Getting Ready to Read
From Muppet Wiki
| Release Date: | 1986 |
| Produced by: | Random House Home Video |
| Catalogue no. | 88317 |
| Format: | VHS |
| Discs: | |
| Region: | |
| ISBN | 0394883179 |
| ASIN |
Getting Ready to Read is a 1986 Sesame Street direct-to-video special.
Releases
 VHS1986 |
 Beta1986 |
 VHSRandom House Home Video |
 VHSSony Wonder |
 United Kingdom (VHS)1997 |
| Picture | Segment | Description |
|---|---|---|
 | | Big Bird has started his own “Reading Hotline”. Sam (a regular visitor) and his cat, Rocky, arrive to his stand, wanting to know what his box says. Big Bird reads it as “CAT FOOD” and teaches Sam to learn what it says instead of having to come to him all the time. |
 | | Grover talks about the word walk. He is accompanied by styrofoam letters that form the word walk, and they keep walking back and forth. (EKA: Episode 1858) |
 | | Ferlinghetti Donizetti fills in for Big Bird on a call, telling the caller about rhymes. However, he gets carried away... |
 | | Ernie and Bert: Ernie gets Bert to participate in a rhyming game, but Ernie ends the game just as Bert is starting to enjoy it. (EKA: Episode 0798) |
 | | In rhyme, a man points out animals who stole and/or ruined his clothing. (EKA: Episode 1118) |
 | | Instead of cookies, Cookie Monster recites a poem about galoshes -- or at least he tries. (EKA: Episode 1933) |
 | | A monster caller asks Big Bird what rhyming has to do with reading. He puts him on hold as he calls Maria into his nest to ask the same question. As she demonstrates it, the monster caller gets fed up with waiting, hangs up and enters the nest himself, unnoticed. Big Bird tries to talk to the caller, but see’s he’s gone and tells the monster next to him he must’ve gotten tired of waiting. |
 | | "Fat Cat" (First: Episode 0536) |
 | | Big Bird answers another call and helps Pammy learn to read by using the word ending “OP” to make new words. |
 | | "The "OP" Family Song" (EKA: Episode 0730) |
 | | HEN / PEN / TEN / MEN Music: Joe Raposo (EKA: Episode 2558) |
 | | Oscar has set up his own reading hotline and tells his caller to learn to read by watching “Grouch TV”. The static on the channel fades away and reveals... |
 | | Slimey and his band, "Earth, Rain and Mud", perform "Gimme Mud." Introduction and closing scenes cut |
 | | The caller tells Oscar how much they hated the song and Oscar tells Slimey he has a hit on his hands! |
 | | Cookie Monster sounds out the word FOOD, then eats it. (EKA: Episode 0723) |
 | | Same Sound Brown shows Farley that "That's What Reading's All About." (EKA: Episode 1115) |
 | | Two Honkers try to get Big Bird’s attention, but since he’s on the phone, he asks the viewer to use the skills they learned to help the Honkers sound out their word (HONK). |
 | | B ... US! We're on the bus! (EKA: Episode 0796) |
 | | Two-Headed Monster: RUN (EKA: Episode 1446) |
 | | Sam and Rocky come back with various boxes of food, not to learn how to read, but to show off their reading skills. Tired, Big Bird decides to field one more call, which he gets Maria to answer again. |
Cast
Characters in new footage:
Characters in old sketches:
- Ernie, Bert, Cookie Monster, Kermit the Frog, Grover, Farley, Same Sound Brown, Two-Headed Monster, Bip Bippadotta, Anything Muppets
Performers:
- Caroll Spinney as Big Bird and Oscar the Grouch
- Frank Oz as Cookie Monster, Bert, and Grover
- Jerry Nelson as Farley and Two-Headed Monster
- Richard Hunt as Rocky and Two-Headed Monster
- Fran Brill as others
- Kevin Clash as Sam and Ferlinghetti Donizetti
- Martin Robinson as monster
- Jim Henson as Kermit the Frog, Ernie and Bip Bippadotta
- Pam Arciero as Pammy and others
- Northern Calloway as Same Sound Brown (uncredited)
- Sonia Manzano as Maria
