Since it's almost Christmas, I thought you'd might like to hear a review/story that happened one Christmas Eve a long time ago back in 1978, a year when A Star Wars Holiday Special was a thing, but this special was better than that. And the reason I think you'll like it, is because in it are some old friends of yours. A few people (Gordon, Susan, Patty, David, and Olivia, The Count, Snuffy, Ernie and Bert), one or two furry monsters (Cookie Monster and Grover), a grouch (Oscar), a frog (Kermit), and a great big yellow bird named Big Bird. It's called, "Christmas Eve on Sesame Street" my favorite Christmas special of all time. My mom likes it too, but not as much as A Muppet Family Christmas. Yes, I will review that one at some point. Anyways, the special was written by Jon Stone and Joseph A. Bailey, and it was directed by Jon Stone, and the soundtrack was narrated by (boom) Jon Stone) Okay, let's begin.
Now let's see. Oh, yeah, it all began on the afternoon before Christmas, Christmas Eve, there was a big party at the local New York skating rink, almost everybody was there skating around and making their plans for Christmas. Some of them were even playing hockey, with Bert's shoe that is. One of the most emotional parts of the skating sequence is with Big Bird and a young girl teaching him how to skate, and as soon as he gets the hang of it, they skate to the music of Jose Feliciano's "Feliz Navidad" playing in the background. After that "silence is golden sequence, we see Ernie, Bert, Cookie Monster, and The Count play a game of barrel jumping. Bert did a brilliant jump, while The Count on the other hand didn't even jump, he just counted the barrels, and Ernie just uses his left foot, hence the phrase, "Watch the left foot, Bert." And Cookie Monster does manage to jump, but then lands on the barrels, crashing them greatly, but he survives the crash just find. declaring, "That terrific fun." Interesting fact I have to note is that the Big Bird skating Muppet was actually built by Jim Henson's Muppet Workshop, with Kermit Love, Caroly Wilcox, and Don Sahlin doing the majority of the costume, while I think everybody else on the other hand looked like they were created by VEE Corporation, with a bit of help from the Muppet Workshop that is. The only exception is Oscar, and I think that's because Herve Villechaize is a good skater, yes the man behind Oscar's legs.
A few minutes later after a brief shot of David and Gordon skating, Ernie puts himself and a bottomless barrel with fake legs attached to it, and the Count and Cookie Monster drag the barrel around until Bert notices the trick and tries to warn Ernie that he could get hurt on the side of the barrel. And then, The Count and Cookie Monster let go, resulting in Bert crashing near a wall containing Christmas decorations. Ernie climbs out of the barrel he was standing in, does his trademark laugh, and goes help Bert up wondering his all right, Bert maybe dazed, but at least he's okay.
When it began to get late, the human cast started coming off the ice and changing out of their skates to start for home. Well, most of them did. Cookie Monster decides "Let's play Snap the Whip!" Well, you know how Snap the Whip works. But for those who don't, on skater (Cookie Monster) grabs onto another skater (The Count), who grabs another (Ernie), and another (Bert), until they make a big chain. Then they spin around faster and faster, and that's exactly what these four did. And then, the last one on the chain, Bert happened to grab on to Oscar's passing trash can. "Hey, take your hands off the hardware!" said Oscar. Round and round, faster and faster, Bert held on to that can for as long as he could! But then...........
Well, that trash can flew through the air, and fell down two, flights of stairs.....
Through a wall, and another wall.....
down some more stairs and finally onto the street, and that's where Big Bird and his friend Patty caught up with him.
Once Big Bird and Patty pick up Oscar and wonder if he;'s okay, he replies, "All right. Let's go back and do it again." But rather than do that, Big Bird, explains about the joys of Christmas Eve and Santa Claus coming down the chimney, until Oscar interrupts saying "Aw,c come on!" Oscar, being the skeptical grouch that he is, says that the chimney is about this big, that's how big, where Oscar brings up his right hand despite being a character with only one hand. And he wonders how would Santa come down the chimney, Big Bird and Patty make wild guesses like holding his breath (that's like trying to get a basketball into a ginger ale bottle), coming through the window, the door, the old incinerator shaft, or the back door, but Oscar insists that it's the chimney or nothing! Then he "teases" Big Bird that if Santa doesn't get in, there's gonna be a lot of empty Christmas stockings around town tomorrow morning, and begins to walk home.
On the way home, the cast sings "Tue Blue Miracle," about how excited they are for Christmas and how they believe in miracles. And if that isn't a true blue miracle, they wouldn't know what one is. This gives me the perfect opportunity to give a little background. This song was not on the original Sesame Street Christmas record from 1975, this song was actually created for this special, and it was written by veteran Sesame Street songwriter, Carol Hall, who also wrote "Women Can Be," "Proud of Me," "Amigo," "Savion's Rhyming Game," and "A Very Simple Dance" among others.
When they all got back to Sesame Street, Big Bird and Patty head for his nest to talk the problem over with their friend, Kermit the Frog. Now, this might be a perfect time to say that the Kermit the Frog puppet used is not actually the one that Sesame Street used from 1976 up until 1981. It was actually the later 1978 puppet they used here. You see, around that time, the company that made and produced the green cloth for which Kermit was made went completely out of business. So, from this year onward, Kermit has been built with antron fleece, giving him a more sleeker, and cleaner look This puppet would also be used for the remaining production run of the Muppet Show, beginning with the Harry Belafonte episode and other projects at the time. And yes, this special was made during production of The Muppet Movie. Anyways, Kermit, not having any idea how Santa would get down a chimney because he's never thought of it before, and he suggests that they should go ask some kids. Technically, Patty is a kid, but she doesn't know, and Kermit just says, that's our first answer right there, isn't it.
While Kermit and his friends went off to question some kids, Bert was sitting in his tub, thinking about what to get Ernie for Christmas. It wasn't until he hears a squeak, and he notices that Ernie left his Rubber Duckie in the bath tub, which gives him idea to buy Ernie a soap dish to put Rubber Duckie in.
Meanwhile, in the living room, Ernie returns from, I guess playing outside in the snow when he sees one Bert's paper clips on the floor, discovering it was 1957 Acme. And Ernie gets an idea on what to get Bert for Christmas. He;ll buy him a cigar box to put all his paper clips in, then they'll never get lost again. And so, he rushes off to the store to find a cigar box. This is already setting up The Gift of the Magi, but we'll worry about that one later.
Meanwhile, Grover and Kermit are working on their Santa Claus research, asking several kids, including a few ones that did appear on the show a few times, like Chris, Lisa, and Tanya. Their answers included "coming down with his reindeer," "sliding down the chimney," "goes through the walls," and not to mention, "Santa using his Santa Claus keys to open the door. Grover ends the segment with "And there you have it.
Back on Sesame Street, Bob gathers Linda and the kids around his apartment to rehearse the Christmas song, "Keep Christmas With You (All Through the Year)" which was written by Sam Pottle and David Axlerod. I will be honest, this is probably the wekaest part of the special. Having a bunch of kids sign the song "Keep Christmas With You" while singing it at the same time. But, I will say this, Bob is a good piano player, and that there is a much better version of this song near the end of the special.
At Hooper's Store, Ernie exchanges his Rubber Duckie for the cigar box since he didn't have any money while Bert trades his paper clip collection for a pink soap dish in another emotional scene that fits perfectly for the special. It is a bit sad to see Ernie and Bert give up their possessions for such wonderful Christmas gifts. When we fade to black, we see Grover giving one more interview with another kid who goes by the name of Billy, and he pretends to be Santa Claus and he wonders how can he get out, but the back door and windows are locked, terrible luck fro Grover I will say.
Meanwhile, I think maybe the Fix-It Shop or maybe Cookie Monster's house, I don't know, he tries to write a letter to Santa Claus, but since he is Cookie Monster, he can't help but think of cookies. What he wants is fig nuttins, four dozen oatmeal cookies, banana cookies, prune cookies, and chocolate covered marshmallow with jelly inside cookies, this made him so hungry that he ate his pencil. And when he was about to write all that down, he says "Where pencil?" And a comical musical cue plays in the background as Cookie Monster scratches his head in confusion. Well, a nice kettle of fish! Christmas Eve and everybody had a problem! Big Bird worried about how Santa could get down the chimney, Kermit and Grover running all over town trying to find out, Cookie Monster failing to write Santa a letter, Ernie swapping his rubber duckie, and Bert trading his paper clip collection. What kind of Christmas Eve was this going to be? Let's keep going and find out.
Back at Big Bird's nest, Kermit concludes to Big Bird that the solution is not all together definitive. The quotes include, "Santa goes on a a crash diet every Christmas Eve and loses two hundred pounds," one person thinks he just sends an elf, Another person said "Santa sneaks in with the rest of the relatives on Thanksgiving and hides in the laundry until Christmas." and one that says that Santa has very long arms. But none of these answers make sense to Big Bird at all, and it's not getting them anywhere.
Back at Cookie Monster's residence, this time, he uses a typewriter and wonders what Santa would bring him. And like we predicted, he gets so hungry thinking of raisin cookies that he eats the buttons on the typewriter, and then, he thinks of fortune cookies with "delicious" paper inside them, and he eats the roll of paper, and then Cookie Monster thinks of round cookies resulting in him eating the tape, and let's out an over-the-top and funny "COWABUNGA!" and breaks the typewriter while eating it. Truly, this scene is really funny! It will forever have you laughing.
Big Bird, still desperate to find an answer, brings in Snuffy as an example. He wears a Santa hat and pretends to climb up to the roof to get to the chimney, and they pretend that one of Big Bird's barrels is a chimney, then Snuffy puts in two of his feet into the barrel, rendering him stuck and saying "I don't think Santa has more than two feet." Big Bird looks at it from a different angle, and finally decides that they finally now how Santa gets down the chimney, that is until Snuffy asks "Do we know how e gets out?" So much for that idea. Well, still no answers, and it was getting later and later this Christmas Eve on Sesame Street.
That evening, Oscar witnesses Bob saying Happy Chanukah to Mr. Hooper and Hooper saying a Merry Christmas to Bob. This angers the grouch, and he sings his trademark Christmas song, "I Hate Christmas." also written by Sam Pottle and David Axlerod. As he sings he does what grouches normally do, take advantage of it, simply by giving one person a mushy gift, taking a present away from Bob, causing him to drop the rest. Oscar also insists that he's not fond of Thanksgiving or Labor Day either. In the album version, he said it was Easter or Labor Day. Moving on, Oscar takes the letters "E" and "L" off of the word "NOEL," and making it a "NO" much to Mr. Hooper's chagrin. And then we see a street band playing a portion of "Joy to the World" and "The Twelve Days of Christmas," complete with a cameo of the movie's music coordinator, Danny Epstein. Oscar breaks Danny's musical instrument, and finally using a broom, he pours snow onto some of the kids. At least, there's one thing he likes about Christmas, it's only once a year.
Around the corner, Ernie and Bert were in their pajamas getting ready for bed, unfortunately, with little no patience that decide to open their presents tonight, you might call them early Christmas presents if you will. Bert opens up his first, and it's the cigar box that Ernie bought for him to keep his paper clip collection in, not wanting to get emotional, Bert suggests that Ernie opens his up next, and Ernie opens his present revealing it to be the pink soap dish that Bert bought for Ernie for his rubber duckie, But Ernie remembers that he traded his rubber duckie for the cigar box. Then the door knocks, and it was Mr. Hooper with gifts for Ernie and Bert! Bert opens up his present first, revealing to be his paper clips Mr. Hooper retrieved for him and gives Mr. Hooper a thank you. Then, Ernie opens his present, and through those green wrappings, it turns out to be Ernie's rubber duckie. It's amazing how small things come in big packages. Mr. Hooper then says to the duo that he's got the best Christmas present ever, the fact that he got to see that everyone got exactly what they wanted for Christmas, and he wishes Ernie and Bert a big "Merry Christmas." As Mr Hooper leaves, Ernie and Bert sing the ever popular Christmas classic, "Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas," the only other song in the special that was not written for the movie. And that's Ernie and Bert's take on The Gift of the Magi. Let's see how everyone else is doing.
Cookie Monster decides that it's too late write a letter to Santa Claus since it's Christmas Eve anyway, so, he tries one more effort. Calling Santa! As he dials the North Pole area code, looking at the phone made him think of chocolate cupcakes, and proceeds to eat the phone. However, the phone still rings, and Santa answers the phone. Interesting fact: Santa was actually directed by the special's director and writer and producer, Jon Stone. Anyway, Cookie Monster tries desperately to reply, but he ends up breaking the rest of the telephone in the process, and says "Me better send telegram." Back at Big Bird's nest, it was getting darker and colder, and Big Bird and Patty were all cuddle up to keep warm. But then, Big Bird decides to let Patty go home because it starts to snow, Once she leaves, Big Bird does a little thinking, and just when he was about to give up hope, he gets an idea, he'll find out how Santa can get down a little bitty chimney. Well, now things went from bad to worse. First, Big Bird had an idea, that's bad enough, but then he went off to do something about it!
Back at Gordon and Susan's apartment, Cookie Monster, who was helping Gordon trim their tree still has his Christmas problem. He explains his problem about how he tried to contact Santa, but he ate his pencil, his typewriter, and his own telephone, with all hope lost, Cookie Monster worries that Santa will never give him any cookies. Gordon suggests it would be nice if he left him something too. Cookie Monster suggests maybe a necktie, or shaving, but Gordon states that most people leave him..............cookies! Leaving Cookie Monster confused with a dramatic sting attached, when all of a sudden, there was a knock on the door. It was Patty, she announces that Big Bird had disappeared, and Gordon reassures her that they'll find him and says "Susan, better get your coat."
And where do you think Big Bird was? Where else? Up on the roof with his friends, the pigeons. How are pigeons able to survive in the cold? Oh, well, no matter. After having a brief conversation with the pigeons, he finds the skinny little chimney, and decides to wait on the rooftop for Santa. Of course, Big Bird hasn't told anybody where he was going, so all of his friends down on Sesame Street started to worry. Maria checks Hooper's Store, while Susan decides to go to Grover's place to check. Big Bird notices the commotion, but is more concerned about Santa than his friends, when all of a sudden, he falls asleep.
Maria goes over to the meanie behind Big Bird's disappearance, Oscar the Grouch! She scolds Oscar for telling him that Santa will not get anyone any presents, but Oscar insists he was just "teasing" him, and I say this with air quotes, "teasing." Oscar wants to know what the big deal was, Maria explains to him that his next is his home and he's around all the people that he loves, and he's out there somewhere in the big city, and he could be in serious trouble unless they find him, Maria sobs, and asks Oscar what could he do about, Oscar, realizing what he had done decides to find him and bring him back. You know, when Maria talks tough, she talks tough.
Back up on the roof, by the time Santa came by, to drop off the presents, Big Bird was covered with snow. He looked so cold Santa was sure he'd frozen his giblets. Santa didn't want to fright Big Bird, but he couldn't leave him there in the cold. So, very carefully, he tiptoed through the snow, until he was right next to him. And then, very gently, he touched him, and then vanishes without leaving any footprints in the snow. Big Bird finally decides to back inside and get warmed up, "I think I've froze my giblets." said Big Bird.
Gordon and Susan and Patty see Big Bird coming down the stairs, and they wonder where has be been, and Big Bird says he just went up on the roof to see if he could see Santa Claus come, but then he fell asleep. When they all came out of the hall and into Gordon and Susan's apartment, they could see that Santa Claus had already been there. Beautiful presents in red ribbons piled high under the Christmas tree. The stockings were bursting with gifts, even two furry blue socks at the bottom were overflowing with cookies. It was a miracle, and Gordon teaches him that it doesn't matter how Santa Claus gets down the chimney, what's more important is that they're all together at Christmas. Oscar then drops by one more time, and asks Big Bird, "How long do you think the Easter Bunny can hide all those eggs in one night." which causes Oscar to be called out once again.
Well, the story had a happy ending, didn't it. The finale of the special has a choir version of "Keep Christmas With You (All Through the Year)" with a complete orchestra and everything, in my opinion, this is much better than Bob's version. Oh, wait, what about Cookie Monster? Apparently, the Christmas tree was delicious, but Douglas Fir gave him a heart burn, poor Cookie Monster. He even continues to belch while minding his manners during the sponsors. I'm pretty sure he didn't mean to eat the Christmas Tree, somebody should've warned him. Oh well.
I love this special so much, it's got most of your favorite Sesame Street Muppets, Big Bird and Oscar are the focus, the comedy was spot-on, Kermit's appearance was tremendous, and the music was beautifully composed by Dick Lieb, who would later go on to compose music for Big Bird in China, Big Bird in Japan, Don't Eat the Pictures, and Jim Henson's The Christmas Toy.
While Mom does love A Muppet Family Christmas, I for one love Christmas Eve on Sesame Street. If you haven't seen or heard of this special, do yourself a favor this Christmas and definitely check it out. It gets my recommendation.
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| This final picture says it all. |
