Sam Amico
There was a time when Sesame Street came under fire. Yes, hard to fathom. But the reason was even more stunning.
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Believe it or not, one episode of the PBS kids show was deemed “too scary” for its audience.
That happened in February 1976, when a Wizards of Oz spinoff skit got the entire episode axed. Sesame Street was still fairly new at the time, in middle of its seventh season.
Anyway, rather than seek a pair of ruby slippers, the witch in this particular skit is on the lookout for a stolen brook stick. The witch is portrayed by Margaret Hamilton — who, yes, portrayed the wicked witch in the Wizard of Oz.
Wicked Witch on Sesame Street
During the skit, Hamilton more or less terrorizes a character named David, portrayed by Northern Calloway, while she attempts to get back her broomstick.
“This is glorious,” the witch says after retrieving her broomstick, on which she flies away. “Look! No hands!”
The broomstick then falls out beneath her, and the witch starts heading back down to earth — or in this case, back toward Big Bird and friends on Sesame Street.
Thankfully, we now have the Internet, where such things can be revealed. And what was deemed scary in 1976… well, still might be in 2022.
You can check it out in the video above and decide for yourself.
Let’s just say it far from depicts a sunny day that’s sweepin’ the clouds away, but the witch does indeed propel to where the air is sweet. But the broom ends up making its way back to Sesame Street.
