Sesame Street helps army children

[T_i_B]

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/5180458.stm

US children's TV show Sesame Street is to be used to help American military families explain why a parent has to leave to serve overseas.

A DVD featuring popular character Elmo and his parents who are preparing for Elmo's dad to be deployed, will be handed out for free in August.

The DVD, produced in both English and Spanish, also features interviews with real-life families.

It also deals with the mixed feelings that occur when families are reunited.

[utahdude]

1. Awww

Isn't that sweet?

[Warren DeMontague]

3. Yeah, actually, it is.

Anything to make that sort of thing easier on the kids, I'm all for. Sheesh.

[robinlynne]

2. That sounds like Mr Rogers. He would make a dvd like that. Nice that

Sesame St is doing it.
not nice that the GOP is going to kill sesame street and all public television.

[bluestateguy]

4. Elmo's Dad is being deployed?

That just shows how the military is being stretched to the breaking point. Now they are deploying muppets for tours in Iraq.

[OneBlueSky]

5. my unrelated Sesame Street story . . .

back in the day, my name was mentioned on Sesame Street by Pete Seeger . . .

I was working with Pete on the Clearwater project at the time, and he'd been scheduled to appear on Sesame Street . . . one of the songs he was going to sing was something called "Everybody Loves Saturday Night," and he planned to sing it in several different languages . . .

since my surname is Polish, Pete thought that I might be able to tell him how to say "Everybody loves Saturday night" in that language, so he gave me a call at home . . . not knowing a word of Polish, I asked my dad (a retired Army officer), who got on the phone with Pete . . .

not having spoken Polish in many years, my dad couldn't get the entire phrase, but he offered to do a little research and get back to Pete . . . he called a social club in his hometown of Brooklyn and spoke with the bartender, who was able to translate the phrase for him . . . we then called Pete back and he transcribed it phonetically, saying he planned to use it in the song . . .

so we all gathered in front of the tv on the appointed night, and there was Pete . . . he started singing "Everybody Loves Saturday Night" in various languages, with a little commentary to introduce each one . . . when he got to the Polish version, he said "I wanted to find out how to say 'everybody loves Saturday night' in Polish, so I called my good friend (my name), and his dad was able to translate it for me" . .. or something like that . . .

since these were the days befor VCRs, I wasn't able to tape the show . . . but I'll always remember the night that Pete Seeger thanked me on Sesame Street for helping him with one of his songs . . . :)