The Mad Painter



The Mad Painter was the title character in a series of live-action films on Sesame Street. Produced for the program's third season, the film inserts used comedic slapstick to teach number recognition, emphasizing the symbolic representation of the numeral, and how it is drawn, in contrast to The Baker Films, which stressed counting and quantity.

The painter character is an eccentric whose hobby is painting numbers (between 2 and 11) in various public and private places. Armed with a set of number stencils, he would begin each skit by announcing the number he intended to paint, but often missed his targets. Property, buildings, clothing, and bald heads were all grist for the painter's mill.

Occasionally, the numerical graffiti artist would suffer the consequences of his peculiar obsession, and elude irate citizenry in a comic chase. Still, he continued his campaign, gaining notoriety in newspapers (the film for 8 includes the blaring headline "PAINTER STRIKES AGAIN!")

Two recurring targets were a young woman, portrayed by Stockard Channing, and a bald, moustachioed man (Jerome Raphel). The segments punctuated the action through a jaunty piano score, reminiscent of silent film accompaniments, as composed by Robert Dennis.