''The Best of Elmo'' is a 1994 ''
Sesame Street
''Sesame Street'' is an American educational children's television series that combines live-action, sketch comedy, animation and puppetry. It is produced by Sesame Workshop (known as the Children's Television Workshop until June 2000) ...
'' video originally released on VHS as part of the "My Sesame Street Home Video" series, the 16th and final title of the My Sesame Street Home Video series.
A follow-up, ''The Best of Elmo 2'', was released in 2010, followed by ''The Best of Elmo 3'' (2015), followed by ''The Best of Elmo 4'' (2018).
Plot
As Maria leaves the Fix-It Shop carrying a large board of wood, Elmo walks by and accidentally bumps into her, dropping a bunch of pictures from his hands. After Maria helps pick them up, Elmo reveals that he is bringing them to the Monster-Art-Show and wants his friends to help decide what picture is best; Maria notices one drawing with Ernie and Elmo.
Maria tells Elmo that she likes the previous drawing the most, which Elmo – to her surprise – says that she can keep (as there are plenty more pictures to choose for the show). Maria spots another picture and asks where he got all his ideas; Elmo says that it is because of using his imagination, and Maria notices one drawing with Elmo in his imagination.
Meanwhile, at Finders Keepers, Ruthie startles Elmo as she handles a Chandelle boa. After Elmo regains posture, Ruthie looks at his pictures and learns that he intends to display them at the Monster-Art-Show, which was where she had bought ten pictures. She notices two of his pictures, one of Elmo trying to scare Julia Roberts and one of Elmo sitting on a ledge while wearing tap shoes.
Elmo assures Ruthie that there are many drawings left for the show, as the two look at a couple of more pictures. She finds one with the number 3 (from Elmo's number collection) and one with two backup singers. Elmo explains that the latter is about number 5, despite having no numbers on the picture.
Now at the Park, Elmo has laid his drawings on the ledge, commenting about how he is already just given out a few of them. Zoe suddenly appears, sees Elmo's pictures, and asks if she can keep some of them, especially one with Telly and Elmo and one with Whoopi Goldberg and Elmo.
Grasping the previous two pictures, Zoe notices two more – one with a face and one with trees. Meanwhile, Elmo starts to feel annoyed as the number of pictures gets smaller, saying, "It's not easy being the best."
Zoe thanks Elmo and departs, taking the pictures that she likes. Elmo decides to pick the best drawing for the Art Show but finds that he has only one picture remaining. Elmo shows his last picture to the viewer – a drawing of Elmo playing the piano.
Elmo decides that it is time to pick the best drawing for the Monster-Art-Show, but finds that he just has the last picture remaining in his hand. He decides to hang it up at the show, but a blue Honker comes by, feeling upset and explaining that he has never gotten one of Elmo's pictures and feels left out. This leaves Elmo with a conundrum, asking the viewer what they would do. He realizes that friends' feelings are more important than a contest, and generously gives his last drawing to the Honker. However, now Elmo feels sad that there are no pictures left to enter before walking off.
Then Elmo finds everyone gathered in front of 123 Sesame Street looking at his pictures and explains his problem. They all decide to give their pictures back, with Maria telling Elmo that he can return the pictures to them after the show. Elmo gleefully thanks them for their good deed, but now faces another problem: what picture should he pick for the show? Everyone laughs as Elmo asks the viewer what they liked best.
As the credits roll, more pictures are shown on different frames against a pink background, including one drawing of Ernie and Elmo, one drawing of Elmo using his imagination, one of Elmo sitting on the ledge wearing tap shoes, one of Elmo and Julia Roberts, one of two backup singers, one with the number 3, one of Elmo and Whoopi Goldberg, one with Telly and Elmo, one with trees, and the last one of Elmo playing the piano. After the credits and the slideshow, the drawing of Elmo playing the piano magically changes to him laughing to the viewer while at the piano.
Cast
*
Ruth Buzzi
Ruth Ann Buzzi ( ; born July 24, 1936) is an American actress, comedian, and singer. She has appeared on stage, in films, and on television. She is best known for her performances on the comedy-variety show ''Rowan & Martin's Laugh-In'' from 1968 ...
as Ruthie
*
Sonia Manzano
Sonia Manzano (born 1950) is an American actress, screenwriter, author, singer and songwriter. She is best known for playing Maria on ''Sesame Street'' from 1971 to 2015. She received a Lifetime Achievement Daytime Emmy Award in 2016.
Her mem ...
as
Maria
Maria may refer to:
People
* Mary, mother of Jesus
* Maria (given name), a popular given name in many languages
Place names Extraterrestrial
* 170 Maria, a Main belt S-type asteroid discovered in 1877
* Lunar maria (plural of ''mare''), large, ...
Jim Henson's Sesame Street Muppets
*
Caroll Spinney
Caroll Edwin Spinney (December 26, 1933 – December 8, 2019) was an American puppeteer, cartoonist, author, artist and speaker, most famous for playing Big Bird and Oscar the Grouch on ''Sesame Street'' from its inception in 1969 until 2018.
...
as
Big Bird
Big Bird is a Muppet character designed by Jim Henson and built by Kermit Love for the long-running children's television show ''Sesame Street''. An eight-foot two-inch (249 cm) tall bright yellow anthropomorphic bird, he can roller skat ...
*
Martin P. Robinson as
Telly Monster/
Mr. Snuffleupagus/Announcer
* Bryant Young as Mr. Snuffleupagus (Back Half)
*
Fran Brill
Fran Brill (born September 30, 1946) is an American retired actress and puppeteer, best known for her roles on ''Sesame Street'', as well as playing Sally Hayes in the Hal Ashby film '' Being There'' (1979), Dana Mardukas in the Martin Brest fi ...
as
Prairie Dawn
The Muppets are a group of puppet characters created by Jim Henson, many for the purpose of appearing on the children's television program ''Sesame Street''. Some of the best known Muppets on ''Sesame Street'' include Big Bird, Oscar the Grouch, ...
/
Zoe
*
Jerry Nelson
Jerry L. Nelson (July 10, 1934 – August 23, 2012) was an American puppeteer, best known for his work with The Muppets. Renowned for his wide range of characters and singing abilities, he performed Muppet characters on ''Sesame Street'', ' ...
as
Herry Monster
The Muppets are a group of puppet characters created by Jim Henson, many for the purpose of appearing on the children's television program ''Sesame Street''. Some of the best known Muppets on ''Sesame Street'' include Big Bird, Oscar the Grouch, ...
*
Kevin Clash
Kevin Jeffrey Clash (born September 17, 1960) is an American puppeteer, director and producer known for puppeteering Elmo on ''Sesame Street'' from 1984 to 2012. He also performed puppets for ''Labyrinth'', ''Dinosaurs'', '' Oobi'', and various ...
as
Elmo
Elmo is a red Muppet monster character on the long-running PBS/ HBO children's television show ''Sesame Street''. A furry red monster who has a falsetto voice and illeism, he hosts the last full five-minute segment (fifteen minutes prio ...
/Wolfgang the Seal
*
Jim Henson
James Maury Henson (September 24, 1936 – May 16, 1990) was an American puppeteer, animator, cartoonist, actor, inventor, and filmmaker who achieved worldwide notice as the creator of The Muppets and '' Fraggle Rock'' (1983–1987) and ...
as
Ernie
Ernie is a masculine given name, frequently a short form (hypocorism) of Ernest, Ernald, Ernesto, or Verner. It may refer to:
People
* Ernie Accorsi (born 1941), American football executive
* Ernie Adams (disambiguation)
* Ernie Afaganis (born c ...
Additional Muppets performed by
Joey Mazzarino
Joseph Mazzarino (; born June 4, 1968) is an American actor, puppeteer, writer and director. He is best known for his roles on ''Sesame Street'' as Murray Monster, Stinky the Stinkweed and other Muppets, and being Head Writer and Director on ' ...
,
Carmen Osbahr
Carmen Osbahr-Vertiz (born April 21, 1962) is a Mexican-born American puppeteer, singer and voice actress who has performed Rosita in the popular hit children's series ''Sesame Street'', since 1991. Osbahr has also performed Kiki Flores in '' T ...
,
Pam Arciero,
Jim Martin,
Noel MacNeal
Noel MacNeal (born September 15, 1961), sometimes credited as Noel McNeal or Edward Noel MacNeal, is an American puppeteer, actor, director and writer of children's television who has performed since the early 1980s. He was the voice and puppetee ...
,
Peter Linz
Peter Linz (born June 28, 1967) is an American puppeteer. His most prominent role is being the performer for the character Walter who was introduced in the 2011 feature film ''The Muppets''. Since 1991, Linz has performed on ''Sesame Street'', ...
,
Rick Lyon
Richard Lyon (born February 25, 1958) is an American puppeteer, actor, and puppet designer and builder. He has worked for The Jim Henson Company as one of the operators of Big Bird. He appeared on Broadway originating the roles of Trekkie Monste ...
,
David Rudman
David Rudman (born June 1, 1963) is an American puppeteer, puppet builder, writer, director, and producer known for his involvement with the Muppets and ''Sesame Street''.
Career
David Rudman has been a ''Sesame Street'' Muppet performer since ...
and
Tyler Bunch
Tyler Bunch, also known as H.D. Quinn, is an American puppeteer, puppet designer, director, and actor.
Career
In addition to his work for the Jim Henson Company, Bunch has created and performed puppets for PBS, Nickelodeon and Disney's Th ...
.
Songs
* "One Fine Face"
* "In Your Imagination"
* "Happy Tappin' with Elmo"
* "Elmo's Jive Five" (''ending cut out'')
* "Three"
* "Heavy and Light"
* "The Sound That's in the Air"
* "Elmo's Song" (''ending cut out'')
External links
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Best Of Elmo (video)
1994 television specials
Sesame Street features
1990s American television specials
1990s English-language films