Sesame Road, the long-lasting tv present, debuted in 1969, and has been on the air ever since. The present goals to teach youngsters via entertaining media, making it one of many first packages to focus not simply on making youngsters smile, but in addition serving to them develop. Humor, music, and extra are leveraged to that finish, and the present has discovered a number of associates alongside the best way — many, many celebrities have visited Sesame Road over its 50+ yr run.
However one in every of them wasn’t so in style. The truth is, for years, she by no means got here again. Not even in re-runs.
Actress Margaret Hamilton, a former kindergarten instructor, is greatest identified for her portrayal of the Depraved Witch of the West within the 1939 basic movie “The Wizard of Oz.” Greater than 35 years later, she reprised the position in a four-episode arc of Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood, the equally iconic youngsters TV present, and with none controversy. So when the producers of Sesame Road invited her to look on the present because the Depraved Witch in 1976, as seen above, they didn’t assume a lot of it.
The plot of Hamilton’s episode highlighted how depraved the Depraved Witch could possibly be — however to not the diploma of the Wizard of Oz. Right here’s how Collider summarizes it:
The episode begins with David (Northern Calloway) stepping out of his retailer right into a heavy, spooky wind, one which blows a brush out of the sky and into David’s palms. Not simply any broom — this broom belongs to the Depraved Witch of the West, and he or she needs it again. She first seems lurking along side the shop, accompanied by a heavy steel riff. After being electrocuted when she first tries to seize her broom, she spends the remainder of the episode demanding the broom again. The Depraved Witch even disguises herself as a sort previous girl, however nothing works till she politely and respectfully says “please.” As soon as she has the broom again, she says, “I’m going to fly again to Ozas quick as lightning and by no means see Sesame Road once more.” She flies off, however ever the show-off, she cries, “That is superb! Look! No palms.” The broom promptly falls once more, and again into David’s grasp, prompting David to begin crying, not desirous to undergo the entire thing once more. Fin.
The episode, per the present’s producers (by way of Muppet Wiki), was designed “to exhibit worry and ‘the worth of planning by creating and implementing strategies of retrieving the broom,’” and, doubtlessly, within the energy of claiming “please.” However sadly, the demonstration of worry went a bit too far. As Mashable reported, “The episode itself options some creepy, jangling music each time the Depraved Witch seems on display, and features a scene the place she really threatens to show poor previous Huge Fowl right into a feather duster.” Whereas hardly as scary as something involving Pennywise or Chucky (and even flying monkeys), it was scary sufficient that youngsters and fogeys alike complained. Sesame’s places of work acquired notes just like the one beneath, describing youngsters experiencing nightmares of the Depraved Witch.
In response, the producers of the present did further analysis to be taught in regards to the affect of the episode — and that analysis confirmed the children’ and fogeys’ reactions. The episode was simply too scary for the Road.
Given these findings, the present’s producers determined to tug the episode from the re-run cycle — and, the truth is, by no means air it once more. When Sesame Road got here to the HBO Max streaming platform, this episode wasn’t added to the handfuls of basic episodes in any other case made out there. The episode was believed to be misplaced to historical past.
However that modified in 2019. That yr, Sesame Road celebrated its fiftieth anniversary, and as a part of the celebration, Sesame Workshop — the nonprofit behind Sesame Road — donated digital copies of each episode in its first 49 seasons to the Library of Congress at the side of the American Archive of Public Broadcasting. And that included Epsidoe 847, higher often known as the Depraved Witch episode. The episode was additionally aired for maybe the primary time in additional than 30 years on the Museum of the Shifting Picture in Queens, New York, as a part of Sesame’s fiftieth anniversary celebration. And after that, as soon as once more, it was gone. Followers might come to the American Archive of Public Broadcasting and think about the episode, however that was the one method to see it.
That modified in June 2022. A fan had someway made a recording of the episode (possible whereas watching it on the Archive) and uploaded it to reddit. Through the years, an increasing number of recordings have made their method onto YouTube and comparable websites, and with growing high quality. In consequence, the Depraved Witch has come again to Sesame Road. You may watch the footage right here if you happen to’re so — and whereas it in all probability isn’t as scary as its repute suggests, chances are you’ll not wish to watch it with any little youngsters round.
Bonus reality: The 1939 film “The Wizard of Oz” begins in sepia-toned colours after which transitions, nearly magically, into full technicolor a part of the best way into the movie. At the moment, that transition is simple — CGI and different after-effects make it trivial. However on the time, there have been no such computer systems to create the transition. So how did the producers do it? With a number of paint and a Judy Garland lookalike. CreativeBloq describes it: “The second is disguised by way of a sepia-painted set and dim lighting to make it appear to be the movie continues to be in black and white. The door is definitely opened by Judy Garland’s double, wearing a sepia-toned outfit to finish the phantasm. After she backs away, Garland herself steps ahead in her blue gingham costume.” You may see the transition in motion, right here, and if it’s too good to note the change, effectively, that was the purpose.
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