Humpty Dumpty is one of the best known nursery rhymes. First published in 1803, it is thought that the original poem could have originated from the term "humpty dumpty," which was both a drink of brandy boiled with ale, or a short clumsy person. Typically portrayed as an egg, the character is not specifically referred to as such in the original text.
One of the most famous depictions of the poem appears in Lewis Carroll's Through the Looking Glass, where the egg discusses semantics with Alice. L. Frank Baum included the egg in his 1901 book Mother Goose in Prose, and the motif of "All the King's Horses" has been used in popular music, including songs by both The Monkees and Aretha Franklin.
Adaptations[]
- Mother Goose Stories featured the rhyme in an episode of the series, where he was known as Prince Humpty Dumpty.
- The Muppet Show featured Humpty Dumpty in the Alice in Wonderland themed episode.
- Sesame Street has featured Humpty Dumpty on numerous occasions, with the most famous being a Sesame Street News Flash.
- An animated Humpty Dumpty (voiced by Steve Whitmire) appears in a Journey to Ernie segment.
- Shadow tells this story in "Why Bears Can't Fly."
Recordings[]
- The Sesame Street Music Box Record Player by Fisher-Price features a record that plays a musical rendition of the rhyme.
References[]
- In Hey Cinderella!, King Goshposh calls for all the king's horses and all the king's men to put Cinderella's glass slipper together again. After two weeks of work, they prove to be unsuccessful. The King chalks their failure up to the horses - "They just seemed to gum things up," he notes.
- The Sesame Street Treasury Volume 6 tells the story of Humpty Dumpty with Ernie, Grover, Bert, Herry and Guy Smiley.
- Baby Rowlf spoofs Humpty Dumpty as "Rowlfy Woofy" in the Muppet Babies episode "Close Encounters of the Third Kind."
- Bert plays the famous egg in Big Bird's Mother Goose.
- Humpty Dumpty appears in the Muppet Babies comic book issue "Story Land Caper" (Issue #8, July 1986).
- Eggie is a Humpty Dumpty-like toy in The Christmas Toy and The Secret Life of Toys.
- The Muppet Babies storybook Big Book of Nursery Rhymes & Fairy Tales features Baby Rowlf in this version of the story.
- A segment of Fairyland PD on episode 108 of Muppets Tonight was called "The Big Crack-up," where Clifford and Bobo the Bear attempt to solve a Humpty Dumpty-type case.
- Oscar suggests Slimey use an egg shell for a Humpty Dumpty costume for Wormy Gras in a 2000 episode of Sesame Street.
- John Crichton recites some lines of the nursery rhyme in the Farscape episode "Cracker's Don't Matter."
- In episode 319 of The Hoobs, Tula wants to sit Humpty Dumpty on the wall, but first the floppy fellow needs stuffing.
- In a 2005 episode of Sesame Street, Baby Bear puts together a Humpty Dumpty puzzle at Storybook Community School.
- The book Abby Cadabby's Nursery Rhymes features Abby Cadabby using her magic to help put Humpty Dumpty back together again.
- Abby Cadabby dressed up as Humpty Dumpty in Abby Mix & Match Nursery Rhymes.
Connections[]
- Julie Andrews played Humpty in a stage version of the story when she was 12.
- Zach Galifianakis voiced Humpty in the Shrek spin-off film, Puss in Boots.
- Howie Mandel played Humpty in Mother Goose Rock n' Rhymeland.
- Denzel Washington voiced Humpty in the Happily Ever After: Fairy Tales for Every Child episode, "Mother Goose."
- Jonathan Winters played Humpty in the 1985 TV version of Alice in Wonderland.