The King of Eight

Written by	Keith Vernon Textor Jim Henson
Date	1970
Publisher	Scott-Textor Music Publishing Inc.
First	Episode 0225

Sesame Street King Of 8

"The King of Eight."

The King of 8's castle.

The King of 8's daughters.

The jester brings important news.

The jester.

Henson, working on "The King of Eight".

The King of Eight is a 1971 short film produced for Sesame Street by Jim Henson, using stop-motion animation.

The 70-second short film focuses on the title character, the jovial king (voiced by Jim Henson) of a land where everything exists in denominations of the number eight. After the opening narration lines spoken by William "Rosko" Mercer, the King, speaking in jazzy rhyme, presents an inventory of his domain - eight flags, eight guards, eight windows on the castle, and eight princesses (voiced by Marilyn Sokol, each with eight jewels on their crowns). An interruption by the court jester (also voiced by Henson), informing his majesty of an unexpected addition to his family, serves as the punchline:

Jester: Wait! Important news comes from the Queen, a new baby! And I have seen, that she is well, and doing fine.

King: Good grief, it's princess number nine!

Production

Sesame Street provided Jim Henson with an opportunity to utilize all the different techniques and film-making styles he had been developing up to that point, beyond puppetry. Henson produced several counting films in the early years of Sesame Street. As Henson historian Craig Shemin explained, "Some of them were really out there and used electronic animation, and others were stop-motion, and others were animated, and some were live action."

"The King of Eight" was produced and directed by Henson during the formative years of Sesame Street and premiered during the second season. The film utilized stop-motion animation, along with some live puppetry, to bring the King and his kingdom to life. Don Sahlin and Kermit Love also contributed to the production. Henson designed characters which Sahlin transformed into three-dimensions using a variety of materials (the eight princesses were made from small toy bowling pins and balls). Henson also hand-painted the sets, including the large castle with windows that opened to reveal the princesses.

Rhythmic jazz percussion underlines the dialogue in the film, similar to the styles utilized in other early Henson films, such as Time Piece, and in the song "Tick Tock Sick." In addition to directing the piece, Henson wrote the film's jazzy tune along with music arranger Keith Vernon Textor and also provided the voices for both the king and the court jester.

The film was shot on October 14–15, 1970.

Craig Shemin shared his feelings on the piece while explaining how it showcased Henson’s characteristic creative style in the audio tour for the Smithsonian's traveling exhibit Jim Henson's Fantastic World:

“Basically it's a way to count to eight repeatedly. It's just a beautifully made film. There are a lot of things that had to be built for this, the set is very detailed. The princesses are actually toy bowling pins with little round heads added. There's a lot of detail, and as is the case in many of the early pieces Jim did, Jim created this detail.”

Alternate endings

Two alternate endings were written for the film; original storyboards for the short, featuring alternate news to the King, were displayed as part of the Jim Henson's Fantastic World exhibit. While the film's actual ending increases the King's family by one new daughter, one proposed ending would have reduced it by one:

Jester: Wait! Important news has happened since: Your eldest daughter eloped with a prince. She left to marry the handsome Kevin.

King: Good grief, I now have only seven!

The other proposed ending would have increased the number of daughters by two, giving the kingdom ten princesses:

Jester: Wait! Important news your queen sends: She's given birth to a set of twins. That's two new daughters you have, then.

King: Good grief, it's Princess Nine and Ten!

Releases

Audio

• Songs from the Street: 35 Years of Music (2003)

Video

• Learning About Numbers (1986)
• The Great Numbers Game (1998)
• Old School: Volume 1 (2006)
• 20 Years... and Still Counting (2010)
• 50 Years and Counting (2019)

Specials

• Sesame Street: 20 and Still Counting (1989)
• Sesame Street Unpaved (1999)
• The Street We Live On (2004, clip in timeline sequence)

Online

• SesameStreet's YouTube Channel (YouTube)

Publications

• Sesame Street Unpaved (1998)

References

Prince Elmo's castle is reminiscent of the King of Eight's castle.

• The King's castle appears in Snuffy's drawing in Episode 3821.

• In season 43's "Prince Elmo the Musical" segment, Prince Elmo's castle is modeled directly after that of the King of Eight's.

• In the first issue of the 2013 Sesame Street comic book series, Prairie Dawn is seen playing with dolls of the King and the Jester, as well as playing with a fake castle adorned with an 8 flag.

• One of the King's knights is seen with various other historical Sesame Street items in the opening credits of When You Wish Upon a Pickle.

• The King and the jester can be seen in front of 123 Sesame Street with the letters A, B, and C during the credits of Sesame Street's 50th Anniversary Celebration.

See also

• The Queen of Six, a similar animated short by Henson for the series