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HandBob-0268

The purple hand asks Bob if it can do something by itself in Episode 0268

"The Hands" is the script term used for recurring Sesame Street segments introduced in Season 2, featuring gloved hands, in varying colors, enacting sketches, usually in front of the usual Muppet wall or limbo background. A purple hand appeared in the opening scene of Episode 0268, asking Bob if it can do something and leading into the "Milk" sketch.

While "Milk" was performed as pure pantomime, other segments used either a voice-over narrator or observational off-screen comments by the Kids. Joe Raposo composed the background score, indicated in scripts as "rinky-tink music." A final segment debuted in Season 3, using a black background and surface top instead of the wall. The performers of the hands are mostly unidentified, although the script for the "Milk, Soup, Crackers" sketch calls for "Susan's hand" to play the second, purple gloved hand.

The segments were similar to the "There Once Was a Hand" spots produced independently for the show by Clark Gesner, as well as a more simplified version of Jim Henson's previous experiments with literal hands as puppets (including the Aurora Bath Tissue commercials and "Cool Jazz" sketch used on variety shows).

Sketches[]

Picture Title / First Appearance Description
AM hands crackers milk
Milk, Soup, Crackers
Episode 0184
On a kitchen table, a yellow hand attempts to assemble a meal with milk, soup, and crackers placed in the appropriate dish. A purple hand arrives to correct him. Kids offer comments and corrections throughout.
YellowPurpleHandsMilk
Milk
Episode 0185
A yellow hand tries to match a glass of milk to a picture of an object that produced the milk. A purple hand tries to help it out.
HandsCakeShare
Cake
Episode 0189
Fran Brill narrates as two hands argue over a piece of cake before they decide to share it.
YellowPurpleHandsBabyAnimals
Parents and Babies
Episode 0194
A yellow hand tries to match plastic baby animals to their plastic mother animals. A purple hand tries to help it out, while the kids offer voice-over comments.
Hands Make Faces 01
Hands Make Faces, Part 1
Episode 0212
Kids provide voiceover commentary as a green hand builds a face out of pieces. A purple hand tries to do the same, but gets all the parts mixed up. The green hand helps the purple hand make the face look like the one on the left.
Hands Make Faces 02
Hands Make Faces, Part 2
Episode 0212
The hands make faces again (with continued commentary by the kids), but this time the green hand copies the mixed-up arrangement of the face made by the purple hand.
0871s
Count to Eleven
Episode 0217
Hands count to 11. Voice-over by Fran Brill.
MuppetHands-Counting3
Hands and Three
Episode 0231
Fran Brill narrates as the Hands show different ways to count 3 fingers.
GreenHandSpinTop
The Hand/Top Bit
Episode 0362
Jerry Nelson narrates a story about a green hand that learns to spin a top.
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