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Alice Snuffleupagus
PERFORMER Judy Sladky
DEBUT 1988
Snuffy and alice

Siblings: Snuffy and Alice

2621n

Alice announcing the number of the day in a season 21 episode

Alices
AliceSnuffleupagus
3781c

Alice plays in the park with big brother, Snuffy

3775c

In episode 3775, Alice throws tantrums whenever she cannot get what she wants

Alicesnuffleupagus

Alice in roller skates.

Alice Snuffleupagus is Snuffy's two-year-old sister, of the Snuffleupagus species. She is a lighter brown than Snuffy and wears a blue bow on her head. As a baby-upagus,[1] she is just starting to learn about the world. She also likes to do whatever her older brother does, including roller skate. Her birthday is December 21st.

Alice appeared on Sesame Street beginning in Season 19. She was first mentioned in Episode 2400 as Big Bird writes about his best friend's little sister before making her debut in Episode 2410, and was seen through Season 31 with her last appearance in Episode 3874. Although she was dropped from the show following that season, she appeared in the 2002 "We Are Family" music video and continued to be seen with the cast on their Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade float through 2008.

Behind the Scenes[]

The Alice puppet is much smaller than Snuffy and is operated by a single puppeteer. Her eyes and mouth are controlled from inside the puppet. The performer wears a bodysuit with straps and buckles, that attaches to the inside of Alice's body. The suit is too small for the performer to wear the chest-mounted TV monitors that other full-body characters wear to watch their performance during the take. Between takes, an assistant can fan the performer's face, through the mouth. Her eyes are controlled by remote control, a first for the series.[2]

A younger sibling for Snuffy was initially pitched in 1978, where Snuffy would've had a bipedal, younger brother.

A 1987 article in New York Magazine about the upcoming season of Sesame Street focused on Sladky's first screen test as Alice. The article offers a behind-the-scenes look at the process of creating Alice, as well as the producers' hopes for the character's popularity:

Jon Stone, one of the show's founding writer-producers and its canniest judge of new faces, calls Alice into camera range. She waddles over, sits on her back paws, raises her right paw slightly, and looks up at Stone, a big man wearing a fly-fishing vest. She bats her eyes -- or rather, they are batted for her by a pair of technicians sitting in front of a black box just out of camera range. For the first time, remote control has come to Muppetry on the Street.

Stone looks over Alice as if she were a starlet. "You're a thoroughbred Snuff," he says approvingly. "But that's practically the only kind there is." A short discussion about Alice's blue ribbon is held with the control room. Its hue is too "hot" for the camera and must be exchanged for a paler shade.

"You know you're Aloysius Snuffleupagus's baby sister," Stone says, waiting to see how well Alice ad-libs.

Alice bats her lashes and gives Stone a nuzzle with her head. "Wishus," she says in a dove-soft voice.

"What's your favorite food, Alice?"

"Brussels sprouts."

"How far is it to your cave?"

Alice rolls her eyes. "Far."

"Yeah, but how far?"

"Very far."

"How long does it take to walk there?"

"Six days."

"How many streets do you have to cross?"

"None by myself."

Ten minutes into her test, Stone looks down at her. "You're cute as hell," he says. "This could be another Big Bird." When Alice is introduced in January, Sesame Street's audience will decide if they agree. Stone walks away, and two assistants help Sladky out of Alice's body. She is sweat-soaked, and her face is drained. She and her husband, Jim, are former U.S. ice-skating champions. Being Baby Alice takes just as much out of her as the rink did.

Filmography[]

Episodic appearances[]

Book appearances[]

Character Merchandise[]

Sources[]

  1. SesameStreet.org Trivia Game
  2. Hellman, Peter. "Street Smart." New York Magazine. November 23, 1987.
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