C is for Calendar: 1976

Published: July 3, 2017
Categories: Art, Feature

Back in 1976, Sesame Street created what might be the greatest piece of merchandise they’ve ever released.  No one celebrated America’s bicentennial in a bigger or more respectable way.  Yeah, with a calendar.

As you’ll see in a moment, Michael Smollin illustrated over a dozen new calendar pages honoring American history, and each one is just spectacular.  Check them out below!

Stray Observations about January:

  • In our first (of what will be many) examples of Muppets doing things they wouldn’t normally be seen doing: Cookie Monster is leaning over an open flame. Doesn’t he know fur is flammable??
  • Bert looks awfully greedy cradling that sack full of gold.  It doesn’t fit his character too well, unless the label on the bag is a diversion to hide his new stash of bottle caps.
  • The bottom halves of the calendars are back with this edition!  And January puts the focus on Ernie, who gets some cake, wears a ridiculous hat, and steps on someone’s toes.

Stray Observations about February:

  • Bert looks bad ass as George Washington here.  And Grover looks positively dangerous right behind him.
  • Once again, Cookie Monster is holding some fire WAY too close to his face.  Come on man, we talked about this.
  • Is someone getting thrown out of a plane over there on February 25th?  Is this the first time we’ve seen someone get murdered on a Sesame Street product??

Stray Observations about March:

  • I guess there weren’t many female Sesame Street characters in 1976.  Betty Lou gets the spotlight here as Betsy Ross, who was also one of very few notable women in her field.
  • Grover gets his turn as George Washington, having beat Bert out for the role from last month.
  • Cookie Monster plays a mustachioed Russian, selling Alaska for a plate of cookies.  I’m so pleased that my career as a Muppet blogger has led to me typing that sentence.

Stray Observations about April:

  • Oh hey, Roosevelt Franklin!  It’s always great to see that little guy.  Especially when he’s riding a bucking bronco that kinda sorta looks like Fred the Wonder Horse.
  • Bert is looking awfully butch in his cowboy getup.  He should’ve traded in his saddle shoes for spurs a long time ago.
  • Looks like Mr. Hooper’s birthday is celebrated with… I think it’s a cake?  Inside a transparent box?  Happy birthday, old man.

Stray Observations about May:

  • Everyone gets in on this picture!  Even Mumford, Herbert Birdsfoot, and Professor Hastings stopped by to celebrate the completion of the trans-continental railway.
  • I’m pretty sure Oscar shouldn’t be inside the steam engine.  I know he probably loves the black smoke, but I doubt he’d enjoy being cooked alive.
  • Look how sketchy Lefty the Salesman looks as he says he doesn’t believe the woman who can hear the buzzing from the telegraph.  You can tell that he knows more than he’s letting on, but what his ulterior motives are, we’ll never know.

Stray Observations about June:

  • Hey kids! You know what’s fun?  Playing with electricity!  If it’s good enough for our forefathers, and if it’s good enough for the Muppets, it’s good enough for preschoolers.
  • It also doesn’t help that he’s holding onto the key with his hand.  Wouldn’t that pretty much fry him from the inside out?
  • I hope Maria appreciated that her birthday was symbolized by a clinically depressed Herbert Birdsfoot.

Stray Observations about the Insert:

  • Like all the other calendars, this one has a poster in the middle.  This time, commemorating 26 American things that couldn’t quite fit into the rest of the year.
  • It’s pretty baller of Sesame Street to list Sesame Street as an important American institution.  I mean, we know it now, but were they really that aware of it back in the show’s seventh season?

Stray Observations about July:

  • Oh hell yes, Grover as the first Monster on the moon.  Well, maybe not the first, if you count the monsters that already live up there.
  • So, who took the photo??
  • Is Bert sunbathing nude on the roof??  Yeah, probably.

Stray Observations about August:

  • There’s something especially satisfying about seeing the Sesame Street characters fight for women’s suffrage.   It’s only a shame that there weren’t more female characters for them to include.  But hey, at least it gave Granny Fanny Nesselrode a chance to shine!
  • For those of you keeping track, this is Big Bird’s first appearance in the calendar.  A shock, since he was pretty much the star of the show back then.
  • It’s also Snuffy’s first appearance, who looks delightfully lump-like over in August 19th.

Stray Observations about September:

  • There’s something terrifying about a group of people (and Monsters and a stray Grouch) with kindergarten-levels of education deciding what our rights as a country will be.  Actually, this explains a lot…
  • Dear lord, I hope that’s the second amendment Cookie Monster is eating.
  • This would be the last time anyone celebrates Roosevelt Franklin’s birthday, as he was retired from the show in 1975, just before this calendar went to market.

Stray Observations about October:

  • “Give me your oatmeal, your bottle caps, your pigeons longing to fly free…”
  • Grover’s fake beard is perplexing.  I’m trying to figure out why he’d need it, but then I never did understand why the Statue of Liberty has a pointy hat, so why start asking questions now?
  • Meanwhile, Grover set the entire city of Chicago on fire.  He must be so embarrassed…

Stray Observations about November:

  • And here we have one of very, very few instances of a Sesame Street character smoking.  In fact, it may be the only time a Sesame Street character is explicitly seen smoking and not just chewing on a pipe that may or may not hold bubbles.  Super weird.
  • Also interesting: November 10th marks Sesame Street’s anniversary, and we have a rare example of the characters acknowledging the fact that they are in front of cameras on a TV show.  Unsettling!
  • Isn’t it amazing how often Bert gets the spotlight in these calendar pages?  Was artist Michael Smollin just a huge fan?  Or maybe Bert’s sternness lends itself to American history spoofs better than the others?  Or maybe Bert was actually there, and Smollin is just revealing the truth about our country’s hidden past.

Stray Observations about December:

  • Our final dangerous imitatable behavior of the calendar: Don’t build your own airplane and fly it a dozen feet off the ground, kids!
  • There’s something interesting about the idea of Grover and Herry being brothers.  They’re so different from each other, yet they’d make a great team.  I’d like to see that character combination again someday.
  • There’s been a lot of depictions of Native Americans in this calendar, notably in last month’s Pilgrims page.  But this month has the Boston Tea Party, and there doesn’t seem to be much of a distinction between “Native Americans” and “Characters Putting Feathers In Their Hair”.  I guess not even Sesame Street was really all that sensitive to the plight of Native Americans back in 1976.

Stray Observations about the Back Cover:

  • The back cover of the calendar has this amazing seal, which I want to get tattooed on my lower back.
  • Thankfully, someone thought ahead to put suction cups on the ends of the arrows.  Nobody’s losing an eye tonight!
  • And although Big Bird was mostly missing from this calendar, he still gets the seat of honor.  Bravo, Big Bird.

We hope you enjoyed this blast into America’s (and Sesame Street’s) past!  Stay tuned for more classic calendars here on ToughPigs soon!

Click here to pass that peace pipe on the ToughPigs forum!

by Joe Hennes – Joe@ToughPigs.com

Tagged:calendars

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