Classic Sesame Street - Block civilization

[ndingo]

some of these remide me of inca structures

[plasticbarf]

these shorts used to give me nightmares

[rockintetster]

OK, now this is the kind of brilliance that made Sesame Street wa=hat it was!

[patrickballoonman]

Stop motion animation at its most elaborate!

[excelsior27]

happy7117 & Ahuebner2004, you are so right! The music at 1:34 starts the good part of the clip. The best is at 1:43! It makes me want to dance!

[loveutoto]

Awesome! This reminds me of another stop-motion film with blocks. There were three toys: a robot, a duck, and a car. They were demonstrating things like "over" and "around."

[muzikman183]

so thats where the Jenga blocks came from

[JuanMamaril]

This was one of my favorite Sesame street mini clips that they used to air back in the 80's. Now it's all that retarded Elmo crap

[blackout57]

whow, this wan as work like a god, fot the time. Of cours today i'ts very old, because whe have the numerical technologies. I like it ! It's a great job.

[culpit]

I like how it started with just two small blocks and then became a big block city in the end. :)

[dogeymon83]

This type of stuff is very inspired by the great Jan Svankmajer! He's the master!

[Ian16545]

What kind of wooden blocks did they use? I'm guessing Playskool, judging by the colors...

[happy7117]

This reminds me of circus music!

[lcooke]

That's awesome! It's like a timeline of architecture!

[Ahuebner2004]

This music sounds like Merry-go-round music. I think of sitting on a merry-go-round horse when I Listen to it.

[vonbontee]

Hm, seems to me that classic Sesame Street was WAY p.c., if my memory serves! It wasn't a bad thing back then.

[rhd8]

Wow! I tried to remember the music to this particular part in Sesame Street, now, it all came back like it was yesterday. For all the P.C. (Politically Correct) Hacks out there who despise Sesame Street Classics, you know NOTHING about good education on T.V.! Take a HIKE!

[harrisonchick]

It's ones like me that make me nostalgic. They just don't make quality programming like this anymore.

[deyoungparker]

"Dagnabbit, back when I was a boy..."

What's with all the "they don't make 'em like they used to" comments?" How much children's programming do you watch these days?

I have 3 little kids now and the kids stuff on TV is great, if not even better than our oh-so-precious 70's. Not to mention that half the stuff we used to watch, like Sesame Street and Mr. Rogers, is still airing.

[waltergalt]

"Dagnabbit, back when I was a boy..."

Yep. After a certain period of cultural degeneration that turns out to be a valid sentiment after all. I watch a lot of children's programming. Would like to be in it myself, except the aesthetic seems to have changed irreversibly from -- as you see, above -- to purest shite. Lucky you to be so at ease with mediocrity though.

[bcopel182]

2:02 has the World Trade center in it.

[CodTongueSushi]

Yes, I noticed that as well.

[beitleah]

I remember this one so well! I had blocks like that, too...flood of memories...

[MoochyMooch]

I haven't seen this in years. The music is totally 80's but I love it. Takes me back to my little girl days...

[bourgwick]

My bad. I've been told the music was composed by "Tom Vuozzo (aka Tom Perry)"...

[tomperri23]

aka Tom Perri

[stiffsyn]

Thanks so much for uploading this!  Does anyone know who composed the music, or the title of the composition?

[Figure2006]

this is what made me start doing lego cities later on in life

[youtookmynamebiotch]

OMG, I remember this when I was very VERY young...what a blast from the past!

[dogdoo4brains]

WOW! WOW! WO-O-OW! I never thought I would see such a classic animation. For some reason, the music always reminded me of an amusement park. LOL! I also remember the cat art clip. I would like to see that one get posted along with a clip of an orange dividing constantly and people making orange juice. Does anyone remember that clip?

[bluquail]

I always like the realistic city scene at the end. And now I'm guessing the hand is either Jim Henson's or Frank Oz's.

[tomperri23]

Nope. It was the animator, Al Jarnow

[JonnyAMax]

I LOVE the stop still animations they did in SS, one of my favorite is one they did with just rocks and sand, another one they did with shells, if you ever get it let me know :)

[tonewinwy]

Thanks for sharing. That was always one of my favs. A fav I haven't seen in many many many years.

[kbrinks]

Wow i remember!!

[Ian16545]

Reminds me of my childhood... what I wouldn't give to relive my life, just lying around in a T-shirt and diaper, trying to do what they did...

[cupcakejam]

that's what retirement is for! (please forgive me, i mean no disrespect towards the senior citizen population). Those blocks look like starbursts in the begining..except for the blue ones...

[SkyfireTheFox]

I totally remember this! And where is that segment with the cat paraphanelia in stop-motion?  Anyone put that up yet?

[ISNorden]

I bet a lot of kids who owned block sets got jealous when they saw this clip; it's a work of art in my opinion. Five stars!

[tomperri23]

Why thank you! I did the music, & we did things that had never been done with the synthesizers of the time! You had to plug wires in like an old telephone board to connect ocillators to filter to amps. Wires wires wires.

But it forced us to think outside the box to get the sound I heard in my head.

T Perri

[tpirman1982]

I liked the scenery at 1:43 mark. It made me feel like I was in that big hallway.

[tpirman1982]

At the same point, it also looked like the inside of a royal palace. Anyone agree?

[scottandrewhutchins]

I always wished I could imitate this with my blocks when I was a little kid.

[sweetrolls]

yeah and the real cat drank milk! from her bowl

[tpirman1982]

There was another block segment, but I don't completely remember it, but I remember at one point of this vague memory was that the blocks were built to look like a cat and then a real cat comes in and accidentally knocks it down. Anybody remember this one?

[ISNorden]

Yes; some other "cat art" made from various things appeared in the same film, before the action you describe.

[dd1985]

I remember that!!! That is impressive!!!

[pokinsmot]

i think this clip is what got me started on my blocks as a kid...

[sweetrolls]

I was frieghtened of the arch and everything I don't know there was two blocks making the twin towers (Since they fell on September 11th 2001)

[sweetrolls]

Heck that scared me to death

[sweetrolls]

reminds me of the song (to quote The three strippers to Gypsy Rose Lee) You Gotta Get a Gimmick

[jaydude28]

i love the music especially around the 50-1:33 where that synthisizer just plays so great music

[pvx]

I totally agree with you, that particular part sounds so epic....!

[bigbiglamp]

A follow up... does anyone have any idea of what kind of analog synth they're using? The sound it gets almost suggests a calliope.

[tomperri23]

Yes we used an ARP 2600. Talk about vintage. You had to connect everything with plugin wires, like a patchbay in a recording studio. It was, for the time, Like Waaay state of the art and then some, because I heard things in my head that the 2600 had never done before, but my "team" made it happen. T Perri

[Lunabot3000]

I'd love an old ARP like that. Awesome work!

[bigbiglamp]

Thanks for putting this up. This was one of a few Sesame Street sketches that I used to find a little creepy, yet at the same time terrific... regarding the comment above -- I have Ray Lynch's deep breakfast album. The music does remind me a little of his stuff, perhaps it's like crossing Ray Lynch with John Philip Sousa.

[benvolio15]

Another one I've wanted to see (and hear again for so long! Is anyone here familiar with the music of a New Age composer named Ray Lynch? Some of his pieces sound very much like the music in this clip.

[spacecowboy2k]

This was my favorite out of all as a kid. Especially when the tunnel is built for the cars. I love how there is a major dramatic build at 57 secs. and 1:45.

[RBCMLR33]

I loved this clip as a child, but it always gave me false hope. A five year old can not make a fancy arch! I like the animals, too.

[spacecowboy2k]

Yes, so true. I though that my building would be just as good complete with music and moving cars. I was always short about 13,000 blocks.

[Ervicito]

This was one of my fave SS clips too. It made me want to be an architect. Now I'm studying to become a video game level designer. I love this video clip!

[AnnitheDiva]

This is odd, because I don't remember the music but I remember the visual. It's usually the other way around.

[jenna528]

This is great... and good quality too. Thank you!

[avonee1976]

Wow! This was one of my all time favorite Sesame Street clips. Makes me wanna play with some blocks.

[rollingchild4]

I remember this video so well in my childhood years.