Jack and the Beanstalk

Jack climbing up the beanstalk in a Sesame Street News Flash

The Jack and the Beanstalk pageant.

Kermit interviewing the Giant.

Lefty tries to sell Grover some candy beans.

The Sesame Street single of Jack and the Beanstalk.

The "Bert and the Beanstalk" story with Bert playing the role of Jack.

Jack and the Beanstalk is a fairy tale based upon the tale Jack the Giant-killer. First printed in 1807, Joseph Jacobs' 1890 version is the most commonly reprinted version today.

The story has been adapted and referenced for generations. Stephen Sondheim used Jack and his trips up the beanstalk as part of his Broadway musical Into the Woods. Mickey Mouse starred in an animated version in 1947's Fun and Fancy Free (narrated by Edgar Bergen, Charlie McCarthy and Mortimer Snerd). Other versions include those by Bugs Bunny, Abbott and Costello, The Three Stooges, Gene Kelly in a Hanna-Barbera special, and a Faerie Tale Theatre episode.

Adaptations

• Jack and the Beanstalk: The Real Story
• On Sesame Street, Jack and the Beanstalk has been featured in numerous skits throughout the series.

• Sesame Street News Flash: Kermit climbs up the famous beanstalk, passes Jack on the way down, and encounters a giant (Jerry Nelson in a cameo).
• In a season 22 episode, following a reading by Mike, Elmo imagines his own retelling of the story as "Elmo and the Beanstalk."
• Jack and his beanstalk were the central story of episode 4211.

References

• In The Sesame Street Dictionary, the Sesame Street Players put on a pageant about the fairy tale, with Ernie as Jack and Bert as the Beanstalk.

• They once again perform the story in We're Counting on You, Grover!, with Ernie was again playing Jack, with Telly Monster as the cow and Bert playing his Mother.

• Chicago wants to buy a book about vegtables from Hooper's Store, but when he can't purchase a copy of "Snow White and the Seven Potatoes" or "Little Red Rutabaga," he settles for a copy of Jack and the Beanstalk in episode 3196 of Sesame Street.

• In the Sesame Street video Elmo and Abby's Birthday Fun!, accident prone Jack reveals that he is the Jack in Little Jack Horner, Jack and Jill and Jack and the Beanstalk.

• The cast of Sesame Street tell the story of Jack and the Beanstalk in The Sesame Street Fairy Tale Album. The recording was also released as a single in 1977.

• Elmo asks Susan to read him Jack and the Beanstalk in Episode 2914 of Sesame Street.

• Prairie Dawn interviews Jack's beans who go on strike in one edition of "Fairy Tales Today." (First: Episode 3382)

• The forth issue of Muppet Magazine features a preview of a film adaptation in "Coming Attractions with Statler and Waldorf."

• Jack is featured in the storybook Around the Corner on Sesame Street.

• The book Storybook ABCs features Grover as Jack, Gladys as his cow, and Lefty the Salesman trying to peddle candy beans to Jack.

• In the Sesame Street video Let's Eat!: Funny Food Songs, the goose's golden eggs from the story are among the memorabilia Mr. Johnson sees at Planet Storybook.

• In the Mopatop's Shop episode "Mac and the Lollystalk," Mac the Giant would like some giant beans, but Mopatop only has small ones so Ginorman the gardener plants one to grow into a giant beanstalk.

• In The Hoobs episode “Giant”, The Hoobs dress in costumes from the fairy tale with Groove as Jack, Tula as Jack’s mother, and Iver as The Giant.

• The Sesame Street 1977 Calendar features an illustration of Jack and the Beanstalk which was reprinted in The Sesame Street Library Volume 4.

• In an animated spoof, Jack waters a lowercase "b" which grows into a "b-stalk." He climbs it and arrives to the Land of B. (First: Episode 0277)

• The Sesame Street ABC Storybook featured "Bert and the Beanstalk," which is also featured in The Sesame Street Library Volume 1 and The Sesame Street Treasury Volume 2.

• Rosita and the Beanstalk is another storybook adaptation of the fairy tale, with Rosita taking on the role of the beanstalk climber.

• The Dinosaurs comic book featured the story "Nana Ethyl's Dinosaur Tails: Baby and the Beanstalk," with the cast of the show playing all the roles.

• Muppet Babies told their version of the story in the Big Book of Nursery Rhymes & Fairy Tales.

• Baby Fozzie played the part of Jack in a Muppet Babies PVC figure set featuring nursery rhymes and fairy tales.

• The fairy tale was referenced in The Muppets on Puppets during the story of "Cinderella", where Hansel tries selling his cow, Gretel, who can jump over the moon.

• The second issue of the Muppet Babies comic book features the story "Kermit and the Beanstalk."

• Andy the Armadillo was to star in a Jack and the Beanstalk closing number at The Muppet Theatre in the book Two for the Show.

• In episode 103 of Little Muppet Monsters, Boo Monster attempts to conjure the Golden Goose that lays golden eggs from the story inside a cupboard, but instead summons a moose.

• In the Abby's Flying Fairy School episode "Fairies and the Beanstalk," Gonnigan makes his plant grow into a giant beanstalk which sends Peck into the sky. He, Abby and Blögg go to the top of it and they soon encounter the Giant who uses Peck as a feather duster.

• In a 2023 interview on the Very Amusing podcast, Janice recalls one time when the Electric Mayhem were on the road, Zoot traded their van for some magic beans.