Special Screenings “Don’t Eat the Pictures: Sesame Street at the Met” at the Museum of the Moving Image

Saturday and Sunday screenings introduced by Jim Henson Legacy President Craig Shemin and author Jake S. Friedman (The Disney Revolt) with special behind-the-scenes surprises. Dir. Jon Stone. 1983, 59 mins. Digital Projection. With Caroll Spinney, Martin P. Robinson, Frank Oz, Jim Henson, Jerry Nelson, Aram Chowdhury, Linda Bove, Northern Calloway, Dr. Loretta Long, Bob McGrath, Sonia Manzano, Roscoe Orman, Alaina Reed. The Sesame Street Gang—humans, kids, and Muppets—get locked in the Metropolitan Museum of Art overnight looking for Big Bird who, with the help of Mr. Snuffleupagus, tries to help the ghost of a young Egyptian prince fulfill his destiny. Ernie and Bert explore American art, Grover visits medieval armor, and Cookie Monster has an unhealthy appetite for impressionism. With script and songs by Tony Geiss, this musical adventure explores several exhibits of the museum, with a focus on the then newly renovated Egyptian wing. Shot on-site during the summer of 1983 after the museum’s normal operating hours, and made in collaboration with the museum’s own office of film and television, Don’t Eat the Pictures was nominated for a primetime Emmy and won France’s 1984 Prix Jeunesse/International.

This screening is courtesy of Sesame Workshop, New York, New York.

Photo courtesy of Sesame Workshop, New York, New York.