Big Bird's Birthday or Let Me Eat Cake
1991
Cast: Glenn Close, Geena Davis, Roger Ebert, Whoopi Goldberg, Jeff Goldblum, Julia Roberts, Robin Williams
TV Special
On March 9th, 1991, American educational network, PBS, which was also the home of the Arthur animated television series aired a TV special edition of the long-running Sesame Street during prime-time, since 1969, in Big Bird's Birthday.
In the episode, Big Bird is off to celebrate his birthday with his friends by going rollerskating. Back in Sesame Street, Maria and Susan leave a birthday cake on the table. Surprisingly, Cookie Monster chooses not to eat the cake but the chair and other things.
Produced for the PBS Pledge Drive season, for fans and regular watchers of Sesame Street, Let Me Eat Cake follows the same conventions as a Sesame Street episode with a montage of clips and cheery musical numbers thrown in.
I don't watch Sesame Street, nor is it a show that appeals to me in general, but my interest towards this episode peaked a little when I read that Robin Williams and Julia Roberts made their appearances on it, with Roberts' cameo in the musical number, ''Monster in The Mirror'' amongst the other 24 celebs taking part. Williams shares a separate segment with Sesame Street character, Elmo as well. During a period when filming for Steven Spielberg's Hook was about to commence, I'm presuming here that they, Julia and Robin, might have met each other before on this Sesame Street episode, prior to Hook. The version I watched had a fuzzy picture quality and so, it wasn't good.
Other notable stars include Glenn Close, Geena Davis, film critics Roger Ebert & Gene Siskel, Whoopi Goldberg, Malcolm Jamal Warner of The Cosby Show, Ray Charles and eventual U.S president to be, Donald Trump.
Big Bird's Birthday is okay viewing and as I mentioned, I'm not a Sesame Street follower, but for fans of the series, this episode is worth seeing and for fans of Robin Williams and Julia Roberts and their little 10 or 5-min scenes alone, may, or be it should track this one down.
(Above: Robin Williams in the centre with the hat)
(Above: Julia Roberts bottom right)
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