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Count von Count

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Performer:
The Count
Anything Muppet:
Count von Count counts the snowflakes.
The Count's animated ego in The Street We Live On.
The Count in his youth.
Susan Sarandon and the Count

Count von Count is a mysterious but friendly Sesame Street vampire,[1] parodying Bela Lugosi's portrayal of Count Dracula. He first appeared on the show in 1972, in episode 0406, the Season 4 premiere with Bert and Ernie.

The Count has a compulsive love of counting (arithmomania); he will count anything and everything, regardless of size, amount, or how much annoyance he is causing the other people around him. In one song he stated he sometimes even counts himself. When he finishes counting, he laughs and announces his total (which sometimes appears on screen). This is usually followed by a crash of thunder and lightning. In recent years, the Count has appeared on each episode to announce the Number of the Day, playing notes on his organ to count up to the featured number.

When the Count sings, the background music resembles Roma music, no matter what the song.

The Count bears a noticeable resemblance to Bela Lugosi as Dracula in voice, appearance, and sometimes even mannerisms -- waving his hands or holding the cape over his face in early sketches. The character has never been specifically labeled as a vampire, and unlike the traditional monster of horror films, the Count often relaxes in the sunlight (as seen in "Counting Vacation" and "Coconut Counting Man," among others). He also does not drink blood, and he cannot turn into a bat; however, like a vampire, as revealed in an early skit, he shows no reflection in a mirror. Even though he is a vampire, he mostly never acts like one. He speaks with an Eastern European accent and pronounces his Vs as Ws.

The Count lives in an old, cobweb-infested castle that he shares with many bats. Sometimes he counts them. Some of the pet bats are named, including Grisha, Misha, Sasha, and Tattiana. He also has a cat, Fatatita, and an octopus named Octavia. He also plays a large pipe organ, and in some illustrations he is seen playing the violin.

The Count's most recent girlfriend, Countess von Backwards, is known for counting backwards. He had previously been linked to Countess Dahling von Dahling and shared a brief romantic tryst with Lady Two. His brother and mother have made appearances on the show, and he also has an Uncle Uno.

Contents

Early days

The character was created by Sesame Street writer Norman Stiles. Performer Jerry Nelson recalled his immediate enthusiasm for the character in a 1999 interview:

Norman told me he was writing this piece with this new character who's called the Count... He's a vampire, but not a real vampire... He just has a jones for numbers. He's obsessed with counting things. So I went, "Oh, cool," and I went to Jim [Henson] and said, "You know, Norman's writing this new character called the Count." Jim said, "Let me hear it." So I went (in my Count voice), "Yes, I vould love to do it!" and Jim said, "Yes, you can do it." [2]

The Count is now a friendly, non-threatening figure on the Street, but his early appearances in 1972 had a more sinister edge. He had hypnotic powers, and was able to stun people by waving his hands. After counting, he uttered a villainous laugh as lightning flashed in moody colors. He was often accompanied by creepy organ music. As the character matured, the sinister aspect of his personality was toned down, and his laugh became a throaty, Lugosi-style chuckle.

Appearances

He made cameo appearances in The Muppet Movie (in the finale) and The Muppets Take Manhattan (in the wedding), and has also been featured in the Sesame Street movies Follow That Bird and The Adventures of Elmo in Grouchland. He was also in The Muppets: A Celebration of 30 Years and A Muppet Family Christmas.

The Count made a special appearance on episode 518 of The Muppet Show, emerging with his Sesame co-stars from the Three Bears' cave when Ali Baba shouts, "Open Sesame!"

On November 14, 1988, Count co-hosted The Today Show with Meryl Sheep.

Trivia

  • Some traditional vampire myths depict vampires as having a similar obsession with counting small objects, providing a means of distracting them by tossing a handful of seeds or salt on the ground.
  • The Count's New York license plate number (as seen in Follow That Bird) is 12345678910.
  • He was a DJ for his own radio station on the album The Count's Countdown, and hosted a music video show in Count it Higher: Great Music Videos from Sesame Street.
  • In a Number of the Day segment for 0: "Oh hello, it is I, The Count. I'm called the Count because I love to count. Err, that, and I inherited my father's royal title." Despite this claim to royal blood, however, Count is a title of nobility rather than royalty. (SSvideo)
  • According to the book Sesame Street Unpaved, after Jon Stone read the first script of a Count skit, he sent it back to the writer, Norman Stiles, with a note scribbled atop: "Good character, bad bit". That skit was never produced.
  • The Count states that his favorite TV show is 24.
  • In Count it Higher: Great Music Videos from Sesame Street, he says that his favorite song is "Count it Higher". However, Sesame Street Unpaved states that his favorite songs are "Born to Add" and "Count on Me."
  • The Count's car is the Countmobile.
  • According to the 1998 book Sesame Street Unpaved, the Count is "written to represent an adult with the psychological age of someone who is 1,832,652 years old -- and still counting".

Book appearances

Sources

  1. ↑ Sesame Workshop profile
  2. ↑ "Still Counting: An Interview with Muppeteer Jerry Nelson" by Kenneth Plume, Muppet Central. March 1, 1999.

See also

Retrieved from "http://muppet.wikia.com/wiki/Count_von_Count"
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