Little Chrissy and the Alphabeats is a rock band that was introduced in 1973 on the children's television series Sesame Street.
Music Videos[]
Little Chrissy (with the Alphabeats)[]
- Cluck Around the Clock
- Count It Higher
- Exit
- Gonna Rock You to Sleep
- I Go to School
- Startin' Kindergarten
- Rock 'N Roll Readers
- You Got a Nose
- You're Alive
Little Chrissy (without the Alphabeats)[]
Alphabeats (without Little Chrissy)[]
Little Chrissy[]
Little Chrissy is a muppet who has been appearing on Sesame Street since 1973, and is considered the bandleader of the Alphabeats group. He is known as both a singer and piano player. For example in the Opposite Song, he only sings and does not play any instruments, while in songs like Count it Higher or Eight Balls of Fur he sings and plays piano. His appearance seems to be modeled after several sources. His design is based on a "fat Blue" Muppet template, but he's got big glasses kinda like Elton John, has a yellow 50's style jacket and wild, orange hair...probably inspired by Jerry Lee Lewis and Chrissy's direct inspiration Christopher Cerf, who voiced him. His piano playing will remind people of Little Richard or Jerry Lee Lewis, however he takes it a step further in the song Eight Balls of Fur by playing the piano so aggressively he destroys it.
His appearance doesn't change much, maybe save for the length of his hair which seems to vary just a little bit. There is one case where he totally changes. In 1975, when the song Frazzle debuted, Little Chrissy made an appearance but...as a monster! There is to this day no explanation as to why or how Chrissy became a monster. His monster form looks identical, with the same glasses, hair, and voice, the only difference really is he's got blue fur and teeth. This was his only appearance as a monster, and it fit the subject of Frazzle, though, in the opinion of this writer, he would have also been great in Eight Balls of Fur (where himself was puppeteered by Kevin Clash) and having a furry monster playing piano would have been a nice compliment to the furballs.
It is known that he was not puppeteered by Cerf, but usually by Jim Henson, sometimes by Frank Oz or Richard Hunt and on the aforementioned music video, Cluck Around the Clock and Gospel Alphabet by Kevin Clash
The Alphabeats on the other side were usually Lavender and Green Anything Muppets. Most of the time, their vocals were usually performed by Cerf himself, Richard Hunt, Jeff Moss, and Jerry Nelson. Frank Oz once during their very first song Count It Higher puppeteered a Hot Pink Alphabet in which Jerry Nelson performed.
Gallery[]
Artwork[]
Behind the Scenes[]
Screenshots[]
