Technology on the Street

They didn't have much!  No computers.  Mr. Hooper's Store did not have a fax machine, and even if it did, it probably would have been frequently broken just like every other appliance on the Street.

and obviously there were no mobile phones.  Therefore a very important person such as the Count would naturally need to hire help to keep track of his many messages.

Click to view... "I'll get it!"

Who usually called?  THIS guy again?

"Call me back already, Count.  It's been a WEEK!"  (That monster at least SEEMED like he was always bothering people.  Not sure if he actually was or if it was just the eyebrows.)


a most disturbing instance was the first appearance of SAM the Robot.

Click to view... The Machine.

SAM the Robot's message seemed to be that human beings were evil and needed to be destroyed.  He never explicitly SAID that, but he was quite clearly programmed that way.  I wonder who was responsible for his programming?

...naw.

...NO.

Hmmm, maybe.


Imagine Ernie and Bert competing at Nintendo.  Or even Ernie orchestrating some kind of wacky answering machine related prank to irritate Bert.  ("Bert's not home, but here is his credit card information in full.")

and then that full open-mouthed Ernie laugh...

Click to view... Volume.

Guy Smiley and his identical twin brother

Lately we have been discussing celebrity guests that have made appearances on Sesame Street.  For whatever reason, probably egotistical, none of them ever interacted with the Street's RESIDENT celebrity, Guy Smiley.

Like Bill Cosby was too good for him or something.  Who WERE Guy Smiley's friends and confidants?  I imagine he hung with a fairly elite crowd.  Hoots the Owl, maybe?

 

They could talk about the entertainment business in general.

Guy: Hey, Hoots.

Hoots: Sup?

Guy: How's business?

Hoots: Oh well you know, another day another dollar.

Guy: Do you ever actually watch my game shows?

Hoots: Hoot.

Guy: What?

Hoots: Hoot.

Guy: Why do you keep saying "Hoot?"

Hoots: It's what I say when I want to get around an awkward question.  Plus I'm STILL an owl, man.


But yeah, Guy Smiley is mostly famous for hosting Sesame Street game shows, such as this:

Click to view... Ice cream, cheese, butter, and two cows.

I would like to be informed of Guy Smiley's background and personal life.  How did he start out?  Coffee boy for Kermit Frog?  "Yes boss, right away!"  Does he make the same mistakes other celebrities make?  Is he DIVORCED?  Are there Guy Smiley baby mamas scattered all over the place?

Besides all that, there is the matter of his twin brother, who is also PRINCE CHARMING.

I understand that a lot of the puppets had to be re-used as additional characters, but in this strange case, they didn't even try to hide it.  Prince Charming is just Guy Smiley acting like some completely split personality of himself, who also happens to be a pretty big JERK.

Click to view... "He's right there!"

Special Guests! (Part 2 of 2)

Right off the bat, it doesn't get much better than RAY CHARLES groovin' with Ernie and Bert!

Click to view... "Take it Bert!"

Okay!  Now that I'm calm again, the next thing I want to talk about is CARTOON guests.  There were many in the early days, and it was weird.  Why was Jughead on Sesame Street?

Other animated guests included the Pink Panther, Beetle Bailey, and BATMAN.

Click to view... Crossing the street the RIGHT way.

Obviously a cartoon character could not visit the street in person, mostly because a cartoon character is NOT a person.  But sometimes even human guests would make appearances without ever setting foot on the Street itself.  Take Fonzie, for example.

Fonzie was very good at teaching important lessons, but I don't understand why he couldn't show up to teach them in person.  It's not like he was too busy to ever make paid appearances or anything.

Click to view... Toothbrush for a friend.

But when a special guest actually DID visit the Street, including in the secret interview area that I mentioned in Part 1...

...how come it was always an interaction between the guest and a puppet?  If you were James Earl Jones, wouldn't you like to have a conversation with Mr. Hooper?  Helen Reddy could have sang a song with Bob.  Linda could be there too, translating for the deaf, as usual.  (What's sign language for "I Am Woman?"  I bet LINDA would know, especially since she is one.)

That little interview area was the setting for a lot of great songs and moments.  It would be nice if they were still making use of it.

Click to view... Be My Echo.

Special Guests! (Part 1 of 2)

There was no NEED for any kind of guest star to wander onto the Street, the residents were entirely capable of carrying the load themselves.  It was never forced like on the Muppet Show.  But since the Street was so awesome, EVERYBODY wanted to pay a visit.  This included celebrities both big...

...and small.

Here's the thing, though.  In some of the appearances, they don't ACTUALLY "get to" Sesame Street.  Take Bill Cosby, for example.

Click to view... Cosby vs Cosby

As great as Bill Cosby has always been, what was the point of there being two of him?  Did he consider himself to be ABOVE talking to a puppet?  So arrogant that he could not consent to an interview in the usual Sesame Street interview area, wherever it was?

The opposite happened with Johnny Cash.  He went RIGHT to the Street itself to confront its most disagreeable resident.

(NO, not HIM.  I meant HIM.)

Click to view... Was Big Bird SLEEPING throughout all this?

Oscar is so fascinated with "nastiness" and all things unpleasant in that clip.  Did he actually ENJOY eating bad food?  What were his limits?  Instead of trying to put all of the ingredients BACK, Edith Ann should have just chucked her whole entire sandwich right down Oscar's can.

Click to view... and that's the truth.

Susan and the Feminist Movement and the Number 2

Susan is frequently overshadowed by Gordon.  Gordon is awesome, so that sort of thing just happens.  But let's focus on Susan for awhile.  She deserves attention, too.

If you are too young to remember the story, Gordon and Susan started out as the principle patriarch and matriarch on the Street.  All of the puppets (Big Bird, Ernie and Bert, Oscar, and everybody else) served as their surrogate children.  That was the original concept of the show.

Thing was, while Gordon was a very happy, healthy, educated man working a full-time job, there was this problem in regards to why Susan was staying at home every day with no kids.  There was this vague notion of offering the Sesame Street children and puppets "milk and cookies" every day, but basically she had nothing to do.

So then there was this plot twist, if you can call it that, where she demanded to be ALLOWED to GO to WORK as a professional nurse.  Gordon was initially not comfortable with that, but eventually conceded.

The other thing is this concept of "favorite numbers."

Mine was 8.

Click to view... King of 8.

Bert enjoyed the number 6.

(Really.)

Susan, for whatever reason, picked the number 2.

Click to view.... Favorite number.

Nobody has any idea why.  She just apparently was really fascinated with the number 2.  Which is not any kind of bad number.

Click to view... 2 of everything.