Teeny Little Super Guy
 |
This article needs additional citations for verification. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. (August 2008) |
| Teeny Little Super Guy | |
|---|---|
 Teeny Little Super Guy |
|
| Directed by | Paul Fierlinger |
| Produced by | Edith Zornow |
| Written by | Jim Thurman |
| Starring | Jim Thurman |
| Music by | Larry Gold |
| Cinematography | Paul Fierlinger Dave Connell |
| Editing by | Patrick McMahon |
| Distributed by | Children's Television Workshop |
| Release date(s) | November 8, 1982 |
| Running time | 3 min. |
| Language | English |
| Budget | $200 |
Teeny Little Super Guy was an animated short featured on PBS's Sesame Street. The shorts featured a small animated man, the Teeny Little Super Guy, who resides in a live-action, regular-sized kitchen. Robert W. Morrow described the shorts as including "parables of childhood conflict and striving."[1]
Contents |
[edit] Background
Teeny Little Super Guy (TLSG) was created by animator Paul Fierlinger[2] as a series of 13 installments for PBS's Sesame Street in 1982. The first Teeny Little Super Guy cartoon took two months to create. The series of segments were frequently shown on Sesame Street for several years. However, in the late 1990s the segments were shown sporadically (eventually not appearing on any episode from 1997–2000). The segments reappeared on Sesame Street in 2001 and a short clip (a part of the theme song only) was shown on Sesame Street's 35th anniversary Special, The Street We Live On.
[edit] Production
The production for Teeny Little Super Guy started in May 1982 with Paul Fierlinger, Larry Gold, Dave Connell, Jim Thurman, Stuart Horn, Patrick McMahon, and Edith Zornow. In August 1982, the production for the shorts developed more seriously into filming the first two shorts. On November 19, 1982, the first short premiered on Sesame Street. Composer Larry Gold wrote the theme song, with lyrics by Stuart Horn. Actor and longtime Sesame Street writer Jim Thurman performed all character voices. The production started filming in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania at Paul Fierlinger's house in the Philadelphia suburbs. It ran on Sesame Street from 1982 until 2001.
[edit] The Teeny Little Super Guy character
The Teeny Little Super Guy always appears on the outside of a plastic cup always facing the camera, and his adventures involved other characters contained inside kitchen containers and utensils (such as R.W. Shipshape, a boy who appears on the outside of a salt shaker). Teeny Little Super Guy's facial expressions were one of the key points to his design, where each time he began a spoken sentence, his cup would shake a little and his facial features would quickly shift around before returning to their normal position over the course of the dialogue. In the short titled "Egg and Spoon Race", Teeny Little Super Guy misplaces his hat. When he discovers it, it is drawn independently on the outside of a thimble, and we see his hair is orange.
[edit] Today
Today, one of the Teeny Little Super Guy cups, along with a picture of Fierlinger rotating the cups, is actually inside the public display case at the Brooklyn Public Library along with the other Sesame Street contributors. The display also includes another picture of the character with a yellow balloon.[3] The plaque at the Brooklyn Public Library mentions that "Teeny Little Super Guy," an instant hit two seasons later in 1971, was shot by stop-motion filmmaker Paul Fierlinger, using common household objects.[4] In Episode 4196 of Sesame Street, Luis was inspecting Leela's troubled washing machine. He managed to extract seven items, including the famous Teeny Little Super Guy.
[edit] Segments
| Airdate | Theme | Episode | Description |
| 1982 | Sharing | Swing of Cooperation | Two boys are fighting over a swing. Teeny Little Super Guy shows them how to share. |
| 1986 | Practice | Practice Riding Eggbeaters | Teeny Little Super Guy finds his friend Janey giving up on learning how to ride an eggbeater (as one would ride a bicycle) because she keeps falling off. Teeny Little Superguy tells her that it takes practice to be good at something and gives her a set of training beaters to help keep her balance. |
| 1986 | Pets | Pet Spoon | R.W. learns how to care for a pet. |
| 1983 | Health & Safety | Danger | Teeny Little Super Guy talks about the time he learned the importance of safety. |
| 1987 | Health & Safety | The Red Hat | R.W. Shipshape gets a "really good hat" for his birthday, and it blows into the street. R.W. remembers not to cross the street without an adult; Teeny Little Superguy helps him across. |
| 1984 | Social Skills | Baseball | Teeny Little Super Guy notices that his friend Alice wants to join a baseball game. He encourages her to go over there and ask them whether she can play. |
| 1985 | Health & Safety | Sleep | Teeny Little Super Guy shows his friend Harry the importance of sleep. |
| 1982 | Social Skills | School | Teeny Little Super Guy reminisces to his friend Eugene, who starts kindergarten tomorrow, about his own first day at school. |
[edit] Cast
- Jim Thurman performed all voices for the short.
[edit] Music
- Theme and all incidental music - Larry Gold
- Theme vocals - Essra Mohawk
- The voice of the Teeny Little Super Guy - Jim Thurman
[edit] References
- ^ Morrow, Robert W. (2006). Sesame Street and the Reform of Children's Television. JHU Press (retrieved via Google Books). p. x. http://books.google.com/books?id=HZpIIYUrHp4C&lpg=PP14&dq=%22teeny%20little%20super%20guy%22&pg=PP14#v=onepage&q=%22teeny%20little%20super%20guy%22&f=false. Retrieved 2011-03-18.
- ^ Lenburg, Jeff (2006). Who's Who in Animated Cartoons. Hal Leonard Corporation (retrieved via Google Books). p. 82. http://books.google.com/books?id=FVShFCjVzvIC&lpg=PA82&dq=%22teeny%20little%20super%20guy%22&pg=PA82#v=onepage&q=%22teeny%20little%20super%20guy%22&f=false. Retrieved 2011-03-18.
- ^ "2009 Brooklyn Public Library". flickr. 2010-01-21. http://www.flickr.com/photos/phillip/4178260834.[dead link]
- ^ "2009 Brooklyn Public Library". flickr. 2010-02-15. http://www.flickr.com/photos/phillip/4178260834.[dead link]
[edit] External links
- Teeny Little Super Guy at the Internet Movie Database
- Background on Teeny Little Super Guy
- Teeny Little Super Guy LiveJournal Community
- Details on the production, by Paul Fierlinger
- "Baseball" episode on Sesame Street's YouTube channel
