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
Edited by Patrick McMahon
Distributed by Children's Television Workshop
Release dates
  • November 8, 1982
Running time
 3 minutes
Country United States
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]

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.

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.

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 1982, was shot by stop-motion filmmaker Paul Fierlinger, using common household objects. Much of the animation was also done with Tom Sloan along with Ondre Ocenas and Helena Fierlinger. [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.

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.
1982 Social Skills School Teeny Little Super Guy reminisces to his friend Eugene, who starts kindergarten tomorrow, about his own first day at school.
1982 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.
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.
1985 Health & Safety Sleep Teeny Little Super Guy shows his friend Harry the importance of sleep.
1987 N/A Cereal An ID for Nickelodeon. Teeny Little Super Guy dances around a cereal box with a Nickelodeon stripe, before pouring the cereal into the bowl. The cereal box turns into the Nickelodeon logo and the bowl melts.

Cast

Voices

Music

References

  1. ↑ Morrow, Robert W. (2006). Sesame Street and the Reform of Children's Television. JHU Press (retrieved via Google Books). p. x. Retrieved 2011-03-18.
  2. ↑ Lenburg, Jeff (2006). Who's Who in Animated Cartoons. Hal Leonard Corporation (retrieved via Google Books). p. 82. Retrieved 2011-03-18.
  3. ↑ "2009 Brooklyn Public Library". flickr. 2010-01-21.
  4. ↑ "2009 Brooklyn Public Library". flickr. 2010-02-15.

External links