Hey, You Guys! We're 50!

50 years ago this week, The Electric Company premiered on PBS. It was meant to pick up where Sesame Street left off, teaching reading, grammar, and punctuation skills to a slightly older audience. The cast included Jim Boyd, Skip Hinnant, Rita Moreno, Morgan Freeman, and, as one of the members of The Short Circus, an up and comer by the name of Irene Cara. There was also Lorelei, a chicken who recited nonsensical poems.

The series featured comedy sketches such as Easy Reader, Vi's Diner, Jackson Jones, Jennifer Of The Jungle, Here's Cooking At You with Julia Grownup, and Love Of Chair("And what about Naomi?") It ran from October 25, 1971, until 1977. There was a later reboot. The original series also featured Spiderman and Road Runner.

Thanks for trip down Memory Lane, Em. Good times in front of the B&W tube.

My pleasure. I have fond memories of it, too.

Perhaps the biggest tickle I got from The Electric Company was a song composed by mathematics professor Tom Lehrer: Silent e. The man accompanied "Who can turn a man into a mane?" with an upright piano. In addition to his academic work, Lehrer has composed a number of novelty songs, some of which received airplay on the Doctor Demento radio show.