Poverty Pictures segments

Poverty Pictures was a New York-based animation studio, specializing in commercial work, which produced a series of cartoon inserts for Sesame Street, which debuted in the show's first season. The studio was founded in 1967 by three animators, George Bakes, Cliff Roberts (who would go on to do other work for Sesame Street), and John Paratore.^[1] Common voice actors in these segments included Jim Thurman, Bob Arbogast, and Gene Moss.

Poverty Pictures' commercial work included a 1968 spot, in conjunction with major ad agency Young and Rubicam, for Metropolitan Life Insurance.^[2]

Segments (Cliff Roberts)

A — A man creates an avalanche on the letter A.
(First: Episode 0132)

F — A man tries to remember a word beginning with the letter F, and another man lists as many words as he can think of to help him.
(First: Episode 0128)

H — A man tries to talk about the letter H, but a second man interrupts him by listing H words.
(First: Episode 0020)

K — Karen the Kangaroo talks about words that start with the letter K. Featuring the sped-up voice of Gene Moss.
(First: Episode 0142)

Q — A man demonstrates Q words, although the unruly stem of his letter Q keeps detaching itself.
(First: Episode 0048)

T — A man in glasses explains T words and abuses another character with some of them (he's tangled and twirled in twine). The latter turns out to be a cop, who presents him with a ticket for his trash.
(First: Episode 0020)

U — A man gives an award to the letter U.
(First: Episode 0036)

X — A man can't think of words that begin with x, so he lists words that end with x.
(First: Episode 0006)

Z — A salesman tries to sell a Z. His customer stops the hard sell by locking the salesman in a zoo cage.
(First: Episode 0085)

Add a photo to this gallery

Segments (John Paratore)

A — A story about an ape and a bird.
(First: Episode 0158)

N — An N-terview with an N.
(First: Episode 0131)

O — An O rolls over a horse.
(First: Episode 0173)

U - A dog learns about U.
(First: Episode 0131)

Add a photo to this gallery

Sources

1. ↑ Michael Sporn's Splog. August 1967 issue of Top Cell industry newsletter.
2. ↑ Art Direction Vol. 20. 1968. The National Association of Art Directors.