

[Mister Fred]

I don't recall ever seeing ANY of these segments.

SillyJoeBob

Most of these segments were on in the 70's. The baker falling down the steps at the end on the counting segment and spilling the cakes & pies has been on since Sesame Street started. The secret knock (3knocks and the 2 men that stole the golden AN were really good. Cookie monster in the library is cookie getting a book at the counter and when the man turns to go get it cookie says "and a box of cookies". The man first explains that they only have books, NO COOKIES! About the third time he yells "HOW MANY TIMES DO I HAVE TO TELL YOU WE DON'T HAVE COOKIES". At last cookie says he wants a book about cookies and a glass of milk, the man faints. That Willy Wimple, arch polluter is still on as far as I know and should be taken off. I could not stand it.
When my mom watched sesame street with me, I don't remember the polluting segment on, but all the others I listed were. She said about the secret knock that Lefty was as bad as Forgetful Jones. The pockets song was on mostly when the letter P was the letter of the day. It was on other times as well. I don't know how the whole song goes but all I remembered it starts with a woman singing "what do we do without pockets.....pockets are perfectly fine....you need a pocket for combing your hair". The scenes in the segment that I remember are a woman wearing a tan coat opening a pocket on the coat. Then a boy combing his hair then putting the comb in his back pocket on his blue jeans. Another woman with a tan jacket opening a pocket with a zipper and pulling the pocket inside out. Others were a man pouring tomato juice in his shirt pocket then squeching it! Then someone pulling a hankerchief out of there shirt pocket and the woman singing "there are pockets that are magic". The last two other things I remember were someone stepped on a step on a ladder and it broke. Then a woman wearing a white sweater with her hands suspened ready to put them in the pockets on the sweater. After the woman singing sings "what do we do without pockets" the woman puts her hands in her pockets and the woman singing sings "pockets are perfectly fine". This song has not been on in many years, but I always remember the bits & pieces of it cause it was one of my mom's favorites.

 

[Drtooth]

I'm not sure if I mentioned this one, but there was some weird skit cartoon thing where some sort of animated "Bird" with creepy swirly eyes spells the word bird, and then says it in an equally errie voice!


GOOOhhh! What were the animators smoking?

 

[BlueAM]

There was a caroon that freaked me out. it was about the letter V called, "The Villian in the Panama Hat"

Well, for one thing, I LOVED that skit, especially that the villain sounded an AWFUL lot like Sydney Greenstreet (ya know the guy from "The Maltese Falcon" and "Casablanca" with the gravelly voice and funny laugh).

Also, Frazzle used to scare me, as well as "The Word is No". In addition, "I'm an Ardvaark and I'm Proud" freaked me out, I think.

BlueAM