Little Bird
From Muppet Wiki
Little Bird first appeared on Sesame Street in Season 1, and was often used as a foil to Big Bird, due to their contrasting sizes. Little Bird was a refurbished version of the Kenner Gooney Bird.
Even though Little Bird is performed by a female puppeteer, the character is male. The song "Mr. Big Bird, Mr. Little Bird" appears on the Grin and Giggle with Big Bird LP. The 1973 Character Style Guide from CTW also describes him as a "he." In episode 59 of The MuppetCast, Fran Brill confirmed in an e-mail that she always thought of Little Bird as a male.
Although Little Bird appeared on Sesame Street most often during the 1970s, the character continued to appear frequently in books throughout the 1980s and 1990s. Little Bird made a cameo in "Wonderful Yucky", singing about his lunch, the contents of which are wonderful to him but yucky to a passer-by. Little Bird also made a few cameo appearances during the 1980s and 1990s. On-screen appearances include a brief fly-by in the song "Do Op Hop," sat at Birdland in "The Birdland Jump," and sang a line and appeared in "We Are All Earthlings". Little Bird's most recent US puppet appearance was in a 1999 Sesame Street group shot photo.
Jim Henson performed Little Bird in at least two sketches from the first season: a sketch from Episode 0028 in which he meets Big Bird, and the game show "Pick Your Pet." Although Little Bird was used sporadically on the show, he proved effective with test audiences:
| Although he did not appear often, children were really attentive to Little Bird. They participated fully during his "Imagination Game". Perhaps he could play a greater role on the street.
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There are at least two different Little Bird puppets. One was a normal hand puppet, and the other was a marionette, used for flying scenes. This marionette version was used in the songs "One Song (Song of One)", "I Whistle a Happy Tune", "Do Op Hop", and "The Heart of a Frog".
Little Bird's birthday is December 17th.
In 2003, he was immortalized in toy form in the first series of Medicom Sesame Street Kubricks.
Contents |
International Appearances
- On Sesamstrasse, his name is Klein Bibo, "klein" being German for "little", and "Bibo" referring to the translated name for Big Bird.
- In Sesame Street books that are translated to Dutch, his name is Pinorino, referring to Pino from Sesamstraat.
- Between 2003 and 2005 the puppet was used on Sesamstrasse for an unnamed bird and Turbo Theo in episodes 2214 and 2222, respectively. The puppet was also used as a cuckoo bird, that Finchen helped to find a new sound.
Book appearances
- The Together Book (1971)
- The Sesame Street Storybook (1972)
- The Sesame Street Coloring Book (1973)
- The Sesame Street 1, 2, 3 Storybook (1973)
- The Sesame Street ABC Storybook, cover only (1974)
- Big Bird's Busy Book (1975)
- Big Bird and Little Bird's Big & Little Book (1977)
- Ernie's Book of Animals (1977)
- The Sesame Street Cookbook (1978)
- Early Bird on Sesame Street (1980)
- Fix It, Please (1980)
- I Can Do It Myself (1980)
- The Sesame Street Dictionary (1980)
- A Day in the Life of Oscar the Grouch (1981)
- I Have a Friend (1981)
- Sherlock Hemlock and the Creatures from Outer Space (1981)
- The Sesame Street Circus of Opposites (1981)
- Big and Little Stories (1982)
- The Sesame Street Question and Answer Book About Animals (1983)
- Early Bird on Sesame Street (1983)
- Nobody Cares About Me! (1983)
- I Think That It Is Wonderful (1984)
- Big Bird's Book of Rhymes (1985)
- Big Bird's Busy Day (1987)
- The Runaway Soup and Other Stories (1987)
- Going Places (1988)
- The Sesame Street ABC Book of Words (1988}
- Great Monsterpieces (1989)
- I Can't Wait Until Christmas (1989)
- Bert's Beautiful Sights (1990)
- Museum of Monster Art (1990)
- The Treasure Hunt (1990)
- Hide-and-Seek with Big Bird (1991)
- Sesame Street 123 (1991)
- Sleep Tight! (1991)
- We're Different, We're the Same (1992)
- From Trash to Treasure (1993)
- Elmo's Mother Goose (1993)
- Elmo's Big Lift-and-Look Book (1994)
- Elmo's Lift-and-Peek Around the Corner Book (1996)
- Elmo Can... Quack Like a Duck (1997)
- Rise and Shine! (1999)
- Where is Elmo's Blanket? (1999)
- Elmo Look and Find (2002)
- Fun with Friends (2004)
- The City Sings a Song! (2005)
- Holiday Fun (2005)
- Fly Away with Big Bird (2006)
- Learn About Measuring with Big Bird (2006)
- Elmo's World Super Sticker Book (2007)
- Lots of Opposites (2007)
- Rosita's Easter on Sesame Street (2007)
- In Elmo's Easter Parade (2009)
Sketches
- Big Bird meets Little Bird (EKA: Episode 0028)
- Big Bird sees Little Bird and wonders what kind of animal he is. He tries to communicate with Little Bird by barking, meowing, and mooing, until he finally asks what Little Bird is. After Little Bird tells Big Bird that he's a bird, Big Bird doesn't believe him, thinking that birds are big, so Little Bird compares their similarities until he convinces Big Bird that he is a bird.
- Little Bird's Imagination Game (EKA: Episode 0198)
- Little Bird plays an imagination game with the audience. He closes his eyes, and imagines things. He ends the game by imagining a monster behind him, and when he opens his eyes, Herry Monster appears behind him.
- Next To (EKA: Episode 0683)
- Little Bird talks about the concept of "next to", and Cookie Monster cuddles up next to Little Bird.
