Lots of coverage last week of the death of British actress Jean Marsh. Most stories about her career highlight her starring role in Upstairs, Downstairs (which she also co-created) and her multiple stints on Doctor Who (she was married at one point to Third Doctor Jon Pertwee as well).
But only my favourite Muppet fan site Tough Pigs noted that she had appeared in a long-lost TV special entitled The Grover Monster-Jean Marsh Cartoon Special in 1975, broadcast by PBS as part of its regular fundraising drives. (1975 was in fact the first year PBS had a nationally coordinated pledge drive approach, branded “‘Festival ’75”.)
Like much kids’ TV of the era, there is no known recording of this special. It was repeated multiple times by individual PBS stations, but no copy seems to have survived, and no-one has unearthed script documents to date.
Even the normally comprehensive Muppet Wiki doesn’t say very much in its entry about the show.
Per the wiki, these are the basic facts:
- The Grover Monster-Jean Marsh Cartoon Special included animated segments from Sesame Street and The Electric Company (another show from Sesame Street production house Children’s Television Workshop, aka CTW).
- Some of the animators involved were Chuck Jones (of Looney Tunes fame) and John Hubley.
- The cartoons were introduced and linked by Marsh and Grover.
- Those links were written by Norman Stiles and Jim Thurman (both established Sesame scribes), while the show was produced by David Connell (a Sesame producer) and Sheldon Renan.
- Its first broadcast was apparently on 1 April 1975, though we’re not told which station had that privilege. The special was designed for fundraising and hence would have seen many different broadcast dates in different cities, as is evident from the blank spaces on this promotional image sent out to stations.
The pairing of Marsh and Grover isn’t as odd as you might initially think. Upstairs, Downstairs was produced by ITV in Britain, but had become a big hit on PBS, screening as part of its Masterpiece Theater series. PBS had been the home of Sesame Street since that show launched in 1969 (as I’ve documented before, it launched in Australia in 1971). Linking two hit shows made sense as a fundraiser, with Marsh’s presence attracting an older audience while Grover and the cartoons brought in the kids.
That connection was of course open to misinterpretation. In the Daily Utah Chronicle of Friday 7 March 1975, TV columnist Lou Borgenicht remarked that the special was “PBS’ latest gimic [sic] . . . a cartoon version of Upstairs/Downstairs”. Clearly Borgenicht wasn’t being literal, given the following entry reads “Funny Girl to Funny Lady: To funny farm with Barbra Streisand.”
As you can see, there’s quite a bit of contemporary newspaper coverage to explore to discover more about the special. Let’s dive into the archives and see what we can learn. Spoiler alert: I checked more than 500 TV guide listings, advertisements and newspaper articles in researching this piece. There’s a lot going on!
Where was The Grover Monster-Jean Marsh Cartoon Special filmed?
The San Francisco Examiner on Sunday 9 March 1975 provides a lot of extra information in an interview with Frank Oz, the original Muppet performer for Grover. Crucially, it reveals that the linking material was filmed at the studios of San Francisco station KQED Channel 9 – not, as we might otherwise have guessed, at the CTW studios in New York.
The report notes that The Grover Monster-Jean Marsh Cartoon Special was due to be broadcast “next Saturday” at 515pm and again at 7pm. “Next Saturday” was 15 March 1975, which is ahead of the 1 April date cited by Muppet Wiki. It would make sense that the station which filmed the special would be the first to show it, though, as we’ll see shortly, that wasn’t actually the first broadcast either.
Fascinatingly, the report also reveals that Oz ad-libbed heavily during the shoot, including a number of “adult” jokes that never would have passed muster on Sesame Street.
While taping and rehearsing the special, Oz and Jean Marsh tossed lines back and forth and adlibbed throughout the long morning and afternoon. Some of Oz’ adlibs broke up the crew and brought forth elegant giggles from Ms. Marsh, but they couldn’t be used for a family show.
But having definite ideas about the distinct personalities and characteristics of his Muppets and not wanting those images destroyed, Oz had to be reassured by the producer that the blue lines would be erased and wouldn’t accidentally slip into the final show. “The child places a lot of trust in you and you should never betray that trust,” he explains.
Even more information emerges from a report in Tulsa World on Sunday 16 March 1975:
From this we learn that rehearsal and shooting took six hours – not unexpected for a Muppet production, even though the total inserted material was unlikely to run more than a dozen minutes.
We also get a detailed description of Marsh’s appearance:
Jean is wearing a pink long-sleeved blouse with white collar and cuffs and a long brown skirt. Her hair, thick and chestnut, is pulled back loosely and moored with a long white ribbon. She wears leather boots that wrinkle elegantly around her ankles. She looks great.
This description is useful, not least because there don’t seem to be any colour images surviving from the broadcast. The promo pictures sent out were black and white because that’s what newspapers would want and use. The only colour image I’ve seen is this image (via Muppet Wiki) from a KCET pledge drive where the special can be seen on a screen in the background, and that doesn’t show much detail.
On top of this, there’s a more detailed account of some of the ‘adult’ improv dialogue between Marsh and Grover:
“If I married a monster,” Jean asks, “would I have a monster baby?”
“I hope so,” Grover says. “I hope so, too,” Jean says.
She pats Grover and chides him for not taking a bath. Then she gives him a massage. Grover enjoys this.
“I can see you’re very tactile,” Jean says.
Get a room, people.
We also learn that during filming, Oz felt that the script needed an additional joke, and asked writer Jim Thurman to come up with something on the spot:
After a while, Thurman comes back and gives Oz a wacky, Lewis Carroll-like nonsense rhyme. Oz reads it over, looking puzzled.
“Where the hell did you get this, Jim?”
Producer Dave Connell thinks it will work and they use it.
And then the flirting continues.
“I can do something you can’t do,” Jean says to Grover. She taps her nose and her tongue pops out. She pulls on her throat and her tongue darts back.
“I know something you can’t do,” Grover says.
“What’s that?”
“Stick a wire in your arm.”
When shooting wraps, Marsh and Oz improvise a 20-second, 30-second and 60-second promo shot for the special. Like the show itself, those have not survived.
Despite his evident worries about Grover’s reputation being sullied, Oz clearly enjoyed the shoot:
It’s such a pleasure to work with someone as talented and intelligent as Jean Marsh. She and Grover hit it off.
Frank Oz, Tulsa World, Sunday 16 Mar 1975, page 116
What about Sheldon Renan? An article from the Kennebec Journal on Thursday 14 August 1975 reveals he was working for KQED at the time, and suggests that the production was a spin-off from the International Animation Festival event running on PBS (and hosted by Marsh):
While we were researching animated films for the ‘International Animation Festival,” said producer Sheldon Renan, of KQED/San Francisco “we kept coming across excellent work from The Electric Company’ and ‘Sesame Street’.
Clearly that quote was part of the media release PBS stations sent out to promote the show. I’ve seen it pop up in a few other articles, sometimes with an additional sentence.
There was so much high-quality animation work from those two sources that we decided to produce a new and exciting relationship with The Children’s Television Workshop.
What cartoons were featured in The Grover Monster-Jean Marsh Cartoon Special?
Contemporary listings show the special ran for an hour (though that would have included provision for the PBS station showing the special to include a local membership drive promotion).
Pedant note #1: It isn’t really accurate to describe Grover as being from The Electric Company, as this listing does. Grover did feature in episode 491 of the show, in a skit where he was trying to find his way home to Sesame Street. But the first broadcast of this was on 10 March 1975 – after this advertisement was published. So even on a technicality, I won’t allow it.
Confusingly, some advertising says the show only ran for 30 minutes, but we’ll put that down to human error. But what did the show contain?
The Examiner article offers some more information about the contents of the special. The Chuck Jones contribution was a Road Runner cartoon, which would have been sourced from The Electric Company.
Jones produced a series of short Road Runner skits for the show; at least five are known to have been produced, and four ended up on a “best-of” DVD for the show. The sketches were designed to improve reading skills, with Wile E Coyote seeing various signs while hunting his avian nemesis.
This newspaper advertisement from the Miami Herald of 1 April 1975 suggests that the SKIP segment was one of the featured cartoons.
You can see this clip here (at around the 2:15 mark).
There was also a “monster film by award-winning children’s book illustrator Maurice Sendak”. Sendak, best known then as now for Where The Wild Things Are, worked on two inserts for Sesame Street.
The first was ‘Seven Monsters’, originally broadcast on Sesame Street episode 247 in 1971. This was adapted into a book called Seven Little Monsters in 1975, which served as the basis for a TV series in 2000-2003.
The second was ‘Bumble-Ardy‘, originally broadcast in Sesame Street episode 283 (during the show’s third season in 1971, though it was filmed for the second). It was adapted as a book in 2011, a year before Sendak’s death.
Given that Sendak’s contribution to the Grover-Marsh special is described as a “monster film”, ‘Seven Monsters’ seems the more likely candidate for inclusion.
Interestingly, the book Sesame Street: A Celebration – 40 Years of Life on the Street reveals that the Sendak sketches had a frostier reception than you might expect:
Unfortunately, the Workshop started getting reports that children were, as [show founder] Joan Ganz Cooney put it, “freaked out” by them. The Workshop tested the pieces in day-care centres and discovered that the depictions of monsters and mayhem were indeed scaring kids, and they were pulled from the show’s lineup.
However, that process clearly took several years. The last listed appearance for ‘Seven Monsters’ in a Sesame Street episode on Muppet Wiki is Episode 737, broadcast on 11 February 1975 – around the same time that the Marsh/Grover special was being produced, as it happens. And clearly no-one thought the segment was too offputting to include in this special.
Pedant note #2: Despite the phrasing in A Celebration, I’m not convinced that the ban applied to ‘Bumble-Ardy’. The last appearance I can find for this on Sesame Street was in Episode 2650 from 1989, and it popped up numerous times throughout the 1970s and 1980s. Looks like the wires got a little crossed there.
Pedant note #3: the Wikipedia entry for Sendak says he produced an additional two sketches for Sesame Street, ‘Up & Down’ and ‘Broom Adventure’.
However, ‘Up & Down‘ is definitely NOT a Sendak creation (it’s a Jeff Moss song), and Muppet Wiki has no entry for ‘Broom Adventure’ at all. A Celebration also says Sendak only worked on these two inserts.
Narrowing down the contribution from John Hubley is a lot trickier. With his wife Faith, Hubley worked on more than 30 shorts for Sesame Street. The pair also produced material for The Electric Company, including the well-remembered Letterman series. Here’s a tiny selection of their jazz-inflected contributions:
We get some more clues from a reader review of the special published in the Buffalo News for Saturday 22 March 1975. Sandi Haefner watched the show the previous week with her son Mike.
Sandi’s enthusiastic review notes that Jean Marsh spoke about the high quality of modern animation in the USA. She also offers up some more clues on what was included:
But I wonder how many “big people” were really watching. Those who weren’t missed the story of the King of Eight, and some imaginative counting to 20. They missed the letter H, the function of “oo,” and some phonetic reading, all done cartoon-style.
A stop motion film produced by Jim Henson, ‘The King Of Eight‘ is one of the best-remembered classic era Sesame Street segments.
Sandi’s other clues aren’t so easy to narrow down. There are several animated segments about the letter H that aired prior to 1975. However, one possible candidate jumps out: ‘Elephants H’, which was produced by John and Faith Hubley.
Interestingly, this ad for the show from the Courier-Journal on Saturday 8 March 1975 might appear to suggest that other Muppets, including Oscar, appeared with Grover on the special.
However, there’s no mention of this in the filming accounts I’ve looked at, and no reason non-animated footage from Sesame Street would be used. I suspect the local station either couldn’t get access to the official promotional shot (though we know it existed by this date) or else accidentally sent in another Sesame Street image – the caption below the ad appears to assume that Jean Marsh is visible.
Broadcast history for The Grover Monster-Jean Marsh Cartoon Special
Here’s every broadcast of the special I’ve been able to identify. I’m sure there were others, especially given that many stations showed the special multiple times a day or over the course of a weekend.
The very earliest broadcast I’ve found evidence for was a preview on 2 March 1975 on New Jersey public television, Channel 50 (WNJN).
Most markets showed the special for the first time around mid-March, but some didn’t use it until later in the year and there were quite a few Christmas 1975 encore broadcasts. Repeats continued sporadically right up until early 1978.
| Date | Station | Time |
|---|---|---|
| Sun 2 Mar 1975 | Channel 50 Montclair | 6pm |
| Fri 7 Mar 1975 | Channel 15 San Diego | 6pm |
| Fri 7 Mar 1975 | Channel 57 Bryan | 6:30pm |
| Fri 7 Mar 1975 | Channel 9 Owensboro | 6:30pm |
| Fri 7 Mar 1975 | Channel 13 New York | 6:30pm |
| Fri 7 Mar 1975 | Channel 33 Lancaster | 7pm |
| Fri 7 Mar 1975 | Channel 23 Richmond | 7pm |
| Fri 7 Mar 1975 | Channel 16 Dayton | 7pm |
| Sat 8 Mar 1975 | Channel 9 San Francisco | 9:20am |
| Sat 8 Mar 1975 | Channel 13 New York | 12:30pm |
| Sat 8 Mar 1975 | Channel 57 Bryan | 6:15pm |
| Sat 8 Mar 1975 | Channel 7 Idaho | 3pm |
| Sat 8 Mar 1975 | Channel 7 Idaho | 3pm |
| Sat 8 Mar 1975 | Channel 7 Washington | 3pm |
| Sat 8 Mar 1975 | Channel 44 Scranton | 4pm |
| Sat 8 Mar 1975 | Channel 7 Montana | 4pm |
| Sat 8 Mar 1975 | Channel 44 Scranton | 4:30pm |
| Sat 8 Mar 1975 | Channel 73 Owensboro | 5pm |
| Sat 8 Mar 1975 | Channel 35 Kentucky | 5pm |
| Sat 8 Mar 1975 | Channel 67 Maryland | 5:30pm |
| Sat 8 Mar 1975 | Channel 10 Kentucky | 6pm |
| Sat 8 Mar 1975 | Channel 50 Passaic | 6pm |
| Sat 8 Mar 1975 | Channel 68 Louisville | 6pm |
| Sat 8 Mar 1975 | Channel 6 Tucson | 6:05pm |
| Sat 8 Mar 1975 | Channel 6 Sacramento | 7pm |
| Sat 8 Mar 1975 | Channel 35 Kalamazoo | 7pm |
| Sat 8 Mar 1975 | Channel 4 Idaho | 7pm |
| Sat 8 Mar 1975 | Channel 11 New Hampshire | 7pm |
| Sat 8 Mar 1975 | Channel 10 Wisconsin | 8pm |
| Sat 8 Mar 1975 | Channel 10 Memphis | 8pm |
| Sat 8 Mar 1975 | Channel 11 Kansas | 8pm |
| Sun 9 Mar 1975 | Channel 44 New York | 10:30am |
| Sun 9 Mar 1975 | Channel 13 New York | 12:30pm |
| Sun 9 Mar 1975 | Channel 7 Salem | 4:30pm |
| Sun 9 Mar 1975 | Channel 9 Evansville | 5pm |
| Sun 9 Mar 1975 | Channel 9 San Francisco | 5:15pm |
| Sun 9 Mar 1975 | Channel 29 Jackson | 5:30pm |
| Sun 9 Mar 1975 | Channel 23 New Jersey | 6pm |
| Sun 9 Mar 1975 | Channel 11 Utah | 6pm |
| Sun 9 Mar 1975 | Channel 57 Bryan | 6:15pm |
| Sun 9 Mar 1975 | Channel 24 Hartford | 9pm |
| Sun 9 Mar 1975 | Channel 8 Tennessee | 7pm |
| Mon 10 Mar 1975 | Channel 30 Atlanta | 7pm |
| Mon 10 Mar 1975 | Channel 21 Madison | 7pm |
| Mon 10 Mar 1975 | Channel 23 Lansing | 7:30pm |
| Mon 10 Mar 1975 | Channel 28 Ventura | 8pm |
| Tue 11 Mar 1975 | Channel 11 Kansas | 6pm |
| Tue 11 Mar 1975 | Channel 13 Texas | 7pm |
| Wed 12 Mar 1975 | Channel 7 Washington | 5:30pm |
| Wed 12 Mar 1975 | Channel 7 Idaho | 5:30pm |
| Wed 12 Mar 1975 | Channel 15 Kentucky | 6pm |
| Wed 12 Mar 1975 | Channel 2 Arkansas | 6:30pm |
| Wed 12 Mar 1975 | Channel 13 Pittsburgh | 7pm |
| Wed 12 Mar 1975 | Channel 48 Cincinnati | 7pm |
| Wed 12 Mar 1975 | Channel 56 Detroit | 7pm |
| Wed 12 Mar 1975 | Channel 28 Barstow | 7pm |
| Wed 12 Mar 1975 | Channel 49 Indiana | 7pm |
| Wed 12 Mar 1975 | Channel 10 Idaho | 7pm |
| Wed 12 Mar 1975 | Channel 54 | 8pm |
| Wed 12 Mar 1975 | Channel 24 Syracuse | 8pm |
| Wed 12 Mar 1975 | Channel 46 | 8pm |
| Wed 12 Mar 1975 | Channel 17 Buffalo | 8pm |
| Wed 12 Mar 1975 | Channel 21 New York | 8pm |
| Thu 13 Mar 1975 | Channel 5 Lubbock | 5:30pm |
| Thu 13 Mar 1975 | Channel 49 Indiana | 7pm |
| Thu 13 Mar 1975 | Channel 2 Boston | 8pm |
| Fri 14 Mar 1975 | Channel 49 Bridgeport | 9pm |
| Fri 14 Mar 1975 | Channel 9 Santa Rosa | 5:15pm |
| Fri 14 Mar 1975 | Channel 9 Santa Rosa | 7pm |
| Fri 14 Mar 1975 | Channel 24 Massachussets | 9pm |
| Fri 14 Mar 1975 | Channel 30 Bryan | 10pm |
| Fri 14 Mar 1975 | Channel 16 Dayton | 1pm |
| Sat 15 Mar 1975 | Channel 16 Ohio | 1pm |
| Sat 15 Mar 1975 | Channel 9 San Francisco | 5:15pm |
| Sat 15 Mar 1975 | Channel 28 Rutland | 5:30pm |
| Sat 15 Mar 1975 | Channel 9 San Francisco | 7pm |
| Sat 15 Mar 1975 | Channel 17 Rutland | 6pm |
| Sat 15 Mar 1975 | Channel 9 Richmond | 5:15pm |
| Sat 15 Mar 1975 | Channel 9 Petaluma | 5:15pm |
| Sat 15 Mar 1975 | Channel 9 San Antonio | 6pm |
| Sat 15 Mar 1975 | Channel 30 Bryan | 7pm |
| Sat 15 Mar 1975 | Channel 9 Petaluma | 7pm |
| Sat 15 Mar 1975 | Channel 6 Denver | 7pm |
| Sat 15 Mar 1975 | Channel 5 Orlando | 7pm |
| Sat 15 Mar 1975 | Channel 13 Wyoming | 7pm |
| Sat 15 Mar 1975 | Channel 39 New Jersey | 7:30pm |
| Sat 15 Mar 1975 | Channel 9 Palo Alto | 8pm |
| Sun 16 Mar 1975 | Channel 15 San Diego | 10am |
| Sun 16 Mar 1975 | Channel 10 Maine | 1pm |
| Sun 16 Mar 1975 | Channel 13 Pittsburgh | 4:30pm |
| Sun 16 Mar 1975 | Channel 12 Columbus | 5:30pm |
| Sun 16 Mar 1975 | Channel 12 Omaha | 5:30pm |
| Sun 16 Mar 1975 | Channel 11 | 5:30pm |
| Sun 16 Mar 1975 | Channel 9 Nebraska | 5:30pm |
| Sun 16 Mar 1975 | Channel 9 | 6pm |
| Sun 16 Mar 1975 | Channel 21 New York | 6pm |
| Sun 16 Mar 1975 | Channel 5 Orlando | 6pm |
| Sun 16 Mar 1975 | Channel 33 Lancaster | 6:30pm |
| Sun 16 Mar 1975 | Channel 15 Virginia | 6:30pm |
| Mon 17 Mar 1975 | Channel 3 Tampa | 7pm |
| Mon 17 Mar 1975 | Channel 11 Tulsa | 9pm |
| Mon 17 Mar 1975 | Channel 15 San Diego | 10:30pm |
| Fri 28 Mar 1975 | Channel 11 Hawaii | 1:30pm |
| Tue 1 Apr 1975 | Channel 2 Miami | 7:30pm |
| Tue 8 Apr 1975 | Channel 9 | 6:35pm |
| Tue 8 Apr 1975 | Channel 9 Tacoma | 7:35pm |
| Fri 18 Apr 1975 | Channel 29 South Carolina | 12pm |
| Sat 26 Apr 1975 | Channel 11 Hawaii | 6:30pm |
| Thu 22 May 1975 | Connecticut | 7pm |
| Thu 22 May 1975 | Channel 24 Massachussets | 7pm |
| Sat 7 Jun 1975 | Channel 11 New Hampshire | 7pm |
| Tue 10 Jun 1975 | Channel 34 South Bend | 6pm |
| Thu 12 Jun 1975 | Channel 13 Pittsburgh | 7:40pm |
| Sat 14 Jun 1975 | Channel 13 Pittsburgh | 2:30pm |
| Sat 21 Jun 1975 | Channel 6 Oakland | 7pm |
| Sun 29 Jun 1975 | Channel 8 Wichita | 4:30pm |
| Thu 10 Jul 1975 | Channel 30 | 9pm |
| Sun 10 Aug 1975 | Channel 9 Oakland | 9pm |
| Fri 15 Aug 1975 | Channel 7 Idaho | 6pm |
| Fri 15 Aug 1975 | Channel 7 Washington | 6pm |
| Fri 15 Aug 1975 | Channel 7 Idaho | 7pm |
| Sat 16 Aug 1975 | Channel 10 Kennebec | 6pm |
| Sat 16 Aug 1975 | Channel 9 San Francisco | 7pm |
| Sun 17 Aug 1975 | Channel 20 | 12pm |
| Sun 17 Aug 1975 | Channel 9 Indiana | 10:45pm |
| Tue 19 Aug 1975 | Channel 9 Redding | 8pm |
| Wed 20 Aug 1975 | Channel 50 Indiana | 7pm |
| Wed 20 Aug 1975 | Channel 56 Detroit | 8pm |
| Wed 20 Aug 1975 | Channel 19 Kansas | 8pm |
| Wed 20 Aug 1975 | Channel 15 San Diego | 9pm |
| Thu 21 Aug 1975 | Channel 19 Saginaw | 8pm |
| Sat 23 Aug 1975 | Channel 28 Los Angeles | 12pm |
| Mon 25 Aug 1975 | Channel 4 Idaho | 6pm |
| Tue 26 Aug 1975 | Channel 4 Idaho | 6pm |
| Mon 1 Sep 1975 | Channel 11 Kansas | 6pm |
| Fri 5 Sep 1975 | Channel 9 British Columbia | 3:30pm |
| Fri 5 Sep 1975 | Channel 4 Virginia | 8pm |
| Sat 13 Sep 1975 | Channel 23 Lansing | 8:15pm |
| Fri 19 Sep 1975 | Channel 14 Massachusetts | 7pm |
| Tue 4 Nov 1975 | Channel 34 South Bend | 7pm |
| Sat 6 Dec 1975 | Channel 6 Sacramento | 8pm |
| Sun 7 Dec 1975 | Channel 24 Massachussets | 6pm |
| Sun 7 Dec 1975 | Channel 19 Saginaw | 6:30pm |
| Sun 7 Dec 1975 | Channel 33 Lancaster | 7pm |
| Sun 7 Dec 1975 | Channel 24 Hartford | 7pm |
| Thu 11 Dec 1975 | Channel 15 San Diego | 6pm |
| Thu 11 Dec 1975 | Channel 6 Sacramento | 8pm |
| Fri 12 Dec 1975 | Channel 33 Hershey | 7pm |
| Sat 13 Dec 1975 | Channel 13 Pennsylvania | 2:30pm |
| Sat 13 Dec 1975 | Channel 7 Idaho | 6:30pm |
| Sat 20 Dec 1975 | Channel 7 Anchorage | 1:30pm |
| Wed 24 Dec 1975 | Channel 9 Pennsylvania | 7pm |
| Thu 25 Dec 1975 | Channel 7 Anchorage | 1:30pm |
| Sun 14 Mar 1976 | Channel 8 Arizona | 12pm |
| Sat 10 Jul 1976 | Channel 28 Los Angeles | 12pm |
| Mon 12 Jul 1976 | Channel 28 Los Angeles | 1pm |
| Mon 23 Aug 1976 | Channel 23 Lansing | 6pm |
| Mon 23 Aug 1976 | Channel 23 Detroit | 6:30pm |
| Sat 28 Aug 1976 | Channel 23 Lansing | 2:30pm |
| Sat 4 Sep 1976 | Channel 9 San Francisco | 7:35pm |
| Sun 5 Dec 1976 | Channel 44 | 7pm |
| Fri 10 Dec 1976 | Channel 9 San Antonio | 7pm |
| Sat 11 Dec 1976 | Channel 20 Indiana | 6pm |
| Mon 13 Dec 1976 | Channel 56 Detroit | 7pm |
| Sat 25 Dec 1976 | Channel 33 Lancaster | 4pm |
| Tue 28 Dec 1976 | Channel 9 Texas | 10am |
| Thu 27 Jan 1977 | Channel 21 Kentucky | 7pm |
| Tue 26 Jul 1977 | Channel 8 Galveston | 1pm |
| Sat 17 Sep 1977 | Channel 49 Indiana | 8pm |
| Sun 12 Feb 1978 | Channel 9 San Francisco | 3pm |
| Sun 12 Feb 1978 | Channel 33 Lancaster | 7pm |
Pedant note #4: Channel numbers are accurate, but the locations will only be approximate in many cases. Stations had a wide broadcast reach and some listings are definitely out-of-state or even out-of-country (Canadian papers often listed Detroit TV programming, for instance). Additionally, some PBS stations operated on multiple numbers but with identical or near-identical programming. If I’m really not sure, I’ve left the location out. Corrections and additions welcomed!
The initial broadcasts were often prime time and part of a membership drive, but some later repeats were more clearly marketed as kids-only programming. Here’s an example from the August 1975 broadcast in Indiana:
Let’s just glory in this for a moment:
Made Possible in Part by a Grant from the West Side Nut Club Fall Festival
Me being me, I can’t help noticing the occasional typo, such as “relieves” for “relives” in this listing from the Lansing State Journal on Saturday 8 March 1975:
For a November 1976 repeat, the local PBS station in South Bend, Idaho picked up on the theme of the mayoral election which took place that day in its advertising. (Incidentally, Steambath was infamous for Valerie Perrine showing her nipples on primetime network TV, still very much a no-no in the 1970s.)
When was The Grover Monster-Jean Marsh Cartoon Special filmed?
Given the broadcast dates, it already seemed likely the inserts for the special were filmed in February 1975. That’s confirmed by a report from the San Mateo Times on Tuesday 4 March 1975, which says Marsh flew over from London “last month” to film the inserts:
The turnaround was evidently speedy. Plans for the special were mentioned in the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette on 25 February 1975, including the much-used publicity photo of Marsh and Grover.
Notably, in many markets the special was broadcast around the same time as the first Muppet Show pilot was appearing on ABC. This pilot was hosted by Nigel, not Kermit, but did establish many of the elements that would feature in the show proper. Some reports noted the coincidence, such as this one from the Pittsburgh Press on Wednesday 12 March 1975:
And yes, before you ask, I’ve updated the relevant Muppet Wiki and Wikipedia entries to reflect the new facts I’ve uncovered here.
For even more TV history, check out whether Kwicky Koala is actually Australian and the full Australian broadcast history of the Star Wars Holiday Special. For more Muppets, you’ll want to see my utterly detailed guide to Muppet Race Mania.
And for the fact-checking types, here are all the newspaper references for the broadcast dates.
- The Record, 2/03/1975
- The Los Angeles Times, 7/03/1975
- Bryan Times, 7/03/1975
- Messenger-Inquirer, 7/03/1975
- Daily News, 7/03/1975
- Sunday News, 2/03/1975
- Richmond Times-Dispatch, 2/03/1975
- Dayton Daily News, 7/03/1975
- The San Francisco Examiner, 7/03/1975
- The Herald-News, 8/03/1975
- Bryan Times, 7/03/1975
- Shoshone News-Press, 7/03/1975
- The Kellogg Evening News, 6/03/1975
- Tri-City Herald, 7/03/1975
- The Tribune, 8/03/1975
- The Missoulian, 8/03/1975
- The Danville News, 7/03/1975
- Messenger-Inquirer, 8/03/1975
- Kentucky New Era, 8/03/1975
- The Frederick News-Post, 8/03/1975
- The Mayfield Messenger, 28/02/1975
- The Herald-News, 8/03/1975
- The Courier Journal, 8/03/1975
- Arizona Daily Star, 8/03/1975
- The Sacramento Bee, 8/03/1975
- The Kalamazoo Gazette, 8/03/1975
- The Idaho Statesman, 8/03/1975
- Concord Monitor, 8/03/1975
- The Post-Crescent, 2/03/1975
- The Commercial Appeal, 8/03/1975
- Garden City Telegram, 7/03/1975
- The Tribune, 9/03/1975
- Philadelphia Daily News, 7/03/1975
- Statesman Journal, 9/03/1975
- Evansville Press, 9/03/1975
- The San Francisco Examiner, 9/03/1975
- The Vicksburg Post, 9/03/1975
- The Montclair Times, 6/03/1975
- The Daily Utah Chronicle, 7/03/1975
- Bryan Times, 8/03/1975
- Hartford Courant, 9/03/1975
- The Leaf-Chronicle, 9/03/1975
- The Atlanta Journal, 10/03/1975
- Wisconsin State Journal, 8/03/1975
- Lansing State Journal, 8/03/1975
- Ventura County Star, 9/03/1975
- Parsons Sun, 7/03/1975
- The Paris News, 7/03/1975
- Tri-City Herald, 11/03/1975
- The Couer d’Alane Press, 7/03/1975
- The Courier Journal, 12/03/1975
- Hope Star, 11/03/1975
- Pittsburgh Press, 12/03/1975
- The Cincinnati Enquirer, 12/03/1975
- Detroit Free Press, 9/03/1975
- Desert Despatch, 10/03/1975
- The Star Press, 9/03/1975
- Idaho State Journal, 7/03/1975
- The Peninsula Times Tribute, 8/03/1975
- Syracuse Herald-Journal, 9/03/1975
- Press and Sun-Bulletin, 8/03/1975
- The Buffalo News, 12/03/1975
- Democrat and Chronicle, 9/03/1975
- Lubbock Avalanche-Journal, 9/03/1975
- Muncie Evening Press, 1/03/1975
- The Boston Globe, 9/03/1975
- The Bridgeport Post, 14/03/1975
- The Press Democrat, 14/03/1975
- The Press Democrat, 14/03/1975
- The Republican, 14/03/1975
- Bryan Times, 14/03/1975
- Dayton Daily News, 14/03/1975
- Springfield News-Sun, 15/03/1975
- The San Francisco Examiner, 9/03/1975
- Rutland Daily Herald, 15/03/1975
- The San Francisco Examiner, 9/03/1975
- Rutland Daily Herald, 15/03/1975
- The Independent, 15/03/1975
- Petaluma Argus-Courier, 15/03/1975
- San Antonio Express, 15/03/1975
- Bryan Times, 15/03/1975
- Petaluma Argus-Courier, 15/03/1975
- The Alliance Times-Herald, 15/03/1975
- The Orlando Senteniel, 9/03/1975
- Casper Star-Tribune, 15/03/1975
- Daily Record, 14/03/1975
- The Peninsula Times Tribute, 15/03/1975
- Sun-Journal, 15/03/1975
- Pittsburgh Press, 16/03/1975
- The Columbus Telegram, 15/03/1975
- Omaha World-Herald, 16/03/1975
- Bennington Banner, 16/03/1975
- Telegraph, 15/03/1975
- Bennington Banner, 16/03/1975
- The Daily Messenger, 16/03/1975
- The Orlando Senteniel, 16/03/1975
- Sunday News, 16/03/1975
- Newport News, 16/03/1975
- The Tampa Tribune, 16/03/1975
- Tulsa World, 16/03/1975
- Honolulu Star-Advertiser, 23/03/1975
- The Miami News, 1/04/1975
- The Province, 4/04/1975
- The News Tribune, 6/04/1975
- Anderson Independent, 18/04/1975
- Honolulu Star-Bulletin, 13/04/1975
- Record-Journal, 17/05/1975
- The Republican, 22/05/1975
- Concord Monitor, 7/06/1975
- The South Bend Tribune, 7/06/1975
- Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, 12/06/1975
- Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, 14/06/1975
- Oakland Tribune, 14/06/1975
- The Wichita Beacon, 29/06/1975
- Bryan Times, 10/07/1975
- Oakland Tribune, 10/08/1975
- The Coeur d’Alene Press, 15/08/1975
- Tri-City Herald, 15/08/1975
- Shoshone News-Press, 15/08/1975
- Kennebec Journal, 14/08/1975
- Oakland Tribune, 16/08/1975
- Ventura County Star, 17/08/1975
- Evansville Press, 16/08/1975
- The Sacramento Bee, 19/08/1975
- The Times, 20/08/1975
- Detroit Free Press, 17/08/1975
- The Kansas City Star, 20/08/1975
- The Saginaw News, 20/08/1975
- The Daily Breeze, 22/08/1975
- Idaho Free Press, 25/08/1975
- Idaho Free Press, 26/08/1975
- The Mercury, 31/08/1975
- Times Colonist, 5/09/1975
- Danville Register and Bee, 1/09/1975
- Lansing State Journal, 13/09/1975
- Daily Hampshire Gazette, 13/09/1975
- The South Bend Tribune, 4/11/1975
- The Sacramento Bee, 6/12/1975
- Berkshire Sampler, 7/12/1975
- The Saginaw News, 6/12/1975
- Sunday News, 7/12/1975
- Hartford Courant, 7/12/1975
- The Sacramento Bee, 11/12/1975
- The Evening Sun, 12/12/1975
- The Daily Courier, 6/12/1975
- The Couer d’Alane Press, 8/12/1975
- Anchorage Daily News, 20/12/1975
- The Province, 19/12/1975
- Anchorage Daily News, 24/12/1975
- Silver City Daily Press, 13/03/1976
- The Los Angeles Times, 4/07/1976
- Independent, 11/07/1976
- Lansing State Journal, 21/08/1976
- Detroit Free Press, 22/08/1976
- Lansing State Journal, 28/08/1976
- The San Francisco Examiner, 4/09/1976
- The Boston Globe, 5/12/1976
- San Antonio Express, 10/12/1976
- Chronicle Tribune, 5/12/1976
- Detroit Free Press, 12/12/1976
- The Evening Sun, 24/12/1976
- Express-News, 28/12/1976
- The Paducah Sun, 21/01/1977
- The Galveston Daily News, 26/07/1977
- Chronicle Tribune, 17/09/1977
- The Berkeley Gazette, 10/02/1978
- Sunday News, 12/02/1978
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