T is for "Terrible Television"

[muckefuck]

I can't remember now how bunj and I were reminded of The Letter People. This crudely-made daytime television show from the mid-70's--ugly as only products of that era can be--was designed to teach little lawn monkeys like me phonics. (Or, I guess, the subsequent generation of yard apes, since by the time I encountered them I could already read with facility.) The opening theme went:

Come and meet the Letter People
Come and join the family
Words are made of Letter People
A - B - C - D - follow me!

and was sung over some simultaneously tripped-out and banal animation of children skipping into a grove. The muppety characters looked awful shoddy to our Sesame Street-shaped sensibilities, though they were similarly gender-challenged. See, all the consonants were men and vowels women. I was telling this to an acquaintance on the el last night and he responded:

"What about the letter Y?"

The brought me up short; he started guffawing. "Imagine the possibilities!" Try as I could, I couldn't think how they got around "and sometimes Y". Each of the character had mnemonic nicknames--the only one I remember is "Tall Teeth" for Mr T. Can you guess what Y is for?

Much to the dismay of nostalgists (who deride it as "political correctness"), massive sex changes have brought about gender parity among the updated Letter People™ marketed by Abrams & Company (who acquired the rights in 1990)--not heavily marketed, I might add, since I have done some shopping for my nephews and never ran into them.

Comments

[rollick.livejournal.com]

I am willing to bet you that thefirethorn knows them all. She the records and used them in her classrooms, and for a year, the letters-on-tape she sent me were punctuated with chipper-sounding songs about Mr. S and his Super Socks, or Ms. O (!!) and how she was an "optimistic optimist."

Being unfamiliar with the concept of "optimist," her second-graders apparently assumed Ms. O was some kind of octopustic octopus, but that's neither here nor there.

[thefirethorn.livejournal.com]

see -- it WASN'T sexist at all -- the Letter Ladies worked 3 times harder than any other letter person -- and don't even get me STARTED on Miss E --- no WONDER she needs all that exercise!!!

also -- it's important to remember that YOU CAN'T MAKE A WORD without a Letter Lady. You just can't. Deal.

as for Y, the "and sometimes y" rule doesn't come up in Kindergarten, so we didn't worry about it.

I still have theses tapes somewhere, by the way, in case you get terribly nostalgic.....

[thefirethorn.livejournal.com]

a - she says "aaaaaaaaaachoo!"
b- beautiful buttons
c -- a cloud of cotton candy
d -- delicious donuts
e -- she gets lots of exercise
f - funny feet
g - gooey gum
h - horrible hair
i - she is an INcredible INventor!
j - jumble junk
k - kicking Mr. K
l - lovely lollipops
m - munchy mouth
n - noisy nose
o - she is an optimistic optimist, or octopus, whichever you like
p - pointy pointy patches
q - quiet
r - ripping rubber bands
s - super socks
t - tall teeth
u - she has a special umbrella
v - velvet vest
w - wonderful wink
x - mixed up Mr. X
y - yawning
z - zipping zippers

[astrophysicat.livejournal.com]

But they had a court case episode about it I swear! Or was that over the sounds that C steals from S and K, and which letter gets to be the right one after which vowel??? Probably. But they did have an episode about Y.

I loved the letter people! It was my favorite! And I did actually watch it when I could read but not spell yet.

[muckefuck.livejournal.com]

Don't move; I'm sending help immediately!

[snowy-owlet.livejournal.com]

I am FAINTING WITH JOY to see that list of the Letter People. I loved that show! Whenever I see Mr. T on anything, I think in the back of my mind "he has tall teeth!"