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| Don't Eat the Pictures | |
|---|---|
 Cover of VHS release | |
| Country of origin | United States |
| Original language | English |
| Original release | |
| Network | PBS |
| Release | November 16, 1983 (1983-11-16) |
Don't Eat the Pictures: Sesame Street at the Metropolitan Museum of Art (or simplyDon't Eat the Pictures) is a one-hourSesame Street special that aired onPBS on November 16, 1983. The title comes from a song in the special, "Don't Eat the Pictures",[1] sung byCookie Monster.[2] It was available as avideo tape by Random House in 1987,[3] and it was re-released onVHS bySony Wonder in 1996 and onDVD in 2011. It has everybody reprising their roles from the children's television series,Sesame Street. The story takes on them getting locked in theMetropolitan Museum of Art overnight as they embark on an adventure to find theirfriend,Big Bird,[4] who has gotten lost looking forSnuffy.[5] They must stay there until the morning while avoiding a night watchman. The special features the regular human cast ofSesame Street along with severalMuppet characters, includingCookie Monster,Telly,[6]Bert[7] &Ernie,[8]The Count,[9]Grover,[10] andOscar the Grouch.[11] Snuffy also appears, even though his names are revealed to be Mr. Snuffleupagus and Aloysius Snuffleupagus, however, at this point in the show's history, he is still Big Bird'simaginary friend, never seen by the other characters onSesame Street.
The Sesame Street gang have gone on a field trip to the Metropolitan Museum of Art. Big Bird has arranged to meet with Snuffy there but before he can, it is closing time. He decides to go off and look for Snuffy. Before the group can leave, they realize he is missing and run all through the museum looking for him. The chase has them going through different exhibits at high speed and missing, spotting, and chasing him. After a bit, they give up, only to find that they are locked in the museum overnight. They decide to go back out and look for Big Bird and look at all the exhibits while they are at it.
Big Bird eventually finds Snuffy and they wander theEgyptian exhibit and encounter the ghost of an Egyptian prince named Sahu (Aram Chowdhury) and his cat who have been cursed to remain on Earth until he answers the question "Where does today meet yesterday?" Through drawings, he explains his dilemma. A demon appears to ask him the question. If he does not know or answers incorrectly, the demon vanishes until the next night. If he answers correctly, he will then be taken to Osiris, who shall weigh his heart against a feather. If it is lighter, then he can rejoin his parents among the stars, but if it is heavier he will remain on Earth forever. Big Bird considers all this too daunting and instead suggests he remain on Earth and become "the only 4,000-year-old kid on Sesame Street". However, Snuffy thinks it is only fair they help him be reunited with his parents, and Big Bird agrees they should work on the question.
Meanwhile, the group has split up and are all in different exhibits. Bob and Cookie Monster find themselves looking at pictures with food in them. While Cookie Monster tries to eat them, Bob points out a sign that says, "Please don't eat the pictures." He replies with, "Oh, this going to be a long night." He later sings the song about this. Oscar finds an exhibit of Greek and Roman statues that have been broken bynatural disasters. He looks in and breaks into a song on how beautiful they are to him. Grover finds an exhibit filled with armor from medieval times and thinks a suit ofMaximilian armour is a guy named "Max" and tries to befriend him by changing into his Super Grover costume and singing a song. Bert and Ernie viewWashington Crossing the Delaware, to which Bert comments on the dedication of Washington and his men, but Ernie comments on how he was very silly to cross in the winter and should have waited until Easter or taken theGeorge Washington Bridge.
As the night passes, Big Bird and Snuffy continue to try to figure out the answer to the question. Soon, just before midnight, Big Bird unknowingly figures out the answer is "a museum". When the demon appears that night, the question is answered correctly and Sahu is sent toOsiris (Fritz Weaver) to have his heart weighed. When the feather to weigh it doesn't appear, Big Bird offers one of his to help. But when Sahu's heart is too heavy, Big Bird claims that it wasn't fair since he has been on Earth for 40 centuries.
After this, Sahu's heart becomes lighter and he is now ready to join his parents and take his cat. Big Bird and Snuffy then look up into the night sky through a glass window, and see four stars in a straight line (representing Sahu, his parents, and cat), and are glad that they reunited him with his parents. When morning comes, Big Bird finds the group and Snuffy is not there. He got up early and left to get to "Snufflegarden", much to the group’s frustration. Bob commends Cookie Monster for behaving himself inside the museum and rewards him by saying he can have anything for sale on a hot dog cart. He, in a fit of hunger and gladness, elects to eat everything, even the cart itself.
After the closing credits, Big Bird pretends to be a statue. He encourages the viewers to visit their local museum, and comments on how staying perfectly still is tiring and wonders how statues can do it.
The title song begins with Cookie Monster and his human friend,Bob McGrath in front ofStill Life with Ham byPhilippe Rousseau which Cookie Monster tries to eat. Bob holds him back and reminds him that he promised not to eat anything in the museum. Then he breaks into song, with angelic choral accompaniment, about paintings, statues, and mummies, and how he understands how important it is to not eat them.[14]
