Club Red
I am
still trying
to
figure out what
Sesame
Street is
all
about, playing
on
the TV screens
over
the bar.
Last
time I wandered
in
here there were
young
college co-eds
showing
their titties
at
some X-rated Spring Break.
Now
I watch
Conjunction
Junction
and
figure, hell,
both
videos make some
kind
of perverted sense
at
Open Mike poetry night
at
the Club Red.
Sesame Street Muppet characters
Lloyd Morrisett, a psychologist with the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching, and Joan Ganz Cooney, a documentary producer for WNET, New York's pioneer educational TV station, created the Children's Television Workshop and its major production, "Sesame Street." The show premiered on 10 Novemeber 1969 and still airs daily, combining live action, sketch comedy, animation, and puppetry to prepare young children for school. It was the 1st children's TV show to use educational goals and a curriculum to shape its content. It was also the first time that a show's educational effects were formally studied. Much of its success was due to the Muppet creations of Jim Henson. As a Home Economics major at the university of Maryland, he began doing puppet shows for WRC-TV in Washington, DC, in 1954. He developed his Muppets from flexible, fabric-covered foam rubber, allowing them to express a wide array of emotions, and their arms were moved by rods
ReplyDeleteinstead of strings for greater control of expression. In addition, he pioneered the use of the frame defined by the camera shot to let the puppeteer work off-camera. Over the years the program has won 167 Emmy Awards and 8 Grammy Awards.
In 1969 David McCall of the ad agency McCaffrey & McCall realized that children who had trouble remembering schoolwork could easily recite popular songs. With the help of his creative director George Newall, who was also a jazz pianist, he recruited bebop and cool jazz vocalist, pianist, composer, songwriter, arranger, and producer Bob Dorough to put the multiplication tables to music. Tom Yohe then added animation to Dorough's song "Three Is a Magic Number," and McCall sold the idea of 3-minute interstitial programs to air during Saturday morning children's programming. Since ABC (the American Broadcasting Corporation) was the agency's biggest account, Newall and Yohe sold the series to Michael Eisner, the vice-president of the network's children's programming division. The "Schoolhouse Rock!" series ran from 1973 to 1985 and 1993 to 1999, under the direction of Newall, Yohe, and Dorough. The 1st season was devoted to "Multiplication Rock," but other subjects were added over time, including "Grammar Rock," which included nouns, verbs, adjectives, and other parts of speech (such as conjunctions, explained in "Conjunction Junction" written by Dorogh and performed by trumpeter/singer Jack Shelton. Newall won 4 Emmys for the program.
ReplyDeleteConjunction Junction, what's your function?
Hooking up words and phrases and clauses
Conjunction Junction, how's that function?
I've got three favorite cars that get most of my job done
Conjunction Junction, what's their function?
I've got and, but, and or
They'll get you pretty far
And!
That's an additive, like this and that
But!
That's sort of the opposite
Not this but that
And then there's Or. O-R
When you have a choice like this or that
And, but, and or get you pretty far!
Conjunction Junction, what's your function?
Hooking up two boxcars and making 'em run right
Milk and honey, bread and butter, peas and rice
(Hey that's nice)
Dirty but happy, digging and scratchin'
Losing your shoe and a button or two
He's poor but honest, sad but true
Boo-hoo-hoo-hoo-hoo!
Conjunction Junction, what's your function?
Hooking up two cars to one
When you say something like this choice
Either now or later
Or no choice:
Neither now nor ever
(Hey that's clever)
Eat this or that, Grow thin or fat
Never mind, I wouldn't do that
I'm fat enough now!
Conjunction Junction, what's your function?
Hookin' up phrases and clauses that balance, like:
Out of the frying pan and into the fire
He cut loose the sandbags
But the balloon wouldn't go any higher
Let's go up to the mountains or down to the seas
You should always say, "Thank you"
Or at least say "Please!"
Conjunction Junction, what's your function?
Hookin'-up words and phrases and clauses
In complex sentences like:
"In the mornings, when I am usually wide awake,
I love to take a walk through the gardens
and down by the lake,
where I often see a duck and a drake, and I wonder
as I walk by just what they'd say if they could speak, although I know that's an absurd thought."
Conjunction Junction, what's your function?
Hookin'-up cars and making them function
Conjunction Junction, how's that function?
I like tying up words and phrases and clauses
Conjunction Junction, watch that function!
I'm going to get you there if you're very careful
Conjunction Junction, what's your function?
I'm going to get you there if you're very careful