Tony Geiss
Writer
About This Interview
Writer Tony Geiss (1924-2011) was interviewed for one-and-a-half hours at the Sesame Workshop in New York, NY. Geiss spoke in great detail about his 28-year association as a writer of the classic children’s series Sesame Street. He described the basics of writing for the show, the importance of research, and his composition of the show's classic songs including "Butterfly" and “Elmo’s World.” He also talked about key creative talent from the series including Joan Ganz Cooney, Jon Stone and Joe Raposo. Additionally, he discussed his early years as a writer on such television series as WNET’s Emmy-winning “How to Be Mayor of New York” and his work on "Comedy Tonight", "The David Frost Show" and various local New York broadcasts. The interview was conducted by Karen Herman on July 20, 2004.
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Chapters
- Chapter 1
- On his early years; on his memories of his father's work in animation; on his early interest in entertainment; on first seeing television; on his World War II service; on working in France
Clip begins at: 0:0 - On his job as a press agent on Broadway; on joining Channel 13 in New York City and working on the comedic documentary How to Be Mayor of New York and How to be Governor of New York State
Clip begins at: 11:30 - On Joan Ganz Cooney's vision for Sesame Street; on the beginnings of Sesame Street; on the philosophy of the show; on the state of public television at the time
Clip begins at: 14:49 - On working on Comedy Tonight;on working on The David Frost Show;on guests Woody Allen and Alex Haley
Clip begins at: 22:08 - Chapter 2
- On working with Dick Cavett; on working with David Frost; on producing a local New York talk show
Clip begins at: 0:0 - On working on a local New York health show;
Clip begins at: 04:46 - On joining Sesame Street; on how assignments were made on the series; on the rules for writers; on the research goals on the series; on Sesame Street'steaching of Spanish and the show's reach into diverse communities
Clip begins at: 08:52 - On the format of Sesame Streetand how it changed over the years; on the show's audience; on Sesame Street'steaching of Spanish and the show's reach into diverse communities; on writing for adult audiences, too; on the journey of a Sesame Streetscript to production; on making sure children don't model bad behavior
Clip begins at: 18:24 - Chapter 3
- On the journey of a Sesame Street script to production; on writing for characters Ernie and Bert
Clip begins at: 0:0 - On the importance of music on Sesame Street; on Buffy Saint-Marie's appearance and the song written for her; on some of the series' famous songs, including "Elmo's" theme
Clip begins at: 03:43 - On writing for Sesame Street's guest stars including Madeline Kahn, Robin Williams, Lena Horne, Tony Bennett
Clip begins at: 09:35 - On how Sesame Street changed since he started; on adding "Elmo's World"; on writing the feature Find That Bird
Clip begins at: 15:39 - On the legacy of Sesame Street; on his advice for writing children's television; on the importance of working
Clip begins at: 20:39
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