|
|||||||||||||
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Christmas Eve on Sesame Street |
Christmas Eve on Sesame Street is a Sesame Street Christmas special first broadcast on PBS on December 3, 1978.
The story has three principal plotlines. In the main one, Oscar the Grouch tells Big Bird that there will be no Christmas presents if Santa Claus is unable to get down chimneys. Distraught, Big Bird enlists the help of Kermit the Frog and Grover to ask children how Santa does it. Their responses vary. Big Bird's friend Patty (a girl around age seven) tries to comfort him, but fails. Big Bird winds up trying to stay up all night on an apartment roof, watching for Santa Claus, but falls asleep while the residents of Sesame Street become very worried looking for him. When Big Bird tries to go inside the apartment building to warm up, Gordon and Susan make sure he stays. They comfort him by showing that there were indeed presents brought.
Meanwhile, Bert and Ernie want to give each other Christmas presents, but have no money. Bert trades away his prize paper clip collection to buy a soap dish for Ernie's Rubber Duckie, but Ernie has traded Rubber Duckie away to get Bert a cigar box for the paper clips. Mr. Hooper, the store owner, realizes this and gives both characters their treasured possessions back, while also reminding the audience that although he himself does not celebrate Christmas, he understands the spirit of the holidays better than almost anyone. This, of course, is a spirited retelling of the O. Henry story "The Gift of the Magi".
While all this is going on, Cookie Monster tries to communicate with Santa Claus and request cookies for Christmas. However, he eats the pencil, typewriter, and telephone that he tries to use, and at the end of the show, he ends up eating all of the pine neddles off the christmas tree, and gets indigestion.
Contents |
A variety of Christmas and other holiday songs help interweave these three plot lines and make the production much more touching, including:
Interestingly, one of this special's competitors that year was a lesser-known, critically-panned Sesame Street special on CBS -- A Special Sesame Street Christmas.
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |