Nicholas Anthony Tony Geiss (November 16th, 1924 - January 21st, 2011) was a staff writer & songwriter for SESAME STREET & related productions, often teamed with Judy Freudberg. Geiss conceptualized the Honkers (based on his own childhood habit of honking his nose)[1] & Abby Cadabby.[2]
Geiss’ early TV career was spent in London scripting The David Frost Show, & 1st joined Children's Television Workshop as a writer on the health series Feelin' Good. He also scripted TV specials & revues for the likes of Dick Cavett & Bill Cosby. In the 1980s, after scripting Follow That BIRD as his cinematic debut, Geiss & Freudberg co-wrote the Don Bluth animated features An American Tail & The Land Before Time. He was also credited as head writer for several SESAME STREET home videos.
Geiss’ father Anthony Geiss was a painter & an animator, while mother Marjorie Thirer was a press agent. Geiss grew up in Greenwich Village, spending 2 years as a radar technician for the USA Navy, before attending Cornell University from 1943 to 1946. He began acting in theatre productions in his freshman year, & met his wife Phyllis Eisen on campus.
SESAME STREET Song Credits
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Writing CreditsEdit
- SESAME STREET (1969 - 2011)
- DON'T Eat the Pictures (1983)
- SESAME STREET Presents: Follow That BIRD (1985)
- SESAME STREET: 20 & Still Counting (1989)
- Sing-Along Earth Songs (1993)
- Elmo Saves Christmas (1996)
- The BEST of KERMIT on SESAME STREET (1998)
- CinderElmo (1999)
- Elmo's World segments:
SESAME STREET Book CreditsEdit
- The Count Counts a Party (1980)
- Elmo Saves Christmas (1996)
- The 4 Seasons (1979)
- Honk If You Like Honkers (1986)
- The SESAME STREET Bedtime Storybook (1978)
- The Songs of SESAME STREET in Poems & Pictures (1983)
- Susan & Gordon Adopt a Baby (1980)
- Vegetable Soup (1980)
- The SESAME STREET Treasury Volume 4 (1983)
InterviewsEdit
The Academy of Television Arts & Sciences Foundation interviewed Geiss in 2004 for the Archive of American Television. The hour & a half interview was posted on YouTube in 2008.
 28:27 Tony Geiss Interview Part 1 of 3 - EMMYTVLEGENDS.ORG |  28:01 Tony Geiss Interview Part 2 of 3 - EMMYTVLEGENDS.ORG |  26:18 Tony Geiss Interview Part 3 of 3 - EMMYTVLEGENDS.ORG |
ProofEdit
- ↑ Children's Television Workshop. Biographical Sketches. 1983
- ↑ Susan Dominus, "A Girly-Girl Joins the SESAME Boys", The New York Times, 6 August 2006.
VideosEdit
Alone in a SwampEdit
The Things I LOVEEdit
There’s a BIG HEAP of TRASH at the End of the RAINBOWEdit
Hey Little WORMEdit
The GROUCH’s LullabyEdit
A Little GROUCH MusicEdit
WORM SoliloquyEdit
I DON’T Wanna Be a PrinceEdit
What a GiftEdit
External linksEdit
- Joseph Berger, "Tony Geiss, 86, Writer for SESAME STREET Dies", The New York Times, January 30th, 2011.
See alsoEdit
- Tony Geiss on the Muppet Wiki
- Tony Geiss on the OSCAR THE GROUCH Wiki
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