November 4, 2009
la, la, la, la, linoleum
11/4/09
Sesame Street premiered 40 years ago today in 1969, and as legend has it, my mom heard about the new program and propped me up in front of our tiny black-and-white TV to see the very first one. Thanks to the genius of YouTube - as well as my well-oiled archivist machinery - this is a picture of me watching Sesame Street later that year in San Jose, California:
...and the exact picture I'm watching on that television is right at :11 in this clip:
There are very few cultural elements as basic to my structure as Sesame Street - add Peanuts cartoons, the original "Willy Wonka" movie and the mid-period Beatles albums my brother bought me, and you've got my basic belief structure. I mean, can you believe this was the way we learned numbers?
From "Sesame Street" came so many amazing ideas: Ernie counting fire engines in bed just to annoy Bert; Bert rushing home in time to hear the Pigeon Report; Oscar the Grouch with hilarious throwaway lines that only made sense fifteen years later; the Mah Nà Mah Nà muppets, clear through Kermit the Frog singing "Rainbow Connection" in a swamp.
I know old fartbags like me can bemoan the more current version of Sesame Street, with motherfrickin' Elmo and the like, but the show has morphed with the times, and has never been shy about changing formats when research showed kids learning better another way. Besides, we always keep three or four on the Tivo for Lucy's weekends, and... they still got it, whatever it is. Lucy adores it, and she's picky. Besides, they occasionally show The Mysterious Nose Snatcher, and that's good enough for me (as are cookies that start with "c").
Jim Henson was a genius. A toast to him and Frank Oz!
summer '07
Freakin' impressive that you were able to find that clip!
Ditto!
Such a blast from childhood! Sesame Street taught me to read.
What's up with everyone knowing Snupaluffagus (sp?) is real these days?
My husband and I went as Bert & Ernie for Halloween. The drunker the people were, the more they loved us. It was hilarious and such fun.
Ya know.... Anna just doesn't like Sesame St. I think a lot of it has to do with the pitch of the voices the characters use now and how you really can't understand them. I don't understand half of what they say. And it's funny bc she "wants" to like it b/c she loves Elmo books, but just really doesn't want to watch it. Same thing with Dora... Go figure.
There must be something that looms as large as Sesame Street once did now on the Xbox. At least as long as copyright and financing remains such as it is, it's hard to imagine eyeballs being stolen from a few big productions by many small ones.
That is really the best "vintage" photo ever, Ian. It tells a whole story, and I love the black and white.
I found Sesame Street, particularly as it went on over several decades, to be a bit ADD-inducing for really little kids. My own kids watched (please don't groan) "Mr. Rogers" and "Barney". I know the latter looks cheesy, but I liked that it had a stable camera and real kids acting out real-life stuff and lots of music, with Barney the dinosaur serving the same sort of avuncular role as I enjoyed in Captain Kangaroo as a little kid.
I still hold that criticism of Sesame Street -- too much flash and jumping around just as a little child begins to focus on something -- although I enjoyed watching the "Elmo's World" segment with our granddaughter last year. It's the only part of "Sesame Street" she would tolerate! Her favorite part was the silly real-person clown, Mr. Noodle -- a hilarious mime.
I LOVE this post. Seriously, I watched Sesame Street, Villa Allegre and Mr. Rogers while sippin' on a bottle of grape Kool-Aid.
I ws more of a Mr. Rogers and Captain Kangaroo fan. And The New Zoo Revue.
I love the pic and I love that you corrected the time for the clip from :25 to :11! Did you catch the inaccuracy, or did someone email it to you?
Is today's title a Barenaked Ladies reference? I seem to recall a line like that in one of Quinn's (better) kid-music albums.
I too loved Sesame Street, and have been wanting to buy the '70s version on DVD for our daughter. I still vividly remember shouting at the TV "Give him water!!" with my brother when the guy crawling in the desert is saying "Help... Agua..." and keeps getting given things like a pool float after he mimes going swimming.
My best friend just moved to Delhi to become education director for Sesame St India. Next time you are in India, check out "Galli Galli Sim Sim" http://www.galligallisimsim.com/
Hey, Buddy!.....Wanna buy an O? It'll cost you just a nickel....
Put me squarely in the loved Sesame Street/Electric Company camp. I was devout as a kid, so much so that the prinicpal of my grade school suggested I skip Kindergarten because I had already learned so much from watching. I too am bummed that Snuffalupagus is 'seen' by everyone now but I guess it's to keep kids from keeping secrets (bad secrets) from mom and dad.
Sing it with me: 12345,678910,11,12 (which was done by the Pointer Sisters, BTW!)
Greg T - I happened to watch it again and realized where it actually was. Such a bizarre thing that we can conjure up a frame of a cartoon watched on a television in 1969... magical, really.
Is Sesame St too liberal? Ha ha: