A Brief History of Motion Pictures

A Brief History of Cinema was a short shown before features in Sony/Loews Movie Theaters featuring the Sesame Street Muppets, providing a synopsis of the developments in film making from silent movies to present day.

This short accompanied all prints on the theatrical release of The Adventures of Elmo in Grouchland and accompanied Muppets from Space on a smaller number of prints.

Description
Cookie Monster gives a lecture on the history of motion pictures, with examples on film featuring Marshall Grover and Fred the Wonder Horse. They demonstrate how, after a "not too interesting" period with no picture and no sound, moving pictures were invented; followed by moving pictures with sound ("This town ain't big enough for the two of us!"), which resulted in the invention of the musical. An all-star Sesame Street cast, with Prairie Dawn as the director, joins Grover and Fred in a big musical number called "This Town Ain't Big Enough For The Two Of Us," as the movie turns to color and widescreen. Finally, the Special Effects are introduced: a rolling boulder, a shark, and an enormous Muppet twister chase all of the singers out of the studio.

The clip ends with Cookie Monster eating the sled (Rosebud) from Citizen Kane, and Big Bird telling the viewers to "Enjoy the movie!" as some of the musical cast runs by.

Cast

 * Cookie Monster, Marshall Grover, Fred the Wonder Horse, Elmo (dressed as Groucho Marx), Herry Monster (dressed as Chico Marx), Telly (dressed as Harpo Marx), Zoe (dressed as Dorothy Gale), Bert (dressed as a pharaoh), Ernie (dressed as a Roman emperor),Baby Bear (dressed as a gangster), Rosita (dressed as a Spanish dancer), Benny Rabbit (dressed as an Arab), Oscar the Grouch, Prairie Dawn, The Count (dressed as Fred Astaire), Countess Dahling von Dahling (dressed as Ginger Rogers), W|Letter W, Number 6, Number 7, a camel, a shark, a tornado, Big Bird, Biff.