Episode 2578

Sesame Street
A television birthday card for Gordon
Air date	March 22, 1989
Season	Season 20 (1988-1989)
Written by	Tony Geiss
Directed by Jon Stone Production November 17, 1988 Sponsors P, V, 20

Picture	Segment	Description
	SCENE 1	Uncle Wally and his barbershop singing group of horses, the Kentucky Derbies, sing "One of Us Here is Not Like The Others" and has the viewer guess which one is different. Wally is the only one that isn't a horse, but Buster points out that he's also the only one not wearing a derby hat, so there are two possible answers.
	Cartoon	P for Pack (First: Episode 0504)
	Muppets	Sesame Street News Flash: The Big Bad Wolf's School for Huffing and Puffing — The Big Bad Wolf teaches Kermit how to huff and puff like him.
	Cartoon	The Bellhop is sent to the grocery store to get twenty grapefruits. He counts to 20 on the way there so that he can remember the quantity, but forgets what item he was sent for. (First: Episode 2533)
	Cartoon	Teeny Little Super Guy RW wants a pet spoon, so TLSG teaches him the importance of being responsible with a pet. Artist: Paul Fierlinger (First: Episode 1986)
	Cartoon	P is for Puddle (First: Episode 0452)
	SCENE 2	Gordon encounters Clementine and Buster waiting for a letter from Forgetful Jones, who's away visiting his parents. It finally arrives, and they know it's from him because there's no stamp (they have to pay for it), the envelope has not been sealed, and the letter itself is not signed and filled with mistaken identities. They love him, despite his forgetfulness.
	Cartoon	"Why Bears Smile" - a story of a bear who learned which body part to cover when sneezing. Artist: Bruce Cayard (First: Episode 1109)
	Film	A boy narrates a film of what happens when it changes from fall to winter. (First: Episode 2459)
	Muppets	Two-Headed Monster: Shadow — The monster sounds out the word "shadow" and then sees one of itself projected behind them.
	Film	Sounds Around the House v2: chimes, snoring, a boy pretending to be an airplane, a man playing a trumpet, and a motorcycle outside. (First: Episode 1713)
	Cartoon	The numbers keep changing from 1 to 20 as corny music plays in the background. (Maria voiceover added) (First: Episode 1465)
	Insert	Olivia sings "Birdland" at Birdland. (First: Episode 2304)
	Cartoon	An owl and a bluebird work out a compromise. (First: Episode 1493)
	Muppets	Kermit Lecture: Beginning, Middle, End — Kermit describes the beginning, middle and end using a cookbook, with assistance from Cookie Monster. (First: Episode 1352)
	Film	A boy takes dance lessons at The Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater. (First: Episode 1716)
	Cartoon	V for Van (live-action/animation hybrid) Artist: Paul Fierlinger (First: Episode 1181)
	SCENE 3	In the art studio, Big Bird, Snuffy, and Felice prepare to make a "television birthday card" with Hiroshi's help. Hiroshi mans the camera, Snuffy displays the "Happy Birthday" card on himself, and the card is verbally "signed" by all of them at the end of the video.
	Cartoon	The wind blows one hat after another off a pig's head, onto the heads of birds. "The wind is very, very strong." (First: Episode 2378)
	Muppets	Ernie and Bert: Bert sings "The Paperclip."
	Animation	Sand P/p (First: Episode 0634)
	SCENE 4	Hiroshi brings Gordon and Susan into the garage studio to give Gordon a surprise for his birthday. Felice connects the camera to the TV set, and displays the video they made earlier.
	SCENE 4 cont'd	Gordon is pleased with the card, and is even more pleased when he learns that the camera they used is a present from Susan. Big Bird realizes that they made a TV birthday card, but they didn't make a TV birthday cake!
	Cartoon	A little girl sings "There Is Only One Me." (First: Episode 1942)
	Muppets	Count's Castle: twentysomething — The Count invites the Countess to his castle to watch their favorite show. (First: Episode 2556)
	Cartoon	A rabbit crosses the STREET, and almost gets run over. Artist: Cathryn Aison (First: Episode 0778)
	Film	A boy narrates a film about how cheese is made. (First: Episode 1124)
	SCENE 5	Bob and Linda (and later, Uncle Wally) encounter Oscar and the Grouchketeers conducting a scientific experiment: Oscar believes that umbrellas cause it to rain, since he always sees people carrying them whenever it does rain. Oscar notices that nothing's happening, and thinks it would help it rain faster if the Grouchketeers walked around in a circle while he "sings in the rain." When Gordon comes by and sees what they're doing, Oscar claims to have learned from the experiment that umbrellas don't make it rain... and when people see open umbrellas, they look around for raindrops and ask silly questions.
	Cartoon	P is for Pillow (First: Episode 0374)
	Animation	A rock does somersaults for its peers, but gets little applause. (First: Episode 2021)
	Song	David sings "Can You Tell Me What Belongs Here?" (First: Episode 2467)
	Cartoon	V for volcano, violet, and violin (First: Episode 1762)
	SCENE 6	Oscar gathers up Hiroshi, Bob, Linda, Uncle Wally, and the Grouchketeers so they can see his "art collection" - that is, a collection of artists' palettes and paint and oil-stained blankets. Hiroshi thinks it's not bad, which upsets Oscar. Buster announces the sponsors.

Supporting cast[1]

• Camille Bonora as grey horse
• David Rudman as brown horse, letter carrier
• The Kids: Olivia Bowman, Lisa Gruber, Eric Smoquina, Jessica Yee
• Quartet singing voices: Al Dana Arioli, James Campbell, Charles Magruder, Alan Sokoloff

Notes

• The original script for the episode contained an extra scene that was not recorded: Big Bird and Snuffy try to color, but find their red crayons are broken. Big Bird is inspired to imagine another Blue Bird adventure, in which he apprehends the Crayon Breaker (Linda) at a local day care center.

Sources

Previous episode:	Next episode:
Episode 2577	Episode 2579