An episode of “Sesame Street,” allegedly removed from syndication for being too frightening for kids, has been posted to social media websites like YouTube and Reddit.
The episode stars Margaret Hamilton, who revives her function because the Wicked Witch of the West from “The Wizard of Oz.”
The plot additionally takes from “The Wizard of Oz,” however somewhat than searching for the return of a pair of ruby slippers, Hamilton is searching for a “stolen broom stick.”
Hamilton terrorizes David, performed by Northern Calloway, all through the episode in an try to get her broomstick again.
Finally, on the finish of the episode after posing as an previous girl, the witch will get her broom again and flies away.
“This is glorious!” she proclaims. Then, as she reveals off, she states, “Look! No hands!”
The broom falls out from beneath her, and David, Big Bird and associates catch the broomstick as soon as once more.
The “lost” episode aired on Feb. 10, 1976 in the course of the seventh season of “Sesame Street,” in accordance to the Muppet fan archive, Muppet Wiki. The intent of the episode seems to be to educate kids to how to overcome their fears and “the value of planning by creating and implementing methods of retrieving the broom,” Muppet Wiki writes.
Sesame Workshop was reportedly inundated with complaints from mother and father in regards to the episode, and it by no means aired on tv once more, in accordance to the AV Club. Sesame Workshop didn’t instantly reply to a request for remark in regards to the episode showing on social media.
The AV Club reported that bootleg variations of the episode could be posted to social media from time-to-time however would both be removed or extraordinarily low high quality.
Although it by no means re-aired on tv, the AV Club reported that the episode is preserved within the Library Of Congress.
The latest add of the episode was posted on Saturday by YouTube person Mike Minnick. NBC News was not instantly in a position to attain Minnick for remark.
On his put up, Minnick claims that the episode by no means made it to tv — a declare disputed by the AV Club. Instead, Minnick writes the episode was proven to check audiences within the Seventies, and declared too scary. In Minnick’s retelling of why the episode was misplaced, he claimed Muppet creator Jim Henson allegedly deemed the episode was “too scary” and by no means allowed to to broadcast.
Muppet Wiki states the precise historical past of the episode straddles each tales. Muppet Wiki reported that after the episode aired, the present obtained “an unusually large amount of mail responses from parents, almost entirely negative, within a short time frame.
This prompted additional rounds of test screening in March of 1976, roughly one month after the episode aired, Muppet Wiki stated. Although children were attentive to the parts of the show featuring Hamilton, judging their fear watching the episode was difficult, according to Muppet Wiki. It was later advised the episode not be re-run, Muppet Wiki reported.
In a 1976 hand-written letter addressed to “Sesame Street” and archived on Muppet Wiki, a viewer named Rebecca said she had been dreaming of the green-faced witch at bedtime. She wrote, “I want you would not put that witch on ‘Sesame Street’ anymore as a result of … I’ve been dreaming [of] that witch many times and many times.
The episode first resurfaced on-line in 2019, in accordance to Muppet Wiki.
On the most recent YouTube put up, many say eradicating the episode was a disgrace and others stated they had been thrilled it had been posted so it may very well be loved.
“Ladies and Gentlemen of the lost media community, this right here is a huge win for all of us!” one particular person commented.
Many said they didn’t discover the episode to be very frightening, however one commenter reminded others that younger kids within the Seventies had a extra restricted publicity to media than younger individuals do now.
“People forget the type of exposure kids had to ‘scary things’ then compared to today. She was a real life villain, and [in] one of the only kid friendly movies kids could watch,” the commenter wrote. “I agree that this was just such a great loss to be gone for so long, especially for Margaret Hamilton. Such a legend.”
Hamilton, who died in May of 1985, additionally reprised her function because the witch in tv reveals like “Mr. Rogers’ Neighborhood.” In “Mr. Rogers,” Hamilton performs herself and discusses what it was like taking part in the witch.
“When I had the chance to do this, I was very, very happy about it,” Hamilton advised Rogers. “Sometimes the children think she’s a very mean witch, and I expect she does seem that way … she also is what we refer to as frustrated. She’s very unhappy because she never gets what she wants.”
Before turning into an actress, Hamilton was a kindergarten instructor, and the AV Club reported her historical past as a instructor appeared to be half of the rationale she wished to educate younger individuals about how they might overcome their fears.