BOOTLEG FILES 808: “Sesame Street Episode 847” (1976 offering of the TV classic with guest Margaret Hamilton).
LAST SEEN: On YouTube.
AMERICAN HOME VIDEO: Not yet.
REASON FOR BOOTLEG STATUS: It’s complicated.
CHANCES OF SEEING A COMMERCIAL DVD RELEASE: Who knows?
In the 1970s, character actress Margaret Hamilton experienced a career upswing. She landed the part of Cora, the New England general store manager, in a long-running series of Maxwell House coffee television commercials. And she had a few opportunities to revisit her beloved film role as the Wicked Witch of the West from “The Wizard of Oz” in several television appearances, including a kindly visit without her green make-up on “Mister Rogers” and in a wacky and ribald riff (with her green hue) in Paul Lynde’s campy Halloween special.
But perhaps Hamilton’s most intriguing revival of the Wicked Witch role came on “Sesame Street.” For many years, this episode from February 1976 was unavailable for viewing because the initial presentation brought complaints from some parents that Hamilton’s character was too scary for their youngsters. The full episode recently emerged on YouTube in unauthorized video postings, and viewed today is one of the most delightful and inventive peaks in the classic series.
The episode begins as David (played by Northern Calloway) comes out Mr. Hooper’s store and is surprised by the uncommonly windy weather blowing down the street. From out of the sky, a strange broom falls on David, who uses it to sweep sidewalk. The Wicked Witch emerges from around the corner, slightly confused on her whereabouts – she theorizes that she is no longer in Oz and must be over the rainbow.
When the witch sees David with her broom, she demands to have it back. David reminds her that it fell into his possession, which angers her. But when she grabs the broom, she is shocked by an electrical force – it seems that she cannot touch the broom as long as someone else is holding it. The witch vows to return and vanishes into a puff of smoke while David states out loud she will not be able to gain the broom back until she speaks with him with respect.
In the course of the one-hour show, the witch shows up in five segments. First, she tries to pressure David by creating rain inside Mr. Hooper’s store. Then she threatens to turn Big Bird into a feather duster after the oversized avian vows to protect David. After that, she brushes off an amorous admiration by Oscar the Grouch and disguises herself as a kindly old lady shopper – David sees through her disguise, but works out a compromise scenario where the witch (in her disguise) acknowledges him respectfully before he returns the broom.
The last two segments find the witch leaving Sesame Street – much to Big Bird’s chagrin because he found her exciting – and then she is flying home but loses her grip on the broom, which falls back to a chagrined David.
In retrospect, it is difficult to understand why any parent found this episode disturbing – especially since “The Wizard of Oz” was required viewing for a generation of children. Hamilton’s witch on “Sesame Street” is nowhere as malevolent as the version in the 1939 film – if anything, she is much less effective as a force of evil and seems like a bumbling old lady. Even her magic and threats are fairly benign – and if Big Bird isn’t afraid of her, why would the average youngster in the 1970s?
As for the rest of the episode, this presentation offer “Sesame Street” at its best with a great mix of bite-sized lessons involving the letters “I” and “Z” and the number “9.” There are also some user-friendly introductions to elementary Spanish and some jolly comedy skits with no educational value but plenty of laughs, including a Bert and Ernie moment involving a bedtime glass of water and Bert testing his “Cookie Counter” invention with Cookie Monster.
If you haven’t seen the 1970s episodes of “Sesame Street,” revisiting this offering should be required viewing. The show was decades ahead of its time in multicultural casting and content, and its version of educational television for children was more innovative and invigorating than anything now being offered. As a jaded Biden-era adult watching the show, I was captivated by the sense of fun and imagination. And Hamilton’s witch was a perfect fit into the proceedings.
Here is the complete episode, now on YouTube. Catch it before it gets yanked for copyright infringement – it is the best thing on YouTube today.
IMPORTANT NOTICE: While this weekly column acknowledges the presence of rare film and television productions through the so-called collector-to-collector market, this should not be seen as encouraging or condoning the unauthorized duplication and distribution of copyright-protected material, either through DVDs or Blu-ray discs or through postings on Internet video sites.
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