Sesame Street - Short & long car

[sideslide23]

thats a cool car,

[jeopardy60611]

I remember seeing this as a kid.

When I had Driver Ed in high school, I recall reading in the text book that if your car stalls on railroad tracks, you should get out.

[NDW85]

Kids, Don't try this at home!

[Quamlen]

Very... WATCH OUT! Short.

[Pooleman96]

I remember this from back in the day. Who was the narrator? Was it Sonia Manzano?

[tyrese3745]

@Pooleman96 It was Anne Meara, wife of veteran actor Jerry Stiller, mother of Brat Pack leader Ben Stiller, and mother-in-law of Ben's wife Christine Taylor.

[KPCarter2000]

@Pooleman96 not its not

[KPCarter2000]

@Pooleman96 no it not it actually Anne Meara

[Dekobee]

What a SHORT story!

[moatguy]

Very...WATCH OUT!...short. Yeah at the end when the car got smashed it was short! LOL

[PandaMishima]

@moatguy

In fact it ended up being 2 short cars :)

[moatguy]

Well then it would be in half.

[PandaMishima]

@moatguy

Two halves, if you think about it :)

[bobmartin3]

VERY! WATCH OUT! SHORT! Said Jeffrey Sadly!

[wileyk209zback]

It's a good thing nobody was in the back of the car when it stalled on the tracks!

Sesame Street REALLY needs to do a segment about safety around trains and railroad tracks

[CanadaFamilyMan]

On all the pre-80's movies, trains were always barreling on, running over anything on the tracks without a care in the world. That had me thinking train engineers were evil when I was little.

[wileyk209zback]

Yeah, but in real life, trains can't stop quickly. It can take a mile and a half for a train to come to a complete stop once the emergency brake is applied. I'm not sure if that applies to steam locomotives, but it is definitely the case for the diesel and electric engines.

I STILL think Sesame Street should do a skit about safety around trains and tracks and railroad crossings. Anyone else agree?

[PandaMishima]

@wileyk209zback

Well, this does fit the bill, the car does stall out and the train does not stop in time.

Makes the point, even with comedic but not gory violence.

[vidman1976]

When the guy was making the car long, then short, then long again, they were rolling the tape forwards then backwards. This footage was taken from a film in the 1920's

[CanadaFamilyMan]

I loved cars (especially old 1s) when I was little. Now I wish we could do without them! But I'd love to take this 1 for a cruise!

[ENCIII1284]

"WATCH OUT!" LOL!

[CraigFoye80]

This is a ZONK-mobile.

[dgouveia3344]

I agree with another poster.... I distinctly remember laughing my head off at "WATCH OUT!!!!!" when I was a kid! :-P

[38Squid]

Engineer must have been text messaging not to have been able to stop before slamming that looooong car on the tracks.

[CindyBear55]

She sounds wayyyyy to turned on during this segment....

[cinemania96]

If you mean Anne Meara's narration, no way. She is just as subtle as ever here, channeling the tongue-in-cheek vibes about that strange, length-changing car.

[TheGreatDoon]

Hahahaha! This must have been the "penis mobile" of the 1920's!

[TheGreatDoon]

MAN! I had forgotten all about this one's existence!I haven't seen it since about the time I was 5!

[pbscraze]

Woman: Oh, what's he excited about------? Oh! About his car! It's short. Hey, what's going on here? No, it's long. Short. Loooooooooooooooong. Short. Loooooooooooooooooooong. And away they go. (chuckles). (Car comes to a stop on the tracks) But not far. I think the car's going to be short again. (locomotive train comes and runs over the car as the 2 men escape)

Very.......WATCH OUT!!!!!!!! (Crunch!) Short.

[motherbrain86]

The watch out is the highlight of the segment

[moatguy]

"Watch out! Short." Yeah! When the train ran over it "short" was right! LOL

[jonnytbirdzback]

I first saw this back in 1999 during Season 30. Unbelievable huh? And I just got the other B&W silent film "Help" and I'm going to get "In" pretty soon too, so I'll have those ready when I get them eventually.

[MarshalGrover]

I would belive this was shown in 1999. They still showed tons of classic segments then.

[MarshalGrover]

I would belive this was shown in 1999. They still showed tons of classic segments then.

[DragonLord1975]

Hope they got GEICO!

[tyrese3745]

Nah. The Gecko wasn't even born the roarin' '20's.

[pbscraze]

"And away they go. Ha! But not far. I think the car's going to be short again. Very......WATCH OUT!!!!!! Short.

[PandaMishima]

Fortunately no one really got hurt!

[JasonSesame]

The woman's voice shouting "Watch Out!" combined with the train breaking the car in half always scared me as a kid. In fact, it seems like almost all of the black and white silent film clips Sesame Street showed were scary in some way.

[OofusTwillip]

The narrator is Anne Meara (wife of Jerry Stiller, and mother of Ben Stiller).

[sweetlife031]

@OofusTwillip

Yeah :) The narrator is Ben Stiller's mommy lol...When she shout's "Watch out!" and the car gets smashed, it really used to freak me out as a child...I used to think the men got smashed too!

[OofusTwillip]

This is a clip from a Larry Semon film. Larry is the skinny guy pulling on the car.  I'm not sure who the fat guy in the car is, but it might be Oliver Hardy (who was one of several "heavies" in Larry's films).

[MsPandaRosa]

Anybody know what the film might be that this is from? Cute bit.

[jshweid]

I remember this video too. it scared me at the end with the narrator's reaction

[uofmrules1]

Could you be thinking the Subway song?

[TVLubber]

That car obviously broke down on the tracks or ran out of gas.

[uofmrules1]

Well the engine clearly blew, that's how the car died.

[moatguy]

Yeah! It overheated.

[raposofan]

I remember this one!

[ISNorden]

Not to mention a good safety lesson about driving near railroad tracks... ;-)

[mstatz]

Very good point! lol