- 2 days ago
It's not a pilot, but it's probably an ad or info episode telling the audience what the series will be about.
NO COPYRIGHT INFRINGEMENT IS INTENDED!!! ALL RIGHTS GO TO SESAME WORKSHOP!!!
NO COPYRIGHT INFRINGEMENT IS INTENDED!!! ALL RIGHTS GO TO SESAME WORKSHOP!!!
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00:10Recognition of the letters of the alphabet, numbers, basic reasoning skills, and a better
00:15awareness of themselves and the world around them.
00:18When the workshop goes on the air, the puppets you'll see in the film will be joined by real
00:23people who will set each segment into the proper learning context.
00:27The techniques we're using at the workshop are quite deliberately drawn from approaches
00:33which have proven effective on commercial television.
00:36Fast action, humor, and animation have become established means of attracting children's
00:41attention to television.
00:43And we're using these same techniques to motivate children to absorb the curriculum content of
00:49our series.
00:50You'll note in one or two of the animated cartoon sequences in this film, which are among the
00:56very first that we've commissioned, that the short, simple, 60-second form used by TV advertisers
01:03in commercials to sell products is used here to teach numbers and letters.
01:08As teachers and parents know, young children learn through repetition.
01:12And so, as with television ads, this material will be repeated many times during the 130
01:18hours of original programming in our first season.
01:22We want to emphasize that the children's television workshop is an experiment.
01:27Research is woven into the total fabric of the show.
01:31Every segment is being tested and evaluated by the toughest critics of all, the children themselves.
01:38I think it's fair to say that by the time our program goes on the air, it will be the
01:43most thoroughly
01:43researched show in the history of the medium.
01:46Now let's see the film.
02:04You know what this is, Kermit?
02:05A really bad triangle?
02:07Oh, come on, Kermit.
02:09It's a circle.
02:10Okay, so it's a circle.
02:11So?
02:12Well, you know that, but a lot of little kids don't.
02:15You want to see a groovy way to teach them what that is?
02:18Oh, you know it.
02:19Okay, the idea is to look for circles in the things you might see every day.
02:24I'm hip.
02:48He's a little portfolios.
02:50I'm high.
02:58He will highlight you.
02:58Let's see who's baby.
02:59He has he過 on the middle.
02:59Why don't you78?
03:09Jo треть.
03:11Here we go,
05:57Nobody's talked to me about it.
05:59Why would anybody talk to you about it?
06:02I'm a Muppet, that's why.
06:04Well, so are a lot of other people Muppets.
06:06And they're all going to do the show, right, fellas?
06:08Yeah!
06:09Yeah!
06:10Yeah!
06:11Well, if I'm going to get involved, I want to know a little more about it.
06:15It's like, uh, what are those guys doing?
06:17Well, you see, we haven't settled on a title for the show yet, so the guys are working on it.
06:22Well, how's it coming, fellas?
06:24Oh, sweet.
06:25Okay.
06:26All right, all right, then, all right.
06:28How about this for a title?
06:30The two and two are five show.
06:33That's not right.
06:34Are you crazy?
06:35Now, this is supposed to be an educational show.
06:38Two plus two don't make five.
06:40They don't.
06:41No, you meatball.
06:43Then how about the two and two eight five show?
06:48Oh, that's dumb.
06:49That's dumb.
06:50Dumb, dumb, dumb.
06:51Dumb, dumb.
06:52You're dumb.
06:53I have an idea for it.
06:54Oh, it sounds like it's going to be a real smash.
06:57What's the idea of this show?
06:59Well, the idea is to teach little preschool kids some stuff that'll be useful to them in school,
07:04like numbers and letters and like that.
07:07And your idea is that the kids are going to race in from baseball
07:09and turn on the educational TV channel to be taught letters and numbers, hmm?
07:14But they will, Kermit,
07:15because all the teaching stuff is mixed in with stories and cartoons
07:19and us Muppets and real people and like that.
07:22And we're going to spend lots of time and money and make sure they know all about it.
07:26Oh, that doesn't sound cheap.
07:28Well, it's not.
07:29How much money have they got to do it?
07:31Oh, upwards of several million dollars.
07:34Yes.
07:38Want to see some of the little films that'll be in the show, Kermit?
07:42Yeah.
07:43Okay, here's one to teach the alphabet.
07:48Go ahead.
07:49Now?
07:50Now.
07:51A, B, C, D, E, F, G.
07:55Don't dance.
07:57H, I, J, K, L, M, N, O, P.
08:00Slower.
08:01L, M, what?
08:03I said slower.
08:04Well, L, M, N, O, P.
08:08Not that slow.
08:10Q, R, S, G, U, V.
08:14That's nice.
08:15W, X, Y, and Z.
08:19Yes.
08:20Now I know my ABCs.
08:24Next time won't you sing with me.
08:28There won't be any next time.
08:31We're going to keep repeating them, Kermit, just like commercials on regular TV.
08:35Again and again until they sink in, you know?
08:37Oh, that's kind of a groovy idea, Ralph.
08:40Commercials for the alphabet.
08:42They must have some people who know what they're doing at the children's television workshop.
08:45They got an advisory board of the best people in the country.
08:48And a research department who are studying kids and testing material and...
08:52Any frogs on this advisory board?
08:54Of course not.
08:55Study any frogs in this research department?
08:58No, I told you, Kermit, this show is for kids.
09:01Now here, watch this.
09:02To make little kids start thinking about how their bodies work, like hands and feet and like that, watch this.
09:36To make little kids start thinking about how their bodies work, like hands and feet and like that, watch this.
09:39Oh, my God.
10:03Oh, my God.
10:54What's the matter?
10:56I'm broken.
11:19Listen, this is a show for kids, right?
11:21Yeah, that's right.
11:22Yeah, for kids.
11:23Well, how's about we call it, the little kitty show?
11:27Well, I don't know.
11:28Sounds all right.
11:29I like it.
11:29I like it.
11:30But we ought to say something about the show, telling it like it is.
11:34Maybe the nitty-gritty little kitty show.
11:37Yeah, that's not bad.
11:39I like that, you know.
11:41But little kitty can mean any child up to the age of seven or eight.
11:46Now, I think we should aim this show right at the preschooler.
11:49Well, then, how about the itty-bitty, nitty-gritty little kitty show?
11:55Yes.
11:57Like that?
11:58Like that?
11:59Well, I like that.
12:01Why don't we take that?
12:04You really think you're going to get this show on the air?
12:07Oh, never mind them, Kermit.
12:08Now, watch.
12:09Now, this is a countdown to a rocket launch, to help kids recognize the numbers.
12:15Ten, nine, eight, seven, six, five, four, three, two, one.
12:28I hope your show works better than that rocket.
12:31Well, that was only his first try.
12:33He'll get it.
12:34Ten, nine, eight, seven, six, five, four, three, two, one.
12:52An accident.
12:54It could happen to anybody.
12:55He'll get it next time.
12:58Ten, nine, eight, seven, six, five, four, three, two, one.
13:10Arrivederci.
13:11You know, Ralph, you've not only got a crummy rocket there,
13:14you're going to have a whole generation of kids counting backwards.
13:17Oh, we're going to count forwards, too, Kermit.
13:19Watch.
13:23One, two, raise your shoe.
13:25One, two, three, four, remove the door.
13:28Five, six, rub out the bricks.
13:32Seven, eight, sit down and wait.
13:34Nine, ten, in trouble again.
13:37One, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine, ten.
13:44Somebody remember it, though.
13:46No, not a chance.
13:47Yeah, that's okay.
13:48That's okay.
13:48But we shouldn't aim at either just the city kids or the country kids,
13:53so we call it the itty-bitty farm and city witty-ditty-nitty-gritty-dog-and-kitty-pretty-little-kitty
13:59show.
14:00That's the worst time I've ever heard.
14:02It's impossible.
14:03Hey, what's he doing over there?
14:04Don't ever know what that is.
14:04He's a table.
14:06Hey.
14:06Now, listen.
14:06That's terrible.
14:07Hey.
14:08Who invited him, anyhow?
14:10It's impossible.
14:10Let's...
14:11What's the way we're talking about?
14:12Hey!
14:13Hey, Watson!
14:14Hey!
14:14What are you saying?
14:15No, no, no, no.
14:16Does anybody at the children's TV workshop know what he's doing,
14:19or are you just doing the whole thing with your little doggy brain?
14:23If you just pay attention, Kermit, I'm trying to tell you.
14:26Easy, boy, easy.
14:27You need a booster for your distemper shot there.
14:30Oh, wait a minute.
14:31Hey, Jerry, you got a minute?
14:34Sure.
14:35Here's Jerry Lesser.
14:36He's the chairman of the advisory board to the workshop.
14:39Hey, Jerry.
14:40Kermit, this is Dr. Lesser of the Harvard University School of Education.
14:44Hello.
14:44How do you do, sir?
14:45Jerry, could you help us by explaining to Kermit here how they're putting this program together?
14:49Oh, I think so.
14:51Let's see.
14:52First of all, back in the summer of 1968, we held a series of seminars with the workshop staff
14:58and all kinds of teachers and sociologists, child psychologists,
15:02literally hundreds of people who know and care about teaching preschool children.
15:07Hmm.
15:08Those seminars kind of tune the TV people into the education world.
15:12Is that it?
15:13Exactly.
15:14Then those TV people went home and started thinking about the program.
15:18Now, say they get an idea for a little cartoon to teach the letter J.
15:23Okay?
15:24Okay.
15:26Well, they kick it around until it sounds good to them, maybe write a script for it,
15:30and then they take the idea to an animation house.
15:33That's the cartoon people, Kermit.
15:35Right.
15:36And the animators go to work making up a storyboard.
15:40That's a kind of comic strip that shows how the cartoon will look.
15:46And then the workshop people call in some of their advisors
15:49and go over the storyboards right down to the last detail.
15:53With the letter J.
15:54And the two boys are sitting there talking in kind of casually one voice.
15:57What's happening, man?
15:58This is Dave Connell, head of production for the show.
16:02Between them, it comes closer to camera.
16:04One boy says, what's that?
16:05The other boy says, I don't know.
16:06It looks like a fish hook.
16:08And at that point, we will animate the J into a fish hook.
16:10There's Dr. Edward Palmer, our research director,
16:13and Bob Davidson, assistant director of the project.
16:20And Dr. Marion Blank, one of our advisors.
16:23She's a child psychologist.
16:26Joan Cooney, executive director of the project.
16:29And there's Edwina Myers.
16:31She's a teacher who's taught hundreds of four- and five-year-olds,
16:35and she was asked to advise us on this particular film
16:39because she's a curriculum specialist.
16:41You know, extraneous sort of material that leads into it.
16:44The words here are very difficult.
16:47You know, most...
16:48Yes.
16:48The, uh...
16:49Jive and dump and Junebug and...
16:53Jane O'Connor is a teacher who's on the workshop staff full-time.
16:56I'm not arguing for a more didactic approach.
16:59So much as saying that this is a difficult entertainment.
17:02Yeah, right.
17:02Many of them are terms which the children are hearing
17:05or may be hearing now a great deal,
17:07such as jogging, you know, which is the big thing.
17:09And the judge, you know, to see the judge
17:11is sort of an additional kind of learning.
17:13We're going to have to consider to some extent,
17:16you know, what they're able to see,
17:17although they may be caught by it.
17:20If it moves very quickly,
17:23then it may end up being just pure entertainment,
17:27if really that,
17:28for children who don't get the fun in the words.
17:32If it moves slowly,
17:34or if it's repeated often enough,
17:37then you may get some of that.
17:39I'm not too sure about the movement.
17:42The movement of it bothers me.
17:44Well, we're calling these things commercials
17:46for our own shorthand,
17:47and we're planning to treat them
17:50essentially the same way a commercial enterprise
17:52would create a campaign.
17:54But we're trying to sell the alphabet
17:56to preschool children.
17:59So they check out every idea
18:01with as many experts as possible
18:02before going ahead with it.
18:04Isn't that crazy?
18:05Well, what if the experts tell them it's a bomb?
18:07Well, they throw it out and start again.
18:09But if they're on the right track,
18:11they incorporate the advisor's suggestions
18:13and go to work making the film.
18:15You're just a couple of guys sitting there talking,
18:17and then kind of let some things happen around you.
18:21Let's go back to the top.
18:22They record the soundtrack
18:23and decide on the final details.
18:25And don't be quite so speedy.
18:30Okay.
18:30I think that other yes was better.
18:32That was an enthusiastic one.
18:34Okay?
18:35You got that?
18:35Let's try it one more time.
18:37Go.
18:38Ready?
18:38All right, now.
18:39What's happening, man?
18:41I don't know.
18:42What's that?
18:43I don't know.
18:44Looks like a fishhook.
18:45It's not a fishhook.
18:46It's a J.
18:47A what?
18:48The letter J.
18:51Like to hear the story about the letter J, boys?
18:53Yes.
18:56Then the artists go to work
18:57making the hundreds of drawings
18:59they'll need for the animation.
19:03That's exactly how every little detail
19:05of the children's television workshop
19:07comes to life, Kermit.
19:08It's a collaboration between production,
19:11researchers, and educational advisors.
19:14So what did they come up with after all that?
19:16Oh, sorry.
19:17Watch.
19:20What's happening, man?
19:22I don't know.
19:23What's that?
19:24I don't know.
19:25Looks like a fishhook.
19:27It's not a fishhook.
19:28It's a J.
19:30A what?
19:31The letter J.
19:33Like to hear a story about the letter J, boys?
19:36Yes.
19:39Once upon a time, a guy named Joe
19:42noticed a June bug on his toe,
19:45put it in a jar and started to go,
19:47but here come the judge and said,
19:49no, no, no.
19:50So Joe said why and started to jump
19:53and dance a jig on an old tree stump
19:55and jogged along to the city dump
19:58where he jammed the June bug in a tire pump.
20:01Then the judge caught up and started to wail
20:04and said to Joe, justice will prevail.
20:06Then the jury met and set the bail
20:09and Joe got an hour in the city jail.
20:12So that's the letter J.
20:14It still looks like a fishhook.
20:16You know what else we learned?
20:17Yeah.
20:18Don't drive a judge by jamming a June bug.
20:22Groovy.
20:23Yeah, but that's not all.
20:24Even now, before it goes into the program,
20:27the film is tested on a sample audience.
20:29Well, how's it tested?
20:31Well, I'll show you.
20:32There.
20:33I don't know.
20:34Looks like a fishhook.
20:36It's not a fishhook.
20:38It's a J.
20:39And what?
20:40The letter J.
20:42I've heard a story about the letter J, boys.
20:45Yeah.
20:47In this case, they showed the J film
20:49to three pairs of children.
20:51Two of the children saw it six times in a TV program.
20:55Two of them saw it three times.
20:57And two saw it only once.
21:08And then they were tested to see what they learned.
21:11We saw a story on television about one of these.
21:14Can you find the one we saw a story about?
21:16Mm-hmm.
21:17Look, which one do you think we saw a story about?
21:19You pick it up and give it to me.
21:21Which one do you think we saw a story about?
21:24That's good.
21:25What is it?
21:26A J.
21:26A J, right.
21:28I want to show you something else, okay?
21:30We saw things that started with J.
21:32We saw a judge.
21:33We saw a jar.
21:35Now we're going to look at some pictures.
21:37And I want you to find even one that started with J.
21:41I'll tell you their names.
21:42Here's a dog, a jacket, a table, and an airplane.
21:48Can you find the one with J?
21:50Which one do you think it is?
21:53Okay.
21:55This is Barbara Frengell of the Workshop Research Department
21:58reporting the test results to Dave Connell and Ed Palmer.
22:02What happened first?
22:03That explain things, Ralph?
22:05That's terrific.
22:06Thanks, Jerry.
22:07Glad I could help.
22:08What do you think, Kermit?
22:10Well, just one question.
22:11Are you really depending on that bunch to come up with a title?
22:14You never can tell, Kermit.
22:15They just might think of the right one.
22:22Hey.
22:24These kids can't read or write, can they?
22:28No.
22:29Then how's about we call the show, Hey Stupid?
22:35Hey Stupid?
22:37Okay, that does it.
22:39Out, you guys.
22:40I'll think of a title without you.
22:42Out!
22:43Get out!
22:45Come on, come on.
22:46Now get out, you fellas.
22:48Hey Stupid.
22:50Can you believe that?
22:53Come on, out.
22:55All the way out.
22:56Go on.
23:01Smartest move you ever made, Ralph.
23:03Oh, sure.
23:04Me and my big mouth.
23:06Who's going to find us a title now?
23:09Well, what sort of a title are you looking for?
23:12Oh, something that says we're going to open up new worlds for these little kids.
23:16You know, but not too cute.
23:18Oh, what am I going to do, Kermit?
23:21Well, uh, where's this show going to take place?
23:25Oh, on a street, on the front steps of a house.
23:28That'll be the main place.
23:29What are we going to do for a title?
23:31Well, opening up new worlds, uh, street, uh, hey, Ralph?
23:36Hmm?
23:38Why don't you call your show Sesame Street?
23:41My entire career as a TV educator, nipped in, uh, what was that?
23:49Sesame Street.
23:50You know, like open sesame?
23:52It kind of gives the idea of a street where neat stuff happens.
23:55Kermit.
23:56Why, you're a genius.
23:58Mwah.
23:59Yuck.
24:00Sesame Street.
24:01I love it.
24:02The kids will love it.
24:03I can see it.
24:04Up there in lights, the Children's Television Workshop presents Sesame Street.
24:09Oh, that's a great title, Kermit.
24:12Now, you're going to stay with us and help us put on the show, aren't you?
24:15Well, I don't know, Ralph.
24:17But you gotta do it, Kermit, because it's going to be a terrific show.
24:20You know, it's fast and funny and educational, and we're going to have a ball doing it.
24:25Now, what do you say, little green buddy?
24:27We need you, we want you, we love you, and it wouldn't be the same without you.
24:32For the old Children's Television Workshop, are you with us, fella?
24:37Uh, I don't think so.
24:40Ah!
24:48Shall I tell him I was kidding?
24:50Eh, I'll tell him tomorrow.
24:59I hope Ralph and Kermit and Jerry Lesser have given you a better idea of what the Children's Television Workshop
25:06is all about.
25:07When we go on the air next fall, we'll be seen throughout the country, Monday through Friday, for 26 weeks.
25:14We're urging that the show be aired in the mid-morning, specifically at 10 a.m. in the East and
25:20West, and at 9 in the Midwest.
25:22That's when the preschooler's in control of the set.
25:25Older brothers and sisters have gone off to school, mothers are doing housework, and there's very little on television to
25:32compete for the preschool child's interest during those hours.
25:35We anticipate that many stations which air the program in the morning will be able to broadcast it again in
25:42the late afternoon.
25:43We hope you'll plan on participating in this important experiment in education beginning next fall.