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Sesame Street Season 54
Bear arrives on Disney+
Sam and Friends Bookminor muppetz
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According to Caroll Spinneys autobiography, Elmo first appeared on Sesame Street during one of the first few years, and was known as Baby Monster. His book also mentions that he was part of the Monster Family, and after the Monster Family stopped appearing in new material, he was put in storage.
The Monster Family must be really obscure. Caroll Spinney performed Baby Monster, and he obviously remembers them, but otherwise they never get mentioned in official sources. None of their skits were shown on Noggin. I don't know if the person who was in charge of selecting episodes to be shown didn't see any episodes with them, or if somebody didn't want fans to know about Elmo's true beginnings. But whether coincidence or deliberate, their skits were never shown on Noggin.
Does anybody have any memory of them at all? Obviously, Baby Monster wasn't just a generic anything muppet monster, so I wonder if the other members of the family were specifically-made puppets. Also, if Baby Monster was just reused as Elmo, then who is to say that none of the other members didn't come back as different characters? The puppet used for Ingrid has been used for a lot of different characters, including Mona and Juliette, so maybe she was part of this family. Maybe Telly Monster was originally part of this family (though since the original Telly apparantly had spiral eyes that moved when he watched television, the eyes would have had to have been changed). Maybe Deena, Pearl, Leo, and Aristotle started out as Monster Family members.
I have a feeling that Zoe and Rosita were not part of this family, but you never know.
Oddly enough, it was said that Baby Monster was kept in storage untill the idea for a character named Elmo came along, and somebody decided just to use an existing puppet, instead of designing and building a completely new character. Though Elmo was technicallyt around since the early years, its strange that nobody has seen him in the finale of The Muppet Movie (I'm guessing that he was not there). Henson was very selective about what characters were not included in that scene (mainly early Sam and Friends-era characters), but I would think that Henson wouldn't have had any problems including Sesame Street characters who were no longer on the show at the time.
Does anybody have any theories about the family?
The Monster Family must be really obscure. Caroll Spinney performed Baby Monster, and he obviously remembers them, but otherwise they never get mentioned in official sources. None of their skits were shown on Noggin. I don't know if the person who was in charge of selecting episodes to be shown didn't see any episodes with them, or if somebody didn't want fans to know about Elmo's true beginnings. But whether coincidence or deliberate, their skits were never shown on Noggin.
Does anybody have any memory of them at all? Obviously, Baby Monster wasn't just a generic anything muppet monster, so I wonder if the other members of the family were specifically-made puppets. Also, if Baby Monster was just reused as Elmo, then who is to say that none of the other members didn't come back as different characters? The puppet used for Ingrid has been used for a lot of different characters, including Mona and Juliette, so maybe she was part of this family. Maybe Telly Monster was originally part of this family (though since the original Telly apparantly had spiral eyes that moved when he watched television, the eyes would have had to have been changed). Maybe Deena, Pearl, Leo, and Aristotle started out as Monster Family members.
I have a feeling that Zoe and Rosita were not part of this family, but you never know.
Oddly enough, it was said that Baby Monster was kept in storage untill the idea for a character named Elmo came along, and somebody decided just to use an existing puppet, instead of designing and building a completely new character. Though Elmo was technicallyt around since the early years, its strange that nobody has seen him in the finale of The Muppet Movie (I'm guessing that he was not there). Henson was very selective about what characters were not included in that scene (mainly early Sam and Friends-era characters), but I would think that Henson wouldn't have had any problems including Sesame Street characters who were no longer on the show at the time.
Does anybody have any theories about the family?