{"id":4015,"date":"2012-09-20T10:30:04","date_gmt":"2012-09-20T17:30:04","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.henson.com\/jimsredbook\/?p=4015"},"modified":"2023-06-21T00:11:45","modified_gmt":"2023-06-21T07:11:45","slug":"920-241971","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.henson.com\/jimsredbook\/2012\/09\/920-241971\/","title":{"rendered":"9\/20-24\/1971 – ‘Recording Alphabet album at night.’"},"content":{"rendered":"

After Sesame Street<\/em> launched and it was clear the show was a hit, the Children\u2019s Television Workshop team began looking for other ways to connect with their audiences and extend the lessons taught on screen (not to mention creating a revenue stream to support the show). Starting during the second season, books, toys and records went into production featuring the lovable Muppets, all with educational merit. The success of Sesame Street<\/em>\u2019s first cast album in 1970 and the quantity of great music being written for the show encouraged the team to brainstorm about other types of records they might produce. In 1971, they decided on a 26-track album focusing on the alphabet.<\/p>\n

Jim described the project on the album jacket: \u201cThe idea is very simple \u2013 a little song or skit about each of the twenty-six letters of the alphabet. A child listening to the record, and maybe smiling or singing along with it, can, at the same time, get acquainted with each letter. I thought it would be great if we could just give a child something to remember \u2013 a handle, or a few clues that would make learning to read just a little easier and a bit more fun.\u201d He went on, \u201cSo I called Joe Raposo, Jeff Moss and Jerry Juhl together, and we divided up the letters of the alphabet. These are three extremely talented friends, who have proven themselves brilliant at creating material for children and Muppets and are all part of the Sesame Street team. After a great deal of writing and planning, we recorded with the vocal talents of Frank Oz, Carroll Spinney, Jerry Nelson and Fran Brill \u2013 our Sesame Street<\/em> performers \u2013 one of the most talented group of puppeteers in the country. Many long hours were spent in the studio, and this is what we have to show for our efforts.\u201d<\/p>\n

Some Sesame classics appear on the album, like Joe Raposo<\/em>\u2019s \u201cC Is For Cookie\u201d and \u201cWould You Like to Buy An O?\u201d Others were written specifically for the release, like \u201cJust Because\u201d by Jim and Jerry Juhl for the letter Y and \u201cSammy the Snake\u201d by Jeff Moss. The original 1971 album jacket opened up to reveal a blackboard design and was packaged with chalk and punch-out alphabet letters, encouraging listeners to practice writing while listening to the songs. The 1976 re-release dispensed with the lumpy chalk and instead had little drawings illustrating words that started with each letter.<\/p>\n

One song on the album celebrated the camaraderie of the team: \u201cJ Friends\u201d by Jeff Moss. Watch and hear about Joe [Raposo], Jane [Henson], Jim [Henson], and Joan [Ganz Cooney, founder of Children\u2019s Television Workshop]. Somehow, Jon [Stone, producer and director] and Jeff [Moss, writer and composer] got left out<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Read more about early Sesame Street products<\/a>.<\/p>\n

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Sesame Street finger puppets produced in 1971.<\/p><\/div>\n

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The 1971 Muppet Alphabet Album.<\/p><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Additional historical information provided by The Jim Henson Company Archivist. Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1001,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[56],"tags":[1064,709,379,480,934,380,381,1026,596,673],"class_list":["post-4015","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-sesamestreet","tag-carroll-spinney","tag-fran-brill","tag-frank-oz","tag-jane-henson","tag-jeff-moss","tag-jerry-juhl","tag-jerry-nelson","tag-joan-ganz-cooney","tag-joe-raposo","tag-jon-stone"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.henson.com\/jimsredbook\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4015","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.henson.com\/jimsredbook\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.henson.com\/jimsredbook\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.henson.com\/jimsredbook\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1001"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.henson.com\/jimsredbook\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4015"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"https:\/\/www.henson.com\/jimsredbook\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4015\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":7635,"href":"https:\/\/www.henson.com\/jimsredbook\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4015\/revisions\/7635"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.henson.com\/jimsredbook\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4015"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.henson.com\/jimsredbook\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4015"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.henson.com\/jimsredbook\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4015"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}