Teeny Little Super Guy

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. He is a small, bald man who wears a yellow hat, a yellow long-sleeved shirt, red pants and black shoes. He also lives attached to a clear plastic cup. Robert W. Morrow described the shorts as including "parables of childhood conflict and striving."[1]

Teeny Little Super Guy
Directed byPaul Fierlinger
Produced byEdith Zornow
Written byJim Thurman
StarringJim Thurman
Music byLarry Gold
CinematographyPaul Fierlinger
Dave Connell
Edited byPatrick McMahon
Distributed byChildren's Television Workshop
Release date
  • November 8, 1982 (1982-11-08)
Running time
3 minutes
CountryUnited States
LanguageEnglish
Paul Fierlinger and Tom Sloan animating cups for the SCHOOL episode. 1982

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 the show at all from 1997–2000). The segments reappeared briefly 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 (2004). The shorts have not appeared on Sesame Street since that time in 2002-present.

Production

The production for Teeny Little Super Guy started in May 1982 with Paul Fierlinger, Larry Gold, 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. Most 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.

The filming was done primarily in Paul's house and his studio next door. It was filmed using a 16mm Bolex with an electric motor drive giving a shutter speed of about 1/6 of a second. This allowed for higher f-stops and therefore having the 3D objects to be in better focus. Some of the scenes used early video assist to see how the scene looked on a TV monitor.

Segments
AirdateThemeEpisodeDescription
1982SharingSwing of CooperationTwo boys are fighting over a swing. Teeny Little Super Guy shows them how to share.
1982Social SkillsSchoolTeeny Little Super Guy reminisces to his friend Eugene, who starts kindergarten tomorrow, about his own first day at school.
1982Social SkillsBaseballTeeny 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.
1986PracticePractice Riding EggbeatersTeeny 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.
1986PetsPet SpoonR.W. learns how to care for a pet.
1983Health & SafetyDangerTeeny Little Super Guy talks about the time he learned the importance of safety.
1987Health & SafetyThe Red HatR.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.
1985Health & SafetySleepTeeny Little Super Guy shows his friend Harry the importance of sleep.
  • Note: This episode is shown with or without the closing theme sequence.
1987N/ACerealAn 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
  • Theme and all incidental music - Larry Gold
  • Theme vocals - Essra Mohawk
  • The voice of the Teeny Little Super Guy - Jim Thurman
  • Lyrics - Stuart Horn
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References
  1. Morrow, Robert W. (2006). Sesame Street and the Reform of Children's Television. JHU Press (retrieved via Google Books). p. x. ISBN 9780801882302. Retrieved 2011-03-18.
  2. Lenburg, Jeff (2006). Who's Who in Animated Cartoons. Hal Leonard Corporation (retrieved via Google Books). p. 82. ISBN 9781557836717. Retrieved 2011-03-18.
  3. "2009 Brooklyn Public Library". flickr. 2010-01-21.
  4. "2009 Brooklyn Public Library". flickr. 2010-02-15.
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