Cracks (short)

Last updated

Cracks is a 1975 animated short from the children's television program Sesame Street . The short, which is about 100 seconds long, features a young girl who meets animals made from the cracks in her bedroom wall. [1] It gained notoriety online after several internet users initiated a search to find the short, which they remembered as scaring them when they were children. [1] [2] [3]

Contents

Production

The short was created by a San Francisco company called P Imagination in Children's Television Workshop archives. [3] This may refer to Imagination, Inc., a company which animated multiple shorts for Sesame Street; however, the names of the artists and directors who worked on the short are unknown. [1] Mel Martin provided the saxophone music, and Dorothy Moskowitz narrated the short. [3]

Initial release

The short aired a dozen times between its premiere on December 31, 1975, and May 2, 1980. [1] [4] Although official sources had no explanation for the short's disappearance after this date, some publications have suggested that it may have been due to the rise of reporting on crack cocaine. [3] This, combined with the short's setting in a run-down house, a Black main character, and an antagonist named the "crack master" may have resulted in too many negative connotations to continue airing the short. [1] However, Mental Floss , in their article on the subject, pointed out that this may be unlikely as reportng on the crack epidemic was not widespread until the mid-1980s; rather, they attribute the pulling of the short to its confusing message and potentially frightening imagery. [1]

The short also aired outside of the United States. [5] A Spanish-language version aired on Plaza Sesamo in the mid-1990s. [5] Dubs in French, Hebrew, Portuguese and Turkish have also been recovered. [5]

Plot

A little girl is laying in bed, looking at the cracks in her wall while it rains outside. The cracks come to life as a camel, a monkey, and a hen, who take the girl on an adventure. They encounter the "crack master", but quickly escape. The girl is returned to her room by the crack animals, and tells them “The rain has stopped outside. We’ll go and see the cracks again some day”. [1]

In the early 2000s Jon Armond, a voice actor who remembered seeing the short as a child, began posting on message boards to try and find information about it. Although other users also remembered it and how it had scared them, there was no immediate identification of the short or recovery of the actual footage. [1] [3] Online searchers reached out to Children's Television Workshop, the company which produces Sesame Street, but were not provided with any information about the short. [2] CTW had looked for the short in their archives, but were unable to find it due to not knowing its name. [1] [2]

In 2008, Armond, who posted online under his full name, received a fax at his place of work from an unknown number, which promised to send him Cracks if he promised not to share it with the general public. Six months after agreeing, Armond received a copy of the short in a blank envelope in his mailbox with a note reading “We trust this completes your search”. [1] [2] Armond shared this encounter online, but did not share the actual short. [2] He did post a recreation online, where he acted out the short while using its audio. [1] In 2009 he invited fellow searcher Jennifer Bourne to a Los Angeles coffeeshop to show her the short. [1] [3] Bourne subsequently posted about the meeting, confirming to other online searchers that Armond had been telling the truth about having the copy. [1] [2] That same year, Armond released an audio documentary about the search for the short. [6]

In December 2013, founder of the Lost Media Wiki, Daniel Wilson, received an anonymous email that contained only an attachment with the short. [2] Since the email contained no restrictions on how it could be distributed, Wilson promptly posted it to YouTube. [1] Although searchers initially thought Armond has anonymously sent his copy to Wilson, the two copies are formatted differently, with Armond's being from an episode, while Wilson's came with a production title card. [1] [3]

Over the next few years, several Latin American online users claimed they had seen a Spanish-language dub of the short on Plaza Sesamo. This dub was recovered and uploaded to YouTube in 2017. [5]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Oscar the Grouch</span> Muppet character on the television program Sesame Street

Oscar the Grouch is a Muppet character created by Jim Henson and Jon Stone for the PBS/HBO children's television program Sesame Street. He has a green body, no visible nose, and lives in a trash can. Oscar's favorite thing is trash, as evidenced by the song "I Love Trash", with a running theme being his collection of seemingly useless items. Although the term "Grouch" aptly describes Oscar's misanthropic interaction with the other characters, it also refers to his species. The character was originally performed by Caroll Spinney from the show's first episode until Spinney's retirement in 2018. Eric Jacobson began understudying for the character in 2015, and officially took on the full role after Spinney's retirement in 2018.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Count von Count</span> Character on Sesame Street

Count von Count is a Muppet character on the PBS/HBO children's television show Sesame Street. He is meant to parody Bela Lugosi's portrayal of Count Dracula. He first appeared on the show in the Season 4 premiere in 1972, counting blocks in a sketch with Bert and Ernie.

<i>Whatever Happened to... Robot Jones?</i> American animated television series

Whatever Happened to... Robot Jones? is an American animated television series created by Greg Miller for Cartoon Network. It follows Robot Jones, a teenage robot who attends the fictional suburban Polyneux Middle School in a retrofuturistic 1980s world. Episodes follow Robot Jones researching aspects of human life, including music, facial hair, and gym class. Jones is guided by his three friends, Socks, Mitch, and Cubey. Robot Jones is often smitten with his crush, Shannon Westerburg, a tall, young girl with orthodontic headgear and a prosthesis. In school, Robot Jones interacts with his teachers, Mr. McMcMc, Mr. Workout, and Mrs. Raincoat; the principal, Mr. Madman; and janitor Clancy Q. Sleepyjeans. His arch-rivals, Lenny and Denny Yogman, try to sabotage Jones's research by making school more difficult for him.

<i>Liquid Television</i> Television series

Liquid Television is an animation showcase that appeared on MTV from 1991 to 1995. It has served as the launching point for several high-profile original cartoons, including Beavis and Butt-Head and Æon Flux. The bulk of Liquid Television's material was created by independent animators and artists specially for the show, and some previously produced segments were compiled from festivals such as Spike and Mike's Festival of Animation.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sesame Place (Pennsylvania)</span> Theme park in Langhorne, Pennsylvania

Sesame Place is a children's theme park and water park, located outside of Philadelphia in Middletown Township, Bucks County, Pennsylvania. It is the oldest of two theme parks in the United States based entirely on the children's educational television program Sesame Street and includes a variety of rides, shows and water attractions suited for young children. It is also the first theme park in the world to become a certified autism center.

Rosita (<i>Sesame Street</i>) Sesame Street Muppet character

Rosita is a Muppet character on the children's television series Sesame Street. Fluent in both American English and Mexican Spanish, she is the first regular bilingual Muppet on the show. Rosita comes from Mexico and likes to play the guitar.

Barrio Sésamo is the Spanish co-production of the popular U.S. children's television series Sesame Street produced by Televisión Española and Sesame Workshop from 1979 to 2000, the equivalent of Plaza Sésamo in Latin America. All characters adopted Spanish names while for the title of the series a more appropriate Spanish name was chosen: barrio (Neighborhood) instead of Street (calle).

Vila Sésamo is a Brazilian co-production of the first preschool television programme Sesame Street. As of 2009 it airs on TV Rá-Tim-Bum. As of 2016, similar to Plaza Sésamo, new seasons air under the title Sésamo. The series debuted on October 12, 1972, moving from TV Cultura to SKY Play on June 25, 2020.

Open Sesame is a children's television series composed solely of the skits and segments of the American television series Sesame Street. While some countries air the American program in whole, and some create their own versions of the show, many more air this title of loosely associated skits, as Open Sesame. The name is a pun based on the magic words "Open sesame" which are used in the legend of Ali Baba.

Cartoon pornography, or animated pornography, is the portrayal of illustrated or animated fictional cartoon characters in erotic or sexual situations. Animated cartoon pornography, or erotic animation, is a subset of the larger field of adult animation, not all of which is sexually explicit.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Abby Cadabby</span> Sesame Street Muppet character

Abby Cadabby, mostly referred to as just Abby, is a Muppet character on the PBS/HBO children's television show Sesame Street, performed by Leslie Carrara-Rudolph. On August 14, 2006, Abby made her debut in the first episode of Sesame Street’s 37th season, when she moved into the neighborhood and met some of the Street's residents. On the day of her debut, her wand broke; Big Bird told her to take her wand to the Fix-It Shop where Maria would fix it. Season 40 features her CGI animated recurring segments titled Abby's Flying Fairy School which was adapted into a proper spin-off. She is also currently the host of another spin-off Abby's Amazing Adventures, with her stepbrother Rudy, which debuted in 2018.

<i>Big Bag</i> American childrens television series

Big Bag is an American live-action/animated children's television series created by Nina Elias-Bamberger for Cartoon Network and Children's Television Workshop. It was targeted at preschool viewers. The show was co-produced by Cartoon Network and CTW, with Muppet characters created by the Jim Henson Company. It aired from 1996 to 1998, with reruns airing through 2001, alongside another program titled Small World. Localized versions of Big Bag aired on Canal J in France and Yorkshire Television in the UK.

Sesame Street international co-productions are adaptations of the American educational children's television series Sesame Street but tailored to the countries in which they are produced. Shortly after the debut of Sesame Street in the United States in 1969, television producers, teachers, and officials of several countries approached the show's producers and the executives of the Children's Television Workshop (CTW), renamed Sesame Workshop (SW) in 2000, about the possibility of airing international versions of Sesame Street. Creator Joan Ganz Cooney hired former CBS executive Michael Dann to field offers to produce versions of the show in other countries.

<i>Mickey Mouse in Vietnam</i> 1969 animated short film

Short Subject is a 1969 16 mm anti-war underground animated short film. The director was Whitney Lee Savage and the producer and head designer was Milton Glaser, who produced it independently with a total running time of one minute. The short was not endorsed by The Walt Disney Company.

Planeta U, usually referenced as Tu Planeta U is an American children's programming block that airs on the Spanish language television network Univision, which debuted on September 15, 2001. The three-hour block – which airs Saturday and Sunday mornings from 8:00 a.m. to 11:00 a.m. Eastern Time and Pacific Time – features animated series aimed at children between the ages of 2 and 8.

Toonturama is an American children's programming block that airs on the Spanish-language television network UniMás which debuted on January 15, 2002 and January 19, 2002. The four-hour block—which airs Saturday and Sunday mornings from 7:00 a.m. to 11:00 a.m. Eastern Time and Pacific Time—features live action and animated series aimed at children between the ages of 2 and 14. It was the network's attempt to have a Saturday morning block.

<i>Bendy</i> (franchise) Video game series

Bendy is an American-Canadian media franchise based on the horror indie video game series developed and published by Kindly Beast as "Joey Drew Studios Inc."

Mecha Builders is a computer-animated children's television series and a spin-off of Sesame Street, that began production in May 2020. The series is produced by Sesame Workshop and Guru Studio.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Children's programming on UniMás</span> Historical summary of children’s programming aired on UniMás

Children's programming has played a part in Telefutura/UniMás's programming since its initial roots in television. This article outlines the history of children's television programming on UniMás including the various blocks and notable programs that have aired throughout the television network's history.

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 "'The Crack Monster': The 30-Year Search for the Most Unsettling Cartoon on 'Sesame Street'". Mental Floss. 2023-05-16. Retrieved 2023-05-24.
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Studio 360 (2019-02-22). "How an Internet Obsession Resurrected a Creepy, Long-Lost Sesame Street Cartoon". Slate. ISSN   1091-2339 . Retrieved 2023-05-24.{{cite news}}: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
  3. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 "The Crack Monster: The mystery behind the creepiest cartoon on 'Sesame Street'". PRI's The World. 19 February 2019. Retrieved 24 May 2022.
  4. ↑ Frank, Priscilla (2014-12-12). "This Eerie, Long Lost '70s Sesame Street Clip Will Haunt Your Dreams". HuffPost. Retrieved 2023-05-24.
  5. 1 2 3 4 "Cracks aka "Crack Master" (found animated "Sesame Street" short; 1975)". The Lost Media Wiki. Retrieved 2023-05-24.
  6. ↑ Tickle, Glen (2014-12-11). "A Rare, Creepy 1970s Sesame Street Animation About Creatures That Appear in the Cracks of a Wall". Laughing Squid. Retrieved 2023-05-24.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.