What's very interesting about the internet is that it's been a godsend for finding lost media. Including seemingly long lost pieces of media that were known to exist, either by the word of mouth of those who experienced it when it aired or the rare snippets of information that people were able to get over time. It can always be exciting when a piece of lost media gets found. And I think one of the pieces of media that people were looking for for the longest time was the curious case of Sesame Street Episode 0847. The one with the Wicked Witch of the West.
I don't think I need to go too deep into the history of 1939's The Wizard of Oz. Considered one of the most important film works of all time, and considered by the library of congress as the most seen film of all time. A moderate success at its release and now a film institution, despite the many horrors that befell production. It remains the most successful adaptation of L Frank Baum's original works. And over 35 years later, it was still a part of the collective pop culture consciousness, hence the decision of the Children's Television Workshop to base an episode loosely around the film. Downside is that most of the actors had passed on at that time. But they could still get the Wicked Witch.
An episode centered around the villain of a movie known for multiple accounts of childhood trauma. What could possibly go wrong?
Apparently it went wrong for Sesame Street as there were complaints from parents that the episode was too scary. That it did actually traumatize some of the preschool audience. As such, the episode was believed to be a banned episode that only aired its one airing on February 10th of 1976, with it turning into merely hearsay for the decades that followed. But as the internet age blossomed, so did more and more findings of the long lost episode. Mostly in the form of production photos featuring Margaret Hamilton in witch regalia on set. But nothing ever surfaced to a public audience.
That is until June 18th, 2020 when Reddit user sarsaparilla170170 uploaded the entirety of the Wicked Witch segments to R/lostmedia and finally everyone could finally see the lost episode and just how traumatic it really was. And since I do have a tendency to clout chase from time to time, I'm covering it for this edition of Weird Episodes. And while it's generally not weird, at least in terms of Sesame Street, the whole feel of the plot along with, again, featuring the villain of The Wizard of Oz, is at least enough to earn it a full look. So let's review this thing.
We open the episode with David leaving Hooper's to talk about how windy it's suddenly gotten on Sesame Street. It's so windy that instead of raining cats and dogs, it's raining brooms. A witch's broom in particular. Not willing to pass up a free sky brook, David uses it to start cleaning the debris around Hooper's.
Unbeknownst to David (despite him reacting to some foreboding sounding music), the Wicked Witch of the West has also landed on Sesame Street. Somehow she managed to go over the rainbow and ended up out of Oz. Which could mean that Oz and Sesame Street are connected via a rainbow, or, like Oz, Sesame Street is all the imagination of Dorothy Gale, thereby making this a 50+ year long con to reveal that this is all a Wizard of Oz spinoff. Wow, and here I thought the only Oz on Sesame Street was Frank.
The witch curses the loss of her broom, which she needs to help tell her how to get, how to get OUT of Sesame Street. She soon spots that David has managed to gain the broom. And through a rule that is arbitrary to the moral of the episode, she can't just snatch the broom from David and leave. Whoever holds the broom holds its power. So the witch instead just rushes at David all in a conniption to get her broom back. But David, knowing that this may be a wicked witch, but she doesn't have to be a rude witch, says that he won't give it back to her until she shows him at least a modicum of respect.
And then this happens. Ah, bless cheap 1970s effects that still somehow work and look creepy. And this is definitely where I can see trauma #1 already with both the rudeness of the witch and the "electrocution". But, given she can't snatch the broom nor does she even consider the idea of saying please, she threatens that she'll be back.
David takes the broom into Hooper's and tells Maria and the kids about what we just saw. Maria doubts this is legit until once again the Wicked Witch returns and again tries to take the broom. So, when that fails again, she gets back at David by making it rain inside Hooper's. Which, I mean, it's at least something since getting everything wet in the store wouldn't be good for business. Though, it's kind of a gamble on her end since, you know, water kills the witch. Which makes me wonder when in the timeline this is. Is this before Dorothy killed her or after. Trying to establish a canon timeline in Sesame street. I truly have hit rock bottom.
After everyone leaves Hooper's, Big Bird arrives. You know, I will say it does feel so weird in a modern age to have a segment on Sesame Street that isn't Muppet dominated. Like, you can't do a modern episode without Elmo or Big Bird or someone else being the focal point of the lesson and story. But, not counting the Muppet segments in-between the main story, it's five minutes until there's a Muppet on screen with the focus being on the human characters. It's quaint, but you do also get that sense of wanting to ask where Big Bird is. Well, here he is. And he too finds the idea of a Wicked Witch on Sesame Street as quite the larf as he grabs the broom.
That makes the Witch return to try and snatch it from Big Bird despite, you know, that being established. Now even madder now threatens to turn Big Bird into a feather duster and David into a basketball, which feels really, really, reallyreallyreally specific, but I'm keeping my white mouth shut. But I think it speaks to trauma #2, which is that the plot really feels full of dread and negativity. You have the witch making threats to harm everyone in Sesame Street, and it's all mixed with a lot of angry shouting and arguing, which can definitely be upsetting for little kids.
The Witch is once again sans-broom, so she needs to come up with another plan. Meanwhile, Oscar the Grouch hits on her, which there have been weirder ships, I guess. But after Oscar's advances are rebuked, the Witch hatches one more plan to get the broom. And that's to turn herself into...
Margaret Hamilton. The perfect disguise.
While that's going down we get the greatest image in all 50+ years of Sesame Street. Big Bird wielding a hockey stick and baseball bat, saying he'll ensure that no witch enters the store to get the broom. And I get that he's a "big bird", but he's also canonically six years old. So the idea of this giant preschool bird going full Casey Jones and cracking witch skulls may be the single greatest idea in the history of anything. But would he carry a cricket bat? He has to know what a crumpet is to understand cricket. Also, he falls for the Witch's disguise so... it's the thought that counts?
Entering Hooper's store, which is now dried (or I guess dry enough to not melt her. I know, I know, blame my dumb brain), she gets relayed about the situation from David and she asks in a far less screaming way to have the broom. And, you know, props to David, he knows that it's the Witch trying once again, and has her ask nicely to have the broom. And in a situation that must feel like the equivalent of having Dorothy's house fall on her, the Witch manages to say "please", which is all she had to do to avoid this whole fiasco.
The Witch gets her broom and is finally happy to be leaving Sesame Street. But also, given she's a cocky witch, she flies the broom with no hands, causing the broom to fall back into David's possession and the cosmic ballet goes on. Although, I'd just imagine he just gives the witch back instead of dealing with all of this again.
And that's the infamous Wicked Witch episode. And while far from the weirdest, it does feel so tonally off. I can definitely see how a really young kid could have been frightened by it. From the Witch's design, to the effects when she grabs the broom, everyone yelling, her threats. There's such a weird dread feeling to the episode that doesn't feel like Sesame Street, even of that era in the show. So I can also see this being a learning experience in gauging what the young audience can handle. And save for a few bumps in the road, they definitely corrected course over time.
But I also really love this whole thing and it comes almost entirely from Margaret Hamilton as the Wicked Witch. You can tell she's having fun in the role and that she still had it in terms of making the character believable. And given some of t he horror stories on set of Wizard of Oz involving Margaret, that she still could do this character this well and with this much gusto is testament to how great she was as an actress. So I would definitely recommend this as a quick watch as it's still entertaining and still a fine example of why Sesame Street has endured for as long as it has.
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