| Sesame Street | |||||||
| Oscar's hiccups | |||||||
| Air date | December 2, 1969 | ||||||
| Season | Season 1 (1969-1970) | ||||||
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| Picture | Segment | Description |
|---|---|---|
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SCENE 1 | Gordon, Susan, Mr. Hooper, and Bob are going about their business on Sesame Street when they hear a series of loud hiccups coming from Oscar's trash can. They approach, and Oscar the Grouch admits to his ailment, saying that he likes hiccups. They all offer various remedies which Oscar declines before reluctantly asking how he might stop them when he wants to. Bob says he cures his hiccups by eating eggs... |
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Cartoon | Speech Balloon: E for egg. A cow hatches a chick, which says "Moo." (First: Episode 0002) |
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Cartoon | E Imagination Artists: The Hubleys (First: Episode 0001) |
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SCENE 2 | Everyone continues offering hiccup remedies; Mr. Hooper recites a tongue twister while Gordon sneaks up behind Oscar and pops a paper bag. Oscar begins hiccuping faster, so Susan suggests holding his breath. She begins to count... |
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Cartoon | Jazz #8 (First: Episode 0016) |
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SCENE 3 | Oscar is still holding his breath as Susan finishes counting to eight. Frustrated, Oscar shouts at everyone over how he couldn't expect anyone to help him. He slams his lid shut and everyone resolves that Oscar will just have to learn for himself that people sometimes just want to help. |
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Celebrity | Listen My Brother sings "You Gotta Learn." (First: Episode 0002) |
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Muppets | Kermit's Lectures: Kermit gives a lecture about rectangles. Cookie Monster smashes the shape, but says it'll still work out: "It's a wreck -- and it's a tangle!" |
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Cartoon | Two boys notice a D, saying it looks fat. A resonant voice (Gary Owens) informs them that it's the letter D. This leads to a jazzy story about a dog who digs for dice, wins a duck, and buys a dinosaur with a dime. Moral: "If you dig a dinosaur, drop your duck for a dime." (First: Episode 0016) |
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Cartoon | Speech Balloon: D for Dog (First: Episode 0016) |
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Cartoon | Jazz #8 (repeat) |
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Cartoon | Speech Balloon: M for Mail (First: Episode 0013) |
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SCENE 4 | Bob, Sally, and another kid sit on the steps of 123 Sesame Street observing a baby hognose snake. |
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Cartoon | Jazz #8 (repeat) |
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Cartoon | M is for Marvelous Martha (First: Episode 0013) |
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Cartoon | Speech Balloon: M for Mail (repeat) |
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SCENE 5 | Oscar offers some other M words, like minute, which is how often he gets another hiccup. Susan reminds him to try counting again. Oscar's next M word is mistake: as in, it was a mistake telling everyone he had the hiccups. |
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Cartoon | Jazz #8 (repeat) |
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SCENE 6 | On a close-up of her hand, Susan talks about all the wonderful things a hand can do. |
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Film | There Once Was a Hand: Skip Hinnant narrates the story of an unhappy hand that wishes he could make a noise. (First: Episode 0007) |
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SCENE 7 | Bob talks about the importance of hands when it comes to tying your shoes, and introduces Buddy and Jim. |
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Cast | Buddy and Jim try to put on shoes and socks. |
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SCENE 8 | Bob says shoes are handy for going on a walk, and explains that there are lots of ways to get from one place to another. |
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Film | Transportation (First: Episode 0005) |
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Muppets | Bob makes up three Anything Muppets as if they were employed in one of the previously seen transportation modes: a railroad engineer, an airplane pilot, and a bus driver. They all agree that the best job would be on board a submarine... |
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Muppets | The Anything Muppets sing "Yellow Submarine". |
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Cartoon | A small man and his assistant Dudley attempt to demonstrate both the capital and lower-case letter D. (First: Episode 0016) |
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SCENE 9 | Oscar tells the viewer he's tried several ways to get rid of the hiccups: standing on his head, drinking water, etc. He figures he'll be old and gray, and still hiccuping. He asks the viewer to count to eight while he holds his breath; the numbers appear on the screen in silence. He begins to exclaim that he's been cured, when another hiccup occurs. |
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Cartoon | Jazz #8 (repeat) |
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Animation | Clay animation: "E" for eat, ear, echo, egg, eagle, eel, elephant and end. (First: Episode 0003) |
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Cartoon | E for elephant, eat, eagle, everybody, empty, and egg. Voice: Casey Kasem (First: Episode 0002) |
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SCENE 10 | Susan sings "One of These Things" using pictures of triangles and a square. |
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Muppets | Ernie & Bert — Ernie shows some picture cards, and asks Bert if he can figure out what happens next in each scenario. |
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SCENE 11 | Oscar announces that he finally cured his hiccups by counting to eight. He challenges the viewer to count to nine, and tells them the following segment will help... |
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Film | "Nine Song (Song of Nine)" (First: Episode 0016) |
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SCENE 12 | Oscar holds his breath while numbers appear on the screen counting up to nine. His neighbors approach as Oscar's hiccups return, so they suggest counting to ten now. Oscars shrinks back into his can. |
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Cartoon | "Count-Up Elevator" -- an elevator operator stops at ten floors to pick up passengers, including a witch, a fireman, and a kangaroo. The tenth passenger, a mouse, causes the elevator to overload and explode. (First: Episode 0003) |
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Muppets | Ernie & Bert — Ernie sings the ABCs to the tune of "The Blue Danube" on his ukulele. Bert tells him that's no way to play the alphabet; it should be more like the next segment... |
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Celebrity | Listen My Brother sings their own version of "The Alphabet Song." (First: Episode 0005) |
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SCENE 13 | Bob shows a woodchuck to a couple of kids in the yard. |
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Film | Sesame Street Animal Films: Animals have tails. |
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SCENE 14 | In front of Hooper's Store, Mr. Hooper has presented a large contraption that he explains took him all afternoon to build. He calls it Hooper's Super Hiccup Stopper. He carries it over to Oscar's can and cranks the machine into action. As Oscar starts to complain, he finds that his hiccups are gone. But when Mr. Hooper explains the origin of his invention, he and the others find that they've all got the hiccups now. |
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SCENE 14, cont'd | Oscar tells the viewer he can't understand why anyone comes to the street, and that if they come back tomorrow, don't tell anyone they have the hiccups. He looks around expecting everyone to say goodbye, but they're all hiccuping trying to fix the hiccup machine, so he resolves to do it himself and announces the sponsors. |
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CLOSING SIGNS | Mr. Hooper and Bob hold the Sesame Street sign and Cookie Monster holds the Children's Television Workshop sign. At the very end of the show, Oscar's hiccups return. |
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