"Can you tell me how to get...
how to get to Sesame Street?"
On the morning of January 13, 1970, on television sets all across the United States, Sesame Street episode # 47 aired. The children's show had just premiered two months before and it was already a huge hit for PBS and the Children's Television Network. Almost 2 million households, in fact, turned in to watch the show every morning during its premiere season. (An extremely low quality, very small image from that specific show accompanies this blog as reference.)
During the January 13, 1970 show, the viewer is introduced to the letter "u". (Every Sesame Street show has one letter that is the focus of the show.) In one particularly hilarious skit, Ernie, one of the show's regulars, tells us that "u" is the first letter of the word "ukelele". He is about to play the stringed instrument when he is interrupted by a fuzzy blue character with goo-goo-googly eyes. (For a while after the show aired, this character was called "Monster" but his name eventually evolved into the one we recognize today: "Cookie Monster".) Monster jumps into the scene and screams out the word "UKELELE!" (Cookie Monster was clearly more brash and outlandish in 1970 than he is today!) He then grabs the ukelele from Ernie and begins playing a song very popular at the time called "Tiptoe Through the Tulips". I won't spoil the ending so you can watch it over on youtube here. (My favorite part is when Cookie Monster pauses near the end and almost imperceptably says to Ernie: "BIG FINISH!" I wonder if the show was as geared for adults at the time as it was for children. Or perhaps the actors playing the puppets just wanted to "ham it up" and have fun?)
The reason the show's song "Tiptoe" was so popular at the time was that in late 1969 and early 1970 a ukelele-playing musician named Herbert Khaury, aka Tiny Tim, was at the height of his popularity. His most famous song, "Tiptoe Through the Tulips", was not only his biggest hit - it was his trademark. (How cool of Sesame Street to pay homage to a folk singer so topical, relevant and popular at the time?!) Tiny Tim had such a huge cult following in late 1969 that when his marriage to Victoria Budinger aka Miss Vicki was televised as a publicity stunt on The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson in December of that year, the television show drew 40 million viewers! Let me repeat that: 40 million viewers!
On Tuesday night, January 13, 1970, reveling in his stardom and success, Tiny Tim showed up at Los Angeles' Troubador Theater to play a sold-out concert (Photos from the performance are available for purchase here. An extremely low quality, very small image from that night at the Troubador accompanies this blog as reference.) Perhaps Mr. Tiny was out partying and performing on the Sunset Strip in Hollywood because he was celebrating his song being lovingly popularized on that morning's hit TV show?!
January 13, 1970 was a huge day for both Ernie and Cookie Monster as well as Tiny Tim and Miss Vicki.
But the story doesn't end here. With GiftDay, there's always a wonderful gift-related payoff!
Here's why...
January 13, 1970 was also a huge day for my sister-in-law, Gabriella Berk. Because exactly 40 years ago today, she was born.
GiftDay has a passion for date-relevant gifts so for Gabriella's birthday we're going to burn a DVD copy of her birthdate's Sesame Street performance, buy her a Sesame Street compilation DVD, 40 Years of Sunny Days (so she can watch it with her 6 month old newborn) and a copy of the recently released book called Sesame Street: A Celebration of 40 Years of Life on the Street. (I think both the DVD and the book title are relevantly poetic, don't you think?)
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Give gifts that are poetic and creative and fun and goofy and magical and full of meaning. GiftDay LOVES to be able to tell you how to get there...
Today was easy.
We just "told you how to get; how to get to Sesame Street..."
