On Sunday, in honor of Sesame Street's 50th Anniversary, The Museum of the Moving Image hosted "Sesame Street: Lost and Found."
The event was once again put together by Jim Henson Legacy president Craig Shemin and moderated by Muppet performer Stephanie D'Abruzzo along with a panel that included former head writer, Normal Styles and Rosemarie Truglio, current Sesame Workshop Senior VP of Curriculum and Content.
The event promised that the vault would cracked open wide open "to take a look at rare footage of Sesame Street that never aired, was shelved after initial broadcast, or featured characters that have been retired. A panel of insiders will shed light on such stories as why Margaret Hamilton (who played the Wicked Witch of the West in The Wizard of Oz) never reappeared, and why viewers never saw Snuffy’s parents get a divorce."
Those in attendance got to see clips from these episodes and more including one segment that had crack monkeys. Many of the clips shown featured deceased guest stars and music from the late 60's that would be prohibitively expensive to get the rights to release since the serve no real education value. And guess what....that's about all I can say about it. Everyone in the audience, especially us and the crew from toughpigs, were asked to not take any photos or video of the clips which is something we all agreed not to do.
I know many of you live prohibitively far from New York and can't travel to The Museum of the Moving Image on a regular basis, but I will tell you this was worth the trip. Craig is planning more events like it so, if you can, try to make it. Clips like the ones shown will never be released, or available on youtube, and Craig had to convince the higher ups that no one in attendance would share them either. The ONLY way to see them was in person.
That's not to say that photos weren't allowed in the rest of the museum or the gift shop, which had recently restocked it's Henson merchandise ahead of the holiday shopping season.
The just released The Dark Crystal: Age of Resistance Funko Pez.
The full set of The Dark Crystal pins from Aquarius, and a nice selection of Little Hippie pins cards,and bags featuring characters from Fraggle Rock, and Labyrinth.
As well a large assortment of Henson related books, games, plush, and media.
The museum is also currently hosting a small exhibit featuring characters from The Dark Crystal: Age of Resistance.
It's truly remarkable to see all these creatures up close and in person. The details are incredible and or course there's also the permanent Jim Henson exhibit too explore.
The museum has one more event scheduled this year where a screening of
Christmas Eve on Sesame Street with special guest Sonia Manzano.
There is so much that you can only only see in person, so try to make it to The Museum of the Moving Image if you can.
