Doesn't he look more like some 1960s-style monster? When you think about it, that's what he is. He seems like he could be a distant relative of a Weird-Oh, or a Dr. Seuss character or even an Ed Roth creation.Here's how most of us remember him...
Note the close set, wanna-be soulful eyes with working lids and those floaty-feather lashes that just get in the way. Now check this out...
Woah! Great pointy head. Great wild, yellow egg eyes with eyelash explosions. He's leaner and seems scrappy and a bit bewildered. I'd like to be friends with this Snuffy. I'd explain the world to him and encourage him throughout his life.
He can look two directions at once.
Sheesh, what happened? Celebrity Look-alike: Liza Minnelli
His stare is so intense I can feel him looking into my soul.Anyway, I brought it up because I just got a great DVD set of Sesame Street episodes from 1969 to '74. If they would have kept that Snuffleupagus design he would have been one of my favorite characters growing up, right up there with Harvey Kneeslapper, Bert, The Amazing Mumford, those yip-yip Martians, Grover, and Count Von Count.
P.S. Here's the DVD set...
As 'ol Snuffy was just a figment of the Bird's imagination, I must agree. A figment of the imagination has got to have some character. The replacement Snuffy is just a sappy, limp-wristed tart. More like what the Bird wanted rather than needed.
ReplyDeletecjd- You made me literally laugh out loud (so many of the so-called LOLs out there are lies. It's too easy to fake)
ReplyDeleteLaughing again. Bird wants the tart, but needs the monster. That is truly awesome.
I suppose that we can infer from this that you're probably not too fond of the second Snorky, either. Where do you stand on the Dick York/Dick Sargent question?
ReplyDeletei think Snuffleupagus has developed a thyroid condition. He needs to see a doctor ASAP.
ReplyDeleteYou win again! I was watching the first season of Sesame St when it first when on the air (I guess... I was not very media-savvy at age 0) and can't remember this visual trauma at all!!
ReplyDeleteThis caused me to remember this essay about about Grimace's evolution from monster to... to... whatever Grimace is now. http://peaceaware.com/McD/index.htm
Keep up your fight against all things unsecret and unfun!!!!
devlin- By gum, I'm a York man to the end! That was a cruel trick to play on my young brain. Plus I love York from his earlier stuff in instructional films and the Twilight Zone.
ReplyDeleteBy golly you're right k.g. is there a mad doctor in the house?
By jove, that is an amazing link das brick! I had no idea. thank you.
By and by I've been pretty creeped out by some of the 'avant guard' music in the show Gentle D. I'm sure they thought they were expanding kids' minds and figured that we'd be receptive to it. It annoyed me then and does to this day.
The original big Bird was pretty darn scay also. It looked like a witch doctor shrunk his/her head.
ReplyDeleteI remain convinced that the monsters of Sesame Street are kid friendly metaphors for the various drug addled, mentally ill, Vietnam vet, homeless denizens of a hidden part of NYC. Think about it, Oscar lives in a garbage can and has hoarding issues and PTSD, Big Bird lives in a pile of sticks in the alley and had an imaginary friend, Grover can't keep a job and has delusions of grandeur. Cookie Monster is a manic depressive compulsive eater. The list goes on. Such a sad place, Sesame Street.
ReplyDeleteMr Pavone, that's interesting, I never looked at them that way. But, I could see the adults revolved around creating Sesame Street having such secret double meanings for the mentioned characters, it was the late 60s and 70s.
ReplyDeleteCJD, I can see how some would view the second and main Snuffy as too sappy and Droopy, but he wasn't as big of a whiner as Big bird.
However, with me looking at Mr Pavone and CJD's points as distinct possible view points from some people, I still believe that the main aim of Sesame Street and its characters to be wholesome entertainment for children and nothing more
That original Snuffy I heard was altered to the more familiar Snuffy after the first year because its weird and freaky appearance scared some small children. Like a lot of shows, the first year is sometimes different with the creators having not fully found their place yet with the characters. Oscar the grouch was orange the first year or two of Sesame Street (and slightly taller and skinnier)
ReplyDelete