Tuesday, July 31, 2007

Trivia Pur$uit

The characters Bert and Ernie on Sesame Street were named after Bert the policeman and Ernie the taxi driver in Frank Capra's `It's A Wonderful Life’.

9 comments:

Brian in Oxford said...

Hi David

Actually, Jim Henson claimed this was a coincidence....this according to Wikipedia, although I have heard the "coincidence" rumor elsewhere before, too.

Anonymous said...

I was always an Ernie fan... Bert reminded me of Felix (Odd Couple) too much.

Rubber ducky, you're the one... you make bathtime lots of fun... *la la la*

singleton said...

My kids always called them Buuwt and Ewnie....I have a hard time thinking of them by anything else!

Brian in Oxford said...

David,

I want to transform your entry into an "everyone list their favorite B&E skit" tromp down memory lane.

My favorite is when Ernie makes a clay statue of Bert, and Bert's honored, looks at it, and points out to Ernie that he's forgotten one thing -- the nose. Ernie's like, "okay, well..." and realizes he's out of clay. So he yanks Bert's actual nose off and sticks it on the statue, and Bert's got a "pinched nose" voice after that!! :)

david mcmahon said...

Hi Brian,

And what a brilliant man he was. I couldn't believe it when I heard he had passed on.

Where would we be without Jim Henson?

Keep smiling

David

david mcmahon said...

G'day OzLady,

Yep, Ernie for me as well. And yes, Bert is definitely Felix Unger.

Keep smiling

David

david mcmahon said...

G'day Singleton,

Love that comment. As a proud father of three, I know exactly where you're coming from.

Keep smiling

David

david mcmahon said...

Hi Brian,

What a great idea. Okay, watch this space ....

Gimme 24 hours to organise the ``photo op''.

Good one, scout!

Keep smiling

David

skinnylittleblonde said...

Who knew?!
Fact or Fiction...an interesting tidbit.
I always thought Bert looked like Gomer Pyle