Tony Geiss
Writer
About This Interview
Writer Tony Geiss (1924-2011) was interviewed for one-and-a-half hours at the Sesame Workshop in New York, NY. Geiss spoke in great detail about his 28-year association as a writer of the classic children’s series Sesame Street. He described the basics of writing for the show, the importance of research, and his composition of the show's classic songs including "Butterfly" and “Elmo’s World.” He also talked about key creative talent from the series including Joan Ganz Cooney, Jon Stone and Joe Raposo. Additionally, he discussed his early years as a writer on such television series as WNET’s Emmy-winning “How to Be Mayor of New York” and his work on "Comedy Tonight", "The David Frost Show" and various local New York broadcasts. The interview was conducted by Karen Herman on July 20, 2004.
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Chapters
- Chapter 1
- On his early years; on his memories of his father's work in animation; on his early interest in entertainment; on first seeing television; on his World War II service; on working in France
- On his job as a press agent on Broadway; on joining Channel 13 in New York City and working on the comedic documentary How to Be Mayor of New York and How to be Governor of New York State
- On Joan Ganz Cooney's vision for Sesame Street; on the beginnings of Sesame Street; on the philosophy of the show; on the state of public television at the time
- On working on
Comedy Tonight; on working onThe David Frost Show; on guests Woody Allen and Alex Haley - Chapter 2
- On working with Dick Cavett; on working with David Frost; on producing a local New York talk show
- On working on a local New York health show;
- On joining
Sesame Street ; on how assignments were made on the series; on the rules for writers; on the research goals on the series; onSesame Street's teaching of Spanish and the show's reach into diverse communities - On the format of
Sesame Street and how it changed over the years; on the show's audience; onSesame Street's teaching of Spanish and the show's reach into diverse communities; on writing for adult audiences, too; on the journey of aSesame Street script to production; on making sure children don't model bad behavior - Chapter 3
- On the journey of a Sesame Street script to production; on writing for characters Ernie and Bert
- On the importance of music on
Sesame Street ; on Buffy Saint-Marie's appearance and the song written for her; on some of the series' famous songs, including "Elmo's" theme - On writing for Sesame Street's guest stars including Madeline Kahn, Robin Williams, Lena Horne, Tony Bennett
- On how Sesame Street changed since he started; on adding "Elmo's World"; on writing the feature Find That Bird
- On the legacy of Sesame Street; on his advice for writing children's television; on the importance of working
Shows
People
Genres
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