There was another short on Sesame Street where a woman keeps telling her husband that he “drives her up a wall”-- over and over— the whole time he’s sitting in a recliner— finally he starts up the recliner as if it were a car and throws her into his lap and starts literally driving her up the wall. I’ve been looking for that one forever and am surprised that it hasn’t turned up somewhere!
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Wr…
…ong
Wrong show: Electric Company
Edit: which brought me to one of my old faves from that show:
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I always really wanted to play on that pinball machine. It looked like such an incredibly awesome game, particularly at the end.
I’m dying to go down that tunnel, or ride that blimp into the stars!
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As a 2nd grader I was “too old” to watch Sesame Street when it premiered, but like every other kid in my class I exasperatedly explained “I had to watch because my mom wanted my little [sister|brother] to see it.” This followed by enthusiastic descriptions of the insane sketches, cake-smash pratfalls, and songs.
There are so many strange and wonderful kid shows I’d like to see again, or at least learn about:
In the early 70s there was a live-action artsy music-and-sketch show that ran on Saturday mornings, maybe on ABC. A filmed half-hour; it began showing a troupe of entertainers arriving in rural town. I can still hum the theme song music.
ZaZu U: An early 90s, maybe, Fox weekend morning animated show. Odd animated characters, poetic narration. The only sequence I recall specifically was this wistful piece called “The Yesterday Zoo,” about extinct animals.
The Old Curiosity Shop (?): Live-action edu-tainment show created by Chuck Jones. Kids visit a shop populated by weird characters and puppets.
Animals, Animals, Animals and Make a Wish. Hal Linden narrated the former. Educational half-hour shows with rhyming narration, maybe early 70s. Really mellow and friendly.
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The sax and steel drums remind me of Opus Pocus by Jaco Pastorius. I wonder if it’s Wayne Shorter and Othello Molineaux…
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NO. I am not bawling tonight, dammit.
Seriously, I was reading Henson’s bio a few months ago and I was a blubbering mess for the entire chapter about his death/memorial. I went in the bathroom so I could weep and recover without waking anyone. The world needed many more years of Jim.
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Creepy Mark Twain animation appeared!
Now I have a fetish for the guy in the Fisherman & Clam clip 
I have an audio book subscription and now I know what I’m going to use it for this month. Thanks for the idea. Jim Henson bio - queuing that up.
I cried so hard watching that. I remember how everyone was wondering if they would retire the Kermit muppet, and if they did choose to keep the muppet going if it would feel wrong not to have it be Jim Henson who was the puppetteer, but when Kermit comes onto the scene it is wonderful. The whole episode is beautiful and heartfelt and funny.
They have the entire show on YouTube if you are interested in seeing the whole thing.
I always felt that the film Muppets in Space was really the thing that has been made since his passing that most captures his spirit, but also has a it’s own twist on the Muppet legacy. I especially love the funk soundtrack - it’s a great album to have for a car trip, some great funk tunes - but funk + Muppets is a good combo.
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“I am the spirit of dark and lonely water…”
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That is an awesome movie from Will “California Raisins” Vinton.
I remember some other kids show from the 70s with a denim-wearing guitar-playing host, one of the big 3 networks, and there’d be a quick montage of the earth and something? [how vague!]
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Sounds like a project for Minecraft, or maybe an art build in Second Life.
Wow- Electric Company!! Thanks for finding this!
(EDIT: @crenquis beat me to it)
That was “The Electric Company,” and the husband’s voice was that of Paul Dooley, who was a writer for the show:
It’s also his voice in “Do You Want to Buy a Broom?” but now I can’t find that online.
(FYI, “Electric Company” has 2 DVD box sets. We’ve got my daughter watching them.)
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I remember asking Santa for one.
Pointer Sisters were the vocalists for “Pinball Count” – they also showed up in this:
I watched that show back in the 70s. It was on at some ridiculously early hour on the weekends, either before or after Villa Alegre. The guy who played Grady on Sanford & Son was “Grandpa” on That’s Cat. And there was a character called “Me” who didn’t speak.
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Some of the stuff we watched as kids is incredible. I had forgotten the “Clown Rape” episode of “Little House on the Prairie”, but it exists, and it was on prime time TV. times have changed.
You know, I don’t like clowns, but there’s some things I just can’t condone.
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Apart from the songs written for Sesame Street by Joe Raposo, what was their source of instrumental music for the animated clips? I’d love some of that vibes-heavy funk to be released and credits assigned. Maybe it’s library music? I have some tapes of musical interludes that I recorded in 1978 and they’re still catchy tunes.
