Classic Sesame Street: Mr. Hooper's "10" Machine

[jpgrygus]

Is this machine for real or just made up for the show?

[hoopersghost]

@jpgrygus: Invented for the show; the other nine objects that appear each time already existed, but were hidden via special effects.

[MegaDeblow]

@jpgrygus

Yeah its real, and they made 10 of them :)

[emawerna]

Being the stickler I am, I have to point out that you end up with 11 objects, not 10. They keep forgetting to count the original.

[videolover1999isback]

Nothing like getting 10 more of anything from Mr. hooper's 10 Machine!

[travelsonic]

Wow, shows how Hooper was as a human being - disappointed, stunned when Big Bird broke the machine, but that quickly turned into excitement when he saw it worked. :P

[battybuddy]

Be careful with holding that arrow, Mr Hooper, or you're gonna get 10 disembodied hands falling out that machine.

[hoopersghost]

@battybuddy: Not likely, unless the original hand got cut off; the machine has a size limit on what it can copy, and human/Muppet bodies would read as too big.

[kymarcin]

Big Bird had a serious overbite!

[hoopersghost]

@kymarcin: Yeah, Big Bird looked ugly and primitive way back in Season One; I wonder how many 40-somethings have traumatic memories of his early years?

[shmuli9]

I loved Mr Hooper..

[nicka727]

What if it's money if the arrow points it to the machine?

[jeopardy60611]

This must have been very early in the series, as I probably didn't watch it before I was 3 years old in 1973, and I don't ever remember seeing this early version of Big Bird with the goofier voice. I was always fascinated with kids' shows that did things with "machines." Captain Kangaroo and Bozo's Circus used to do things like this where machines made noise and had stuff come out of them.

[MarioZone69]

I like the tune Big Bird sings as he's walking.

[JasonMC72]

Oscar the Grouch could build a condominium with eleven of those trash cans!

[travelsonic]

At the end, even with the destruction Big Bird caused, the fact that it worked [on something kinda big like the trash can especially] seemed to overwhelm Mr. Hooper more than the fact that he has to go build another machine.

[mercedes1benz1]

Thanks for posting, childhood memories

[ideniseb]

What a wonderful show!

Reminds me of Jim Kirk standing in front of The

Guardian of forever contemplating about stepping

through and losing one's self "in there"!

HAPPY TIMES....TRULY HAPPY TIMES!

[powerpup97]

Geez! I was so creeped out when Big Bird walked in!  He definately grew into his head when I started watching the show in the mid 80's!

[Maniaxe613]

They should have tried it on money!

[ExplorerDS6789]

They would have been arrested.

[mthivier]

I could use one of those machines on Thursdays. I'd put my paycheck into it....

Scary part is I actually remember watching this when I was 5 or 6 years old when it originally aired.

[hoopersghost]

That'd work in theory, since even the Feds' special paper would duplicate...but someone at the bank might notice ten bills with the same serial number, even way back in the 70s.

[travelsonic]

@hoopersghost Go to 10 separate, spread out banks then I guess :P

[hoopersghost]

Yeah, he was curious about just how much the machine could do...and his curiosity caused a big mess.

[tooteaching]

If he put the jellybean in his hand, wouldn't his hand be duplicated ten times too?

[hoopersghost]

I guess that's why Mr. Hooper put a size restriction on what the machine could copy: the hand was still attached to his too-large body, which was automatically ignored. (The trash can must've been just above the upper limit for acceptable sizes...)

[Legend813a]

Big Bird was microcephalic???

[DiAnno13]

At least he's got something to put his machine in.

[AgaMbadi]

Wow, when BB walks in at 2:21 I got freaked out. I thought the back of his head got blown off!!! Never remember these old episodes, they were before even my time.

[FIREDOGG999]

i don't remember scared of big bird but i was of mr.Rogers.

[tegan8D]

oh god. didn't the kids get scared when they saw big bird??? if i was five and i saw that after i saw him i woulda classed it as a horror LOL

[danawadd]

Yes and yes. Freaked out by evil Big Bird when I was 5 years old too...

[kalsikum]

oh boy big bird looks so damn weird!!!!

[hoopersghost]

That's how he looked when the show began--lhank goodness the designers decided to "fix" Big Bird's original head, to make him look friendlier and more intelligent.

[stevenscottoddballz]

Yes, I AM glad to see they fixed up Big Bird! I still remember the first time I saw Mr. Snuffleupagus! YIKES! HE was SCARY, too! Those NASTY yellow eyes pointed outward! POINTY head! Do you have any old videos of HIM? (Season 3 - Episode 276 {Airdate: 11-8-71})

[mthivier]

Yeah, his head was tiny, and his beak was more pointy too. I think Oscar also was a different colour, like orange, maybe, in the beginning.

[hoopersghost]

Oscar was indeed orange back in 1969. I've got another clip uploaded that shows him in that color; search for "Oscar Grouch birthday candles" and it'll be the first result on the list.

[alegende]

hahaha.  Big Bird made a BIG boo-boo again! haha.. Love Mr. Looper! Just found out about the farewell episode that showed Thanksgiving 1982, pretty sad. But, watching this brings back memories of his acting touch and play with Big Bird.

[ACNC1]

I thought his name was mr cooper

[hoopersghost]

Hooper was always his real last name; it's just that there used to be a running gag about Big Bird getting it wrong. He'd call the old guy anything that *rhymed* with Hooper, then get corrected loudly "That's HOOPER, Big Bird!"

This particular clip doesn't have Big Bird messing up Mr. Hooper's name, though, because it's from the first season of Sesame Street--the joke didn't begin until a few years later.

[punksweetss]

Mr. Hooper seemed like a fun character i wish i could of seen him but i wasn't born till the 90s

[jeddawiya]

LOOOOOL big bird looks hilarious!

[BebeBebe321]

Obama stole the machine and is now creating $10 dollars out of $1.

[ThisIsBilbo]

That's Howard Stern, right?

[UncleMikeNJ]

What the hell happened to Big Bird's head? This must be really early in the show, back when Cookie Monster still had a forehead ridge, and the first Gordon was still around. At least there's none of that damn Elmo. Yeah, and if they heard me using "grownup words" like that, I'd be in trouble.

[coolbeansmellon]

hahaaaa!

[bostonscholar]

He was origionally portrayed as a dumb sort of bird (adult) to get the learning we now get thru the nicer looking 6 year old bird

[darthvaderyoda]

wow i never saw big bird prononce Mr. Hoopers name right

[krazykool18]

omg . big bird scared the crap outta me . i nevr knew he looked like that in the early days ... big bird is still awesome . =] r.i.p. mr. hooper .

[ablestmage]

i even read your comment before I saw him and it still freaked me out... like someone took a hatchet to his head or something!

[rubikron]

R.I.P Mr Hooper ..keep on Hoopin'

[Whitewolf0123]

i miss mr. hooper

[Ja100453]

Big birds early voice sounds like Jimmy from south park

[JABS991]

Mr. Hooper did some serious prison time after the Feds found he was putting 20 dollar bills into his machine.

[TServo2049]

Danny Seagren (Spider-Man on The Electric Company) is doing Big Bird here, not Carroll Spinney

[CaptainSiberia]

Big Bird looked very strange in the early days. And they hadn't quite worked out the voice.

[jsteeber]

How can one not miss this? Must be from about 1971. I remember when the series started, about two years earlier. "Bik Boid", as Mr. Hooper would say. Thanks!

[hoopersghost]

This actually aired as part of a 1969 episode (#54); I don't personally remember Mr. Hooper having such a strong NYC accent, so he must have lost it early on. Glad you like the clip though!

[jsteeber]

Indeed. Actually, I remember his voice as slightly lower, but the sort of German-Jewish Bronx accent was clear - at least to me. This was one of the many little things which eventually brought me to live in New York -- all that humor and wisdom of the older ones.

[MIKECNW]

BB could of pointed to himself and have 10 BB's.

[alex21121485]

oh poor Mr. Hooper, i also noticed that bird actually says Mr. Hoopers name right

[979708]

Speaking of which - I think I remember a sketch where Mr. Hooper put to Big Bird, "How would you like it if people didn't pronounce your name correctly". Then, in Big Bird's imagination, people called him "Gig Gird" and other non-sensicle names.

Not sure it did any good, though!

What say other YouTube viewers?

[hoopersghost]

That one I never saw, though I remember Big Bird mangling Billy Dee Williams' middle name similarly in a celebrity moment ("Billy Vee", "Billy Gee", "Billy Pee [sic]"; he knew it was "some kind of letter"). In retaliation, Billy Dee Williams called HIM "Big Fish"!

[Eddie62070]

I remember that!