I just acquired some really old Sesame Street books

[Andrew T]

With a little help from eBay, I was able to acquire this set of five Sesame Street books from 1970.

I had owned the Sesame Street Book of Shapes and the Sesame Street Book of People and Things when I was younger, although the books didn't appear to survive a household move four years ago. It's great to be able to have the books back again, as well as several other titles to complete the set.

Most of the books contain many stills from actual Sesame Street episodes from the first season and allow a look into segments of the era, so the books are as much a historical reference to me as an entertainment or educational tool.

Who else is familiar with these books? What do you think of them?

 

[Ilikemuppets]

My grandparents used to have the book with Grover, were grover was scared about the monster at the end of the book, I used to love that book when I was little.

 

[Evil Muppetman]

Congrats, I should have a bunch of books somewhere with three older siblings oldest 32

 

[SesameMike]

One thing to look for in those older books is the two-toned, red and blue mailbox on the street. The real mailboxes at the time had "U.S. MAIL" painted on the side in white block letters. When the U.S. Postal Service suddenly turned all its letter collection boxes solid blue (1972?), the box in front of 123 did the chameleon thing as well. A red/blue mailbox may also be seen in that film that zooms in on 26 letters throughout the city, for one of the letters in U.S. MAIL.

I noticed the old mailbox in some book that also featured Matt Robinson as Gordon.

 

[Andrew T]

One thing to look for in those older books is the two-toned, red and blue mailbox on the street. The real mailboxes at the time had "U.S. MAIL" painted on the side in white block letters. When the U.S. Postal Service suddenly turned all its letter collection boxes solid blue (1972?), the box in front of 123 did the chameleon thing as well. A red/blue mailbox may also be seen in that film that zooms in on 26 letters throughout the city, for one of the letters in U.S. MAIL.

I noticed the old mailbox in some book that also featured Matt Robinson as Gordon.

Here's a photo I scanned in from The Sesame Street Book of People and Things containing the original Gordon, a blue & red mailbox, and an orange Oscar!

 

[minor muppetz]

I have one of these books, The Sesame Street Book of Puzzles. That is a good book, and one of the interesting things about it is the fact that it is one of the few Sesame Street books where Kermit was illustrated on the cover.

At www.toughpigs.com, there is an anthology called The Back-To-School Anthology, which focuses on these books.

would you mind talking about what skits are in these books?

I know that the Book of Puzzles has:

*Bert plays a 'what happens next?' game with Ernie, using pictures
*Kermit wants Grover to get inside a box
*Ernie is upside-down on the ceiling and pours milk into a glass
*four cheerleaders, which counts "one muppet! Some muppets! More muppets!" (did this skit actually go that way?)
*Ernie and Bert "share" jellybeans
*Ernie demonstrates Before and After by taking cookies from a tin
*an animated man hits his face with a flyswatter (a fly was on his nose and left before the flyswatter hit his nose)
*Ernie thinks he is wearing magic glasses that can make you see invisible things as Cookie Monster takes his cookies when Ernie isn't looking
*Alice Bratsworth Goodyshoes demosntrates what Through means
*Alice Bratsworth Goodyshoes talks about Wet and Dry
*Alice Bratsworth Goodyshoes Under and Over

 

[MuppetDude]

I was lucky enough to find a copy of "Puzzlers" and "People and Things" at a flea market some time ago.

I just wish there was a way someone could post the entire book on the Internet. (Hint hint. )

 

[Andrew T]

would you mind talking about what skits are in these books?

In the Book of People and Things:

*Ernie takes a bath in his bathtub Rosie. (I believe this segment was from the very first episode)
*Solomon Grundy washes part of his body every day of the week. (ditto)
*Kermit talks about the different ways people can feel, with happy and sad faced circles Cookie Monster eats. (The faces look drawn on to the circles; I wouldn't be surprised if the original skit had a different theme)
*Susan demonstrates emotions.
*Ernie expects an important call, but Cookie Monster hogs and eventually eats the phone.
*Bert and Ernie talk about emotions everyone has.
*Gordon asks Oscar if he ever feels happy.
*Bob sings "People in your neighborhood" with grocer and doctor anything muppets. (The Grocer looks like Fat Blue, albeit with green nose and black hair)
*Mr. Hooper talks about his job and asks the kids what it would be like to be somebody else.
*Gordon and a boy pretend sit on the steps and pretend to be astronauts, train engineers, and bus drivers.
*Big Bird asks Susan if she ever thought about living someplace else.

And in the Book of Shapes:

*Bert tells Cookie Monster that some cookies are shaped like circles.
*Bob talks demonstrates squares.
*A street cleaner (I guess) shows Gordon a cardboard triangle they find; they give it to Oscar.
*Bob holds up a square and triangle standing alongside a drawing of a park scene.

The Book of Numbers has frames (presumably from an animated sketch) with large numbers along the left-hand pages and out-of-context drawings from presumable animations on the other. The Book of Letters also contains drawings presumably taken from animated segments, but these two books are altogether pretty boring.

 

[Andrew T]

I know that the Book of Puzzles has:
[...]
*four cheerleaders, which counts "one muppet! Some muppets! More muppets!" (did this skit actually go that way?)

I would expect that the actual skit seen on Sesame Street was different. I believe a lot of the sketches had dialog edited or changed to be appropriate for the subject of the book.

All the cheerleaders are wearing shirts with the letter "F." As a side note, doesn't the rightmost muppet seen in the third panel look like Roosevelt Franklin?

 

[GonzoLeaper]

*Solomon Grundy washes part of his body every day of the week. (ditto)

Solomon Grundy? You mean the DC Comics villian?