Episode 0020

Sesame Street
Oscar cleans house
Air date	December 5, 1969
Season	Season 1 (1969-1970)
Directed by Neil Smith Production November 4, 1969 Sponsors H, R, T, 8, 9

Picture	Segment	Description
	SCENE 1	Gordon observes how peaceful Sesame Street is today, but a barrage of flying trash ruins it. He encounters Oscar doing something uncommon: cleaning house! Oscar's way of cleaning house is by throwing trash onto the street. Gordon tells him that the trash usually stays in the trash cans, but Oscar ropes him into helping out anyway. He pulls a hose out of the can (from his front hall), then catches a horseshoe.
	Cartoon	H is for horseshoe.
	Cartoon	A red man tries to think of words that begin with H, but a yellow man keeps spewing them out until Red draws a hole under Yellow, who yells "HELP!!"
	Cartoon	H for hello (voice of Gary Owens)
	Cartoon	Poverty H (repeat)
	SCENE 2	The area beside Oscar's can is even more littered by now; among the strewn items are a tattered armchair, a steamer trunk, and his chiffonier. Gordon explains to Susan what's going on, but Oscar can't put anything back yet (he just waxed the floor). Gordon and Susan put together several items of trash that used to go with each other, then put them together to find what they used to make: an umbrella, then a bicycle, and a chair. Gordon sees a big letter R, which Oscar says is his "initial" because grouches do things backwards.
	Cartoon	R is for Rooster, and Robber, and Rake ... Artist: Fred Calvert (First: Episode 0011)
	Cartoon	Speech Balloon: "R" – Rabbit (First: Episode 0014)
	Cartoon	R is for Rooster, and Robber, and Rake ... (repeat)
	SCENE 3	The waxed floor has dried, so Gordon and Oscar begin putting things back in. Gordon notices that Oscar has a lot of round things such as a ball, a frisbee, and a "Hooper hoop." (Oscar: "You know, I live in a round trash can; what did you expect, triangles?") Gordon decides to show him a film about circles…
	Film	"Round": A live-action film set to a lively soundtrack shows circles in every-day life, including Coca-Cola bottle caps, moving wheels, yo-yos, bubbles, and balloons. (First: Episode 0002)
	Cartoon	A boy's jump rope rhyme identifies the parts of his body that hurt - "otherwise I feel fine!" (First: Episode 0003)
	SCENE 4	Gordon and Oscar have just finished the cleaning process. Gordon remembers that Oscar got a telegram earlier, and produces it from his pocket. It reads, "Dear Oscar. Plans changed. Cannot come to visit you tomorrow as planned; Hope you didn't go to any trouble for me. Love, Mother." Upon hearing this, Oscar proceeds to mess up the street yet again and (literally) blow off some steam.
	Cartoon	Poverty T
	SCENE 5	Bob, holding a letter T, invites the viewer to have a "T party" and look around for T's on Sesame Street. He finds them on the door of Hooper's Store, the yard fence, and the gate at 123 Sesame Street. He hears water splashing from inside Ernie and Bert's apartment…
	Muppets	Ernie & Bert — Ernie tells Bert that he calls his bathtub Rosie, because after his bath, he leaves a ring around Rosie. Bert then tells Ernie to get out of the tub, because other people are waiting to use it: Solomon Grundy, for instance. (beginning cut) (First: Episode 0001)
	Cartoon	Poor Solomon Grundy washes a different part of the left side of his body every day, but at the end of the week, "he's still half dirty!" (First: Episode 0001)
	Song	Ernie leads the cast in "Everybody Wash." (First: Episode 0001)
	SCENE 6	Big Bird observes that some rain may be coming, and plans to hide on the house and sit in the floor. He gets some help from the kids in distinguishing between on and in. As Big Bird leaves to take a bath on his bathtub, Gordon thinks he's still mixed up, but not as much as Buddy and Jim…
	Cast	Buddy and Jim have a difficult time in matching up a pair of tennis sneakers and a pair of heavy workboots with the right boxes. (First: Episode 0003)
	SCENE 7	In the kitchen, Susan reads a book with Gayle: Who Will Wake Up Spring? by Sharon Lerner. When she finishes, she realizes she needs to bake bread for supper, and needs to fetch the eggs from the fridge.
	Film	Counting eleven eggs and one cookie. (First: Episode 0002)
	SCENE 7 cont'd	Susan has assembled the ingredients for the bread on the counter and begins mixing them. She observes that with a teacher, baking can be easy.
	Film	"The Little Baker": A boy imagines that he's a baker.
	SCENE 7 cont'd	Susan sets the bread out to rise, and observes that it's been quiet at Ernie and Bert's today…
	Muppets	Ernie & Bert — Bert asks Ernie about his day. Ernie says nothing interesting happened. Bert points out that Ernie went to the zoo, but Ernie says nothing interesting happened at the zoo. Then he talks about a scratch he got on his finger, and talks about how he got it, realizing in the process that something interesting did happen after all.
	Film	Nine Song (Song of Nine) (First: Episode 0016)
	SCENE 8	Gordon has two sets of cigar boxes. He constructs a funny-looking tower with the first set and reveals that the boxes have glue on them, allowing them to stay up. Then Gordon constructs a regular tower with the second set and counts nine boxes.
	Film	Nine Song (Song of Nine) (repeat)
	SCENE 8 cont'd	Gordon stacks the remaining glued boxes (which will only stay up if he holds them) and counts a total of nine.
	Film	Nine Song (Song of Nine) (repeat)
	SCENE 8 cont'd	Gordon rearranges the nine unglued boxes to form a wall.
	Film	A funky soundtrack plays over a film about a kid interacting with walls of all kinds: tall walls, brick walls, fences, stone walls, and walls you never thought of like the side of a fishbowl.
	Film	Eight Song (Song of Eight) (First: Episode 0016)
	SCENE 9	Susan leaves to take the bread out of the oven and says goodbye; they converse with Bob as the credits roll. Big Bird announces the sponsors, and the book read on today's show.
	CLOSING SIGNS	Bob holds the Sesame Street sign and a group of Muppet hippies (including a bearded hippie) holds up the Children's Television Workshop sign.

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