Sesame Street - Mad Painter # 9

[madami72]

I'am 39 years old I remember this when I was 3 years old!! Thanks for the great memories as a kid!

[thesilencer1969]

I remember this from when I was a kid!! What a Happy Memory! Thanks for posting this!!

[defiant289]

is that mr bently?

[afriendofbean]

@defiant289 Yes, Paul Benedicts name on "The Jeffersons" was Harry Bentley. The other difference is that, as soon as he stopped doing these Mad Painter skits, he developed acromegaly which is seen on his face on "The Jeffersons."

[defiant289]

@afriendofbean i loved him in anything i saw him in, can i ask what is acromegaly?

[afriendofbean]

@defiant289 Yes, he was also great in the movie "The Addams Family." In answer to your question about acromegaly, acromegaly is a certain type of disease in growth hormone where parts of the body become big in the face where Paul Benedicts nose and jaw became big which is seen on "The Jeffersons." If you compare him here on Sesame Street, while seeing a picture of him from "The Jeffersons" on the internet, you will see he looks a little different because of developing acromegaly.

[loveutoto]

"You ruined my nine!"

"Well, you ruined our street!"

[johnnyboy8593]

Ahhh, must an artist always suffer for their greatest works? All he wanted to do was paint a  number, and then suddenly his works gets washed away. Yes, to be an artist and get your works known is a stuggle within it's own. Yet we get pleasure in bringing life to our works. So goes the artist's life.

[glasscitadel12]

my main man, from The Jeffersons, also. i really grew up watching him!!!

[deerfish3000]

He keeps saying, "No" in German! ;o) 

[kevico2]

Oh my Gosh! It never dawned on me that that was Mr Bentley!!! (The Jeffersons)!!!! Cool!!!

[wlbaz]

I was very surprised when I read Paul Benedict's info on IMDB and learned that HE was the number painter! Heck, I watched "The Jeffersons" ALL the time growing up and knew him as Bentley, but the facial hair threw me for a loop. Even my sister can't believe it, either. Shoot he was talented. Hope he's painting lots of numbers in heaven...:)

[panamaniak]

I miss those days.

[01cyquest]

Hey! Its Mr. Bentley from the Jeffersons.

[wendeebop64]

Oooohh!! I would get so mad at the people who were always ruining the Mad Painter's work!

It makes me mad even now! Lol

[afriendofbean]

Yes I feel bad for him too. I guess the skits where his painted numbers got ruined was in the #3, #6, #9, #10, and #11 painter skits. (Maybe when his painted numbers get removed or smudged is something to tell the audience with little kids to never make a mess in public places you're not supposed too). Also, the skits I know where his work didn't get ruined was in the #4, #5, #7 (his work was missing without him knowing) and #8, and the #5 and #7 painter skits were happy endings for him.

[afriendofbean]

At 0:13, was the painter touching the ground? (To me, it looked like he wasn't because I saw a gap between his hand and the ground). If he didn't touch the ground, I wonder why he was looking at his hand at 0:14 like he was seeing how wet his hand was after touching the ground.

[TonyDuMont]

Yes, and in the previous shot the paint can is in his left hand and in the next shot his left hand only has the 9.

[raposofan]

In the opening shot, this kind of looks like Manhattan down near where the WTC used to be, near Courtlandt Street station.

[7bigmike7]

always felt sorry for him. Someone always spoiling his work. LOL

[afriendofbean]

Yes, I felt the same way. I guess the reason why every number he paints gets either smudged or washed away is for the audience (little kids watching Sesame Street) to understand that people should not be painting, drawing, making any mess etc. in public places on things they're not supposed too since people can get arrested if they did that in real life.

[patrickballoonman]

Unless maybe, of course, you can get permission from the city to do a sidewalk chalk drawing.

[afriendofbean]

That is true. Probably the painter didn't have permission from the city to do any painting in public places (he's probably doing what he likes and wants) even though from 0:23-0:28, the street cleaner didn't care that the painter was painting in the spots that he just cleaned where it looked like he didn't like it at first but then he just smiled and wheeled his cart away probably thinking that it was the painter's job to paint numbers in those spots just for making numbered parking spots.

[MegaCrowman]

I just learned this was Paul Benedict, who has since passed away. R.I.P and thanks for such sweet memories

[patrickballoonman]

In case you're wondering, and I found this out on Muppet Wiki, the balding man with the moustache and coveralls is former New York stage actor Jerome Raphel.

[Billyjk72]

@patrickballoonman  Yep, just saw him in a Get Smart episode from the 4th Season as a bad guy from KAOS.

[TheGreatDoon]

He was on a serious mission here!

Unfortunately, it was all an exercise of futility!

[stegaflaps]

"Going to paint a nine.............".

[jackmanslightpepper]

Y'know, I didn't like this guy one bit as a child and I must admit to having felt a rush when his stupid 9 got washed away.

[snootzie78]

my favorite mad painter skit

[smjjohnson]

Oh crap you messed up my nine you

[Jibjub80]

I remember watching this clip with my mother when I was about 5 or 6, and she commented that this guy was a graffiti artist. I had never heard the word "graffiti" before, but then I described the scene to my grandmother, and exercised my newly learned vocabulary. I told my grandmother that there was a graffiti guy on SS who painted the street. BUT, she was hard of hearing, and she thought I said the guy PEED in the street, that this would be INDECENT EXPOSURE, and would not be allowed on TV.

[ericandteejay]

hahaha!!!!

[TheGreatDoon]

That's funny lol

[noreaga12326]

look at the beginning scene. looks like hes coming from a dark cave into day light. the music on these mad painters skits were classics and beautiful. R.I.P. Mr. Bently. we'l see you again when the time comes.

[cmulwee001]

The Street Cleaner didn't do a good job of washing off the 9, much of it was still there!

Obviously, in the Jefferson's The British accent was a put-on. This must be his real voice heard here. We'll miss you Paul.

[afriendofbean]

That's true. The street cleaner didn't wash the "9" off that well. Unless, he was just trying to just wash dirt off the street ignoring the "9". Probably if he was going to wash the "9" away, he probably would've made the painter stop painting the "9" when the cleaner saw him painting it at 0:24. He also smiled at the painter at 0:28 so maybe he didn't care about him painting the "9". However, if he did care about the painter painting a "9" on the street, he should've made him stop at 0:24.

[nirrad0791]

RIP Paul Benedict. Does anyone know where this was filmed at? It almost looked like The Dakota (John Lennon's apartment (RIP too, John)

[noreaga12326]

Good question NIRRAD0791... im wondering where this was fimed too. i know its somewhere in down town manhattan, which is where almost all of the sesame street scenes took place. This was probably in the late 60s or very early 70s .

[raposofan]

Farewell Mr. Benedict, we loved you :(

[mstatz]

Can you picture anyone better at painting numbers than Paul? I can't! RIP

[raposofan]

RIP :(

[frankd1965]

Also Isabel Sanford(Weezie), Roxie Roker(Helen Willis) Damon Evens(Lionel Jefferson), Franklin Cover(Mr. Willis) Zarah Cully(mama Jefferson) R.I.P.

[IJustWatchEm71]

He will be missed.

[qoolquest]

rip to mr bentley.

[Hamstergirl71]

ha..great to see this again. My mom said I was afraid of this dude when I was tiny..I'd get up and hide when this skit came on..

[MGHSHour2]

all we need is the one for 2

[2008ljr]

Isn't the painter Mr. Bentley from the Jeffersons?

[misterfweem]

Yup. Paul Benedict played both Mr. Bentley and the Mad Painter.

[conradragzoff]

x2... of course, back then there was no Jeffersons... Sesame Street and Electric Company made a lot of people famous (like Bill Cosby and Morgan Freeman)

[ccampasano1]

This video was filed in Lower Manhattan on South William Street, Beaver Street and Hanover Sq. At 0:07 you can see Delmonico's on the left and you are looking down Beaver Street toward Broad Street. When the streetcleaner is coming down the street, it is driving on William Street coming from Wall Street toward Delmonico's, which now would be the wrong way. I lived on S. William street about a year ago and as soon as the video started i knew where it was. Cool to see the area almost 40 yr ago

[SidJustice1]

Wow, dude that's awesome.

[DragonLord1975]

@ccampasano1 I don't live in NYC, but I do know about Sesame Street's taping in some areas, like what you mentioned AND the Hotel Empire, which those big letters are still around today.

[JiveTaxi]

Does he wear Converse All-Stars in all the vids? KEWL!

[d72jjpilc]

Ah, yes, the painter, some may call him a prankster, others may call him good-intentioned, yet one who sometimes goes a little 'too far.' Either way, in the end, it's hard not to feel somewhat sad when his work is ruined by another party who doesn't understand his passion. Does anyone out there have the Number 2 clip (with a sailboat)? How about Number 5 (with a gorilla), or was that one taken down due to the nature of its content? Just curious.

[afriendofbean]

The Number 2 painter skit is posted up on a muppet webpage, and the Number 5 painter skit was posted up on YouTube but, that skit was taken off YouTube because that skit was probably telling young kids that it's okay to go near a wild animal when it's not okay.

[jepsipepsi17]

The number 5 skit was really removed because it had the Noggin logo on it. Some people on here seem to be able to black out the logo and repost it. Hopefully they do it with "5".

[RCast]

Sniff...a beautiful number got ruined...sniff...and it's all the mad painter's fault!

[SidJustice1]

I always liked the musical pieces in the bg to these segments.

[mrmoore1970]

...Nine! I loved watching this clip as a kid, yet it was so sad to see his 9 washed away!

[nyyterp]

While I always enjoyed these segments, I couldn't help but feel bad for the painter. He always lovingly paints his number(s) with a passion, only to have it ruined in some way. I hated Mac for that.

[dnm728]

Number 9...Number 9...Number 9...

[t21229513]

is that george jefferson's neighbor mr bentley?

[mrmoore1970]

Yep! That's Paul Benedict...aka Mr. Bentley.

[MIKECNW]

Funny how all of the outdoor number painter films were shot on days when it was mostly cloudy.

[loumichaels]

I sure would like to see the number 6 sketch posted. It's the only one I don't remember seeing as a child. I hear it involves a birthday cake.

[nyyterp]

Yep. He draws a "6" (using frosting, of course) on a cake while the chef is away. She's then angry at having her dessert creation ruined. He ends up with the ol' cake in the face. Like the 10 segment (IIRC), the number appears normal on his face instead of backwards.

[afriendofbean]

Yes, the number 6 painter skit was my favorite one. I hope someone has it to post it up on the internet. The chef was played by Mac. I did feel bad for the painter that the chef smacked the cake in the painter's face when he could've told the painter to buy the cake himself for ruining it. Or, the chef could've saved the cake until it was someone's 6th birthday. Also, it probably costed money to waste the cake by putting it in the painter's face as soon as the chef finished making it.

[afriendofbean]

The number 6 painter skit is posted on YouTube. On the google website, type in "Mad Painter #6" and then you will find the number 6 painter skit on the top of the list.

[ghostchantxx]

That's mac he puts salt on a banana for the number 10.

[987654321bang]

he paints a pretty good nine

[angelgirl7473]

LMAO!!!! thanks for making me feel like i was 9 again!!

[raposofan]

Like the Jazz Numbers, I seem to remember the Mad Painter 9 was one of the toughest to see when I was a kid. That only made you want to see it more.

[3KNOCKS]

I REMEMBER THIS ONE AND I LIKE IT.

[RCast]

So sad that the guy's number 9 got ruined. The horror of it all!

[DragonLord1975]

Never paint on a street during street cleaning.

[mstatz]

That looks like New York City.

[MIKECNW]

Well since the show's made in NY than obviously that's where this film took place.

[jtomally9681]

@mstatz 

[MGHSHour2]

What City Is That Number painting Man In?

[DiAnno13]

There's a man on the corner, watching with bemused detachment.

[ISNorden]

I can't say "nein" to this classic; the Mad Painter rocks!

[MGHSHour2]

put more more of thse