Questions on Prarie Dawn

[Camellia]

Prairie Dawn

hi, I like Prairie Dawn, although she can be a little ditzy at times.
Wish there were more female characters on both the Muppets and Sesame Street!

Cheers,
Camellia

 

[Ziffel]

Really, a little ditzy? As far as I recall from the skits I've seen her in, she was one of the intelligent ones (like Herbert Birsdfoot and Bert) and was sometimes like the "straight man [er...woman]" for the less bright ones. Like when Grover got on her nerves in the Q and Y skit ones. And in the beginning,middle, and end skit mentioned in this thread she had the sense and intelligence while the 3 anything muppets were a little clueless! Did her character change somewhat in the 80's or 90's?

 

[minor muppetz]

As far as I recall from the skits I've seen her in, she was one of the intelligent ones (like Herbert Birsdfoot and Bert) and was sometimes like the "straight man [er...woman]" for the less bright ones. Like when Grover got on her nerves in the Q and Y skit ones.

Are you referring to The Question Song and Just because? because I know that she wasn't in The Question Song (that was a little girl anything muppet who was also performed by Fran Brill). I've only heard "Just because" on some albums, but the track listings refer to the girl as "A little girl". I'm guessing that it's a different character. I don't know whether the little girl from Just because is the same little girl from The Question Song.

 

[BEAR]

Are you referring to The Question Song and Just because? because I know that she wasn't in The Question Song (that was a little girl anything muppet who was also performed by Fran Brill). I've only heard "Just because" on some albums, but the track listings refer to the girl as "A little girl". I'm guessing that it's a different character. I don't know whether the little girl from Just because is the same little girl from The Question Song.

Yeah it was not necessarily Prairie because she is credited on the album as just a little girl but she was pretty much Prairie personality wise. Also, I disagree with the thing about her being ditzy too. She is actually meant to be one of the smart, older kids. Kind of a precocious know it all, prissy girl. She was never ditzy. If she was I would like to hear about it. No, PD always seemed to be on top of things. She was the kind of girl who study's waaay too hard and would fall apart if she happened to get one grade just below an A. She remains lovable and sweet though. How can you not love her. She is so cute. I think her best role was in the Elmopalooza special. She was great with John Stewart.

 

[abiraniriba]

Bring back her piano plays

Now that they've brought back Prarie they should bring back her piano and gthe little plays she used to do. "Welcome dear viewers to our little play where we will look at classical sesame street moment from back in the day."

 

[fuzzygobo]

Yes that's right I recall the middle muppet not only being green but having a pointy head. I'd love to see if someone recalls all the words he said in his story part. It was pretty funny.
Funny parts I recall from the entire skit:

Beginning: Once upon a time there was a king who had 3 beautiful daughters
End: And they lived happily ever after.
Beginning: Hey nice job.
End: Thanks.
Beginning: Well, what did you think of it?
Prairie Dawn: Is that all?
End: Well of course. Nothing else ever happens after the end.

Then when Prairie inquires about the middle of the story they call for middle muppet. As middle muppet is doing his part and says about ten sentences or so, end muppet appears next to him and then interrupts, "And they lived happily ever after!"
Middle: That wasn't very nice.
End: They lived happily ever after is one of the nicest endings you can have.

Very good all around skit and nice to have all 4 of the classic puppeteers' voices. I never could make out the final line of the skit (spoken by end muppet [Frank Oz]). As the 3 are off screen arguing, Prairie apologizes to the viewers for the commotion that ensued. Then we hear a final line from end muppet that was something like, "This is dramatic shape!"

My memory is a little cloudy on this one. I do remember the skit somewhat, but not to add to the confusion- are you sure it was Prairie Dawn, and not Betty Lou? I do remember Fran Brill performed her, and it's possible they could've used the Betty Lou muppet since Frank was already busy playing "End"- but since I don't have a copy of this one to be sure, it's anybody's guess.

Anyway, Middle did get to go on quite a long tangent, but all I can recall was the line about the Imperial Wizard, and a reference to the Witch of the Western Wood, before End took it upon himself to wrap things up.

End: "And they lived happily ever after!"
Middle: "That wasn't a very nice ending!"
End: "They lived happily ever after is as nice an ending as you can have."
Middle: "Yes, but the middle was just getting exciting!"
Then Beginning, Middle, and End begin arguing, with their volume turned down so it's not easy to decipher what's being said.
Prairie Dawn/Betty Lou/Fran Brill: "Well, this looks like the BEGINNING of a little quarrel, so it will be the END of our lecture for today. Bye."
End (over the others): "Well, something had to CHANGE!"

Like I said, most of us are just relying on the best of our memories without any tangible proof, so this is my most accurate assessment. Hope it helps.

 

[mikebennidict]

Now that they've brought back Prarie they should bring back her piano and gthe little plays she used to do. "Welcome dear viewers to our little play where we will look at classical sesame street moment from back in the day."

what do you mean she was brought back? to the best of my knoweledge she never canned.

 

[BEAR]

what do you mean she was brought back? to the best of my knoweledge she never canned.

She wasn't ever canned. Maybe they just mean she has been in the spotlight more in the last 10 years than before. I'm not exactly sure why they say "brought back" either because she never left. One thing that has left is her piano and I wish she would play it more often.

 

[Daffyfan4ever]

You were also right about Kermit. As in his first recording of "Bein Green" when Sesame Street started his voice was much deeper. His voice was actually closer to Ernie's back then until Jim raised the pitch a bit and gave Kermit's voice more of a throaty quality. People always say how Ernie and Kermit have the same voice but if you listen closely they are actually quite different.

I have to agree. I've heard Kermit's original version of 'Bein' Green' and Kermit did sound a lot more like Ernie there rather than the way he does now. But I did notice quite a difference in the two voices specifically in the ep of TMS with Connie Stevens where Bert and Ernie show up. When I hear Ernie speak after Kermit introduces them, I really don't notice the voices sounding that much alike.

Now that they've brought back Prarie they should bring back her piano and gthe little plays she used to do. "Welcome dear viewers to our little play where we will look at classical sesame street moment from back in the day."

Well, the closest we got to that was the pagent she did in the "Elmo's World" holiday special. I'm hoping they'll do more of those. (Of course I mean more Prarie Dawn pagents, not more Elmo's World specials. Lol.)

 

[Ziffel]

My memory is a little cloudy on this one. I do remember the skit somewhat, but not to add to the confusion- are you sure it was Prairie Dawn, and not Betty Lou? I do remember Fran Brill performed her, and it's possible they could've used the Betty Lou muppet since Frank was already busy playing "End"- but since I don't have a copy of this one to be sure, it's anybody's guess.

Anyway, Middle did get to go on quite a long tangent, but all I can recall was the line about the Imperial Wizard, and a reference to the Witch of the Western Wood, before End took it upon himself to wrap things up.

End: "And they lived happily ever after!"
Middle: "That wasn't a very nice ending!"
End: "They lived happily ever after is as nice an ending as you can have."
Middle: "Yes, but the middle was just getting exciting!"
Then Beginning, Middle, and End begin arguing, with their volume turned down so it's not easy to decipher what's being said.
Prairie Dawn/Betty Lou/Fran Brill: "Well, this looks like the BEGINNING of a little quarrel, so it will be the END of our lecture for today. Bye."
End (over the others): "Well, something had to CHANGE!"

Like I said, most of us are just relying on the best of our memories without any tangible proof, so this is my most accurate assessment. Hope it helps.

Thanks for the added details, fuzzygobo. That last line, "Something had to change!" certainly would fit better than, "This is dramatic shape!" And I'm not sure either if it may have been Betty Lou instead of Prairie Dawn. Hard to say since they both look and sound the same and were both around since the debut of the show. The dialogue and intelligence of the girl muppet in this skit would lead me to guess it was Prairie, along with the lines being consistent with her character in other skits she did.
Also neat to see your line, "The witch of the western wood." I had recalled something middle said about a witch and thought perhaps it was even a reference to "The Wizard of Oz"'s wicked witch of the west. Combined with his "imperial wizard" line, perhaps the story told by middle was making partial allusions to that movie classic.