Sesame Street Fairy Alphabet

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:smile: Hello!

I am brand new on this forum; its great to be here!!

I have a question: There was a sketch from 60sor70s SS where they showed the alphabet as a cartoon but each letter was made by a fairy or elf or some other fanciful creature. It started with a crescent moon and I believe a little fairy sleeping on it. Does anyone know who exactly the artist was that made this piece and if they did any other sketches for SS?? Thanx!


-Mermaidofhonor
 

sesameguy

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Madigral alphabet

Hi- It sounds like you're talking about a cartoon called "Madigral alphabet". It's a beautiful piece that I've always enjoyed. I love the music too, and I wish I knew if it were taken from a piece of classical music, or if the music were written especially for the cartoon. I don't know who the animator is either.

The good news is that they did show this one in the Noggin episodes, so there's a good chance that a Noggin collector should have it! It was in the episode where Maria and Luis get married, and in the episode where Gabriella was born.
 

ISNorden

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sesameguy said:
Hi- It sounds like you're talking about a cartoon called "Madrigal alphabet". It's a beautiful piece that I've always enjoyed. I love the music too, and I wish I knew if it were taken from a piece of classical music, or if the music were written especially for the cartoon. I don't know who the animator is either.

The good news is that they did show this one in the Noggin episodes, so there's a good chance that a Noggin collector should have it! It was in the episode where Maria and Luis get married, and in the episode where Gabriella was born.
From my research on the Net, I learned that the animator's name is Jeff Hale. I'm unsure whether the music was composed just for that cartoon; I know classical music pretty well, but have never heard (or read about) that melody existing in any other context. (On the other hand, one fan told me that it used Renaissance musical instruments...it may be some obscure composer's work from that era.)

As for the title, it seems that fans are equally divided between "Madrigal Alphabet" (for the Renaissance music) and "Fairy Alphabet" (for the dominant visual themes). Unless I can track down Mr. Hale or the producers of those old episodes, I'm not sure which title is official.
 

ISNorden

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P.S. After Googling for "Jeff Hale", "alphabet", and "Sesame Street" I learned that he was responsible for some other classic cartoons on the show: the "Pinball Count" series and the "Consonant Poem" series are both Hale's work. (If that's true, I'm impressed that he can draw in such different styles each time!)
 
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