Thursday, 10 November 2011

Double X

Until November 10 1951 if you lived in New York and wanted to call someone in California, you couldn’t place that call yourself. You’d dial “0” and ask the telephone operator to place the call for you. We are so familiar with Direct Distance Dialing - DDD - that we don’t call it that anymore. We don’t call it anything anymore. This is also the birthday of the PBS television show Sesame Street. Before its debut on November 10 1969, there had never been anything quite like it. Can you picture a world without Bert and Ernie? Without Big Bird or Mister Snuffleupagus? Or without Elmo or Oscar the Grouch? You’d have to be pretty old to remember a time before you heard the songs, “Rubber Ducky,”  “One of These Things is Not Like the Others” or “Sunny Day, Chasing the Clouds Away.” Gee. You’d have to be my age.

2 comments:

  1. starting to hear them again with Aidan! He loves the Sesame Street songs....not so much when they just talk :)

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  2. We saw a "Let's Rock Elmo" doll in Manchester yesterday, and were sorely tempted to buy one for our only grandchild. He sings, he dances, he plays the drums; at least three times as annoying as a singing fish. If only he didn't cost £70...

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