Rube Goldberg Machine animation from Sesame Street

I dig this classic Sesame Street animation of a Rube Goldberg Machine with an alphabet theme.

Previously:

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Blaine

Looks like this video supports sex, violence and tobacco use…

I’m outraged they show this to children.
GeekMan

#1 – I also was wondering if anyone else saw Gertie.
Anthony

Weird sensation watching this … The audio triggered strong memories — the letters matching the sound effects — but I have absolutely no recollection of the images at all! Anybody else experience this?
Takuan

a bird flies in through an open window from the dark and fleeting, passes through the warmth and light of the room and then out a window into the dark.
Anonymous

misshallelujah, I realize this is almost half a year from when you posted your comment, but the video you are referring to, with the red ball counting 1-2-3 is here:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=67khDZ0P7Xo
misshallelujah

Brilliant! I remember these from a great time watching Sesame Street as a child. I also recall, with great fondness, a segment where they had a little red ball going down a whole series of tracks and tunnels teaching kids to count “1, 2, 3″… but I have never been able to find videos of it again, ever.

But speaking of Rube Goldberg machines, though, I must plug this series of delightful contraptions used as eyecatches on the Japanese kids’ show Pythagoras Switch: Part One, Part Two. I never get sick of watching them. My personal favorite is the one in which they used a whole series of water-filled glasses to play the theme ditty. Awesome!
sammich

Well… in the UK this would be instantly defined as a Heath Robinson contraption…

Check out wikipedia to see who came first, if that matters…

whichever it is, there should be more of it…
alisong76

Oh, memories!
Frank W

@ Blaine: That’s irony, right?
dhasenan

This doesn’t really fit my definition of a Rube Goldberg machine — for instance, why would bubbles rising from a vat of liquid cause a person to start playing a saxophone?

It’s a series of unrelated things happening in a temporal sequence that happens to match, more or less, the spacial sequence of those events. Nothing more. Sorry.
wolfiesma

MissHallelujah,
Were you remembering the classic pinball sequence with the funky soundtrack? This is a compilation of all the different clips of that sequence. It also has some pseudo-Rube Goldberg elements.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dnBAMQhtjEk
airshowfan

But can it go downwind faster than the wind?
Robbo

Oh man! Major flashbacks.

I loved when they did the retro-pseudo 1920′s almost Fleischer stuff – good to see Gertie make an appearance in there.

What I’ve always loved was the Patty Cruickshank animations from “Make A Wish” – which is impossible to get on video. The best writing in children’s television – EVAR!

Kthnxbai
Mark Frauenfelder

Beautiful! I wonder who did it?
Anonymous

Does anybody out there remember the pinball number count on sesame street as non animated? Me and my hubby remember watching it but it wasn’t a cartoon it was all real!
Anonymous

Just as I started this video, I heard Mungo Jerry’s In The Summertime start in the other room and it fit perfectly.
Blaine

Frank: It might be… I don’t know any more.

I’d say ‘yes’ but then we’ll get smacked down by someone with the real definition of “irony” – which is pretty specific.

Sarcastic is a safe word. For both our purposes and rough sex play.
Johnny Cat

I remember this, vaguely. But all I could think of when the crucifix showed up was “T. T is for turtle.” via Barbrady.