Oscar the Grouch is a Muppet character on the television program Sesame Street. He has a green body (during the 1969–1970 season he was orange), has no nose, and lives in a garbage can. His favorite thing in life is trash; evidence for this is the song "I Love Trash". Although "The Grouch" aptly describes his misanthropic interaction with the other characters and even to himself at times, it is also the name of his species. The character is performed by Carroll Spinney, and has been performed by him since the show's first episode. Through Oscar, children actually learn about respect and tolerance instead of disrespect and intolerance, and they discover that people with different views and lifestyles can still be great friends.

Origins

Oscar is named after Oscar Brand, a musician and one of the early board members of the Children's Television Workshop during Sesame Street's development in the late 1960s. Carroll Spinney has said in interviews that he modeled Oscar's voice on that of a grumpy New York cab driver he once hailed to get to the studio; when he first got in, the driver asked him "Where to, Mac?" and spoke with Spinney about the mayor of New York at the time (Democrat John Lindsay). Spinney's other lead character is Big Bird, who Oscar often describes to children as his friend during public appearances - he especially likes to prank him every morning by putting ketchup in his alarm clock during the morning of each episode taping. During the first season of Sesame Street, the street set was arranged such that Spinney, who is right-handed, was forced to operate Oscar's head with his left hand. A subsequent redesign of the set (and Oscar himself, as he was ripped apart by Jim Henson) allowed him to switch hands.

Attributes

Oscar can also become mobile with the help of his friend Bruno, the trashman, who carried Oscar around in his can. Bruno was a full-body costume which allows Oscar's puppeteer to manipulate Oscar while remaining hidden by the Bruno costume. (While Bruno was seen fairly regularly in Sesame Street's early days, he hasn't appeared on the show in over a decade.) Also, as seen in the Elmo's World episode "Dance", the underside of his trash can is somewhat detachable, with Oscar's legs protruding from the bottom of his trash can. Other evidence of this can be seen in Christmas Eve on Sesame Street (1978), when Oscar is ice skating. For several seasons, Oscar was frequently shown with his friend and pet Slimey, an orange worm. On occasional episodes he has mentioned leaving Sesame Street to attend "the annual Grouch convention in Syracuse, New York". Oscar openly admits that he does not like anything or anybody that is nice (except young human children, the only people that he can actually act nice to without facing ridicule from his fellow Grouches). However, the only person he has ever liked was Maria, but he would never admit it. He once inadvertently made a compliment of a dance that his followers, The Grouchketeers, had performed for him. He and his girlfriend Grundgetta also love each other, though their relationship is (understandably) somewhat rocky (though he does show care for her). As stated above, he is usually very nice to children especially when making public appearances with Spinney.

Oscar tries to keep his Canadian identity secret, but admitted that he is Canadian due to his parents being from Canada. His father being born in Saint David, New Brunswick, and his mother growing up in Nova Scotia.

In Oscar's trash can

While appearing to be the size of a normal trash can, Oscar's residence is — not unlike a TARDIS — actually larger inside than the exterior would suggest, as evidenced by the fact that Oscar has noted through the years that it boasts such amenities as a farm, swimming pool, bowling alley, and a piano. Other items include Slimey, Oscar's pet worm; Fluffy, Oscar's pet elephant; Oscar's shoes; and a dimension gate to Grouchland, Oscar's homeworld.

International

Sesame Street is localized for some different markets, and Oscar is often renamed and/or added more family.

• Bodoque was/is a brown Mexican Grouch who lived in a pile of boxes on Plaza Sesamo (from 1981 to 1995).
• Rumpel is a green German Grouch (since 1989). He is not identical to Oscar, who was featured in the early German adaptions of the American episodes.
• In Portugal his name is Ferrão, and does not live in a trash can, but rather in a barrel.
• In Turkey he is named Kırpık and lives in a big basket.
• In Pakistan he is named Akhtar and lives in a rusty oil barrel.
• In Israel a slightly different, orange puppet who lives in an old stationary car is called Moishe Oofnik: "Moyshe the complainer", loosely translated. It was mentioned in the show that Oscar was his American cousin.
• In Brazil his name is Gugu.
• In Poland his name is Oskar Zrzęda, a literal translation of his English name.
• In France his name was Mordicus in the first adaptation of the show (1, Rue Sésame).
• In Spain his name is Oscar de la Basura, (Garbage Oscar).
• In The Netherlands his name is Oscar Mopperkont, which is the literal translation for his English name.
• In Italy his name is "L'Oscar il Brontolone"

Appearances in other media

Oscar made what he called "a very brief cameo" in the 1981 Jim Henson movie The Great Muppet Caper. When Miss Piggy threw a truck driver (played by Peter Ustinov) into a pile of boxes and a trash can, Oscar emerged from the can and demanded "Hey, what's all the racket?" The driver asked him, "What are you doing here?" Oscar replied, "A very brief cameo." The driver muttered, "Me, too." Oscar also appeared in the Jim Henson holiday special, A Muppet Family Christmas, when the Sesame Street Gang comes to the Grizzly Farm House for the holidays.

Oscar could be seen among many villains in South Park ImaginationLand III.

Oscar was on an episode of Scrubs imagined as the new Chief of medicine.

Oscar inspired an Apple Macintosh hack written by Eric B. Shapiro and shown at the 1989 MacHack conference, featuring a singing animated Oscar that appeared from the trash can whenever a file was thrown away. The hack was so popular that some parents lost the entire contents of their hard disks to preschoolers wanting to see more of Oscar.

Oscar first appeared on the January 11, 2008 episode of the television game show 1 vs. 100 as a member of the mob. He was eliminated on both games. He continued to appear for the remainder of the season until the program's cancellation, but unfortunately didn't win much money.

The fumetti comic Twisted Toyfare Theater once featured Oscar in an issue in which he sings a variation of his "I Love Trash" song about Wesley Snipes' movies. In the end Wesley Snipes (as Blade) unfortunately decapitates him.

Oscar appeared in the animated television series The Simpsons episodes "Trash of the Titans" and "Missionary: Impossible".

Oscar was adopted as the mascot for Waste Reduction Week in Canada, an environmental campaign that took place October 19–25, 2008.

In an episode of The Grim Adventures of Billy and Mandy, and Oscar-like character emerges from a dustbin and instructs the viewer that it's "not cool" to play with scythes (in response to Irwin's stealing and misuse of grim's scythe) and instructs viewers to "tell an adult immediately" if they find one.

In Night at the Museum: Battle of the Smithsonian Oscar has an appearance with Darth Vader, trying to become part of Kah Mun Rah's team - only to be discovered that he's not evil, just grouchy.

On May 29, 2009, Oscar the Grouch appeared in an ABC television special on economics called Un-broke: What You Need to Know About Money. He appeared showing the viewers what investing stocks means. It's shown that he has investment filings with Lehman Brothers, Bear Stearns, and Washington Mutual even though they are bankrupt companies, but he then says that they're not really his filings. The press kit for the special reveals that Oscar was popular with the crew for the special even during filming.

On November 12, 2009, Oscar appeared on CNN to celebrate the 40th anniversary of Sesame Street. In an interview with Anderson Cooper, Oscar reveals that he would still be orange if he bathed. He referred to his green exterior as moss.

References

1. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sILeklYs5HQ
2. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H7TDiqoH5LE October 22, 2009 Interview on CBC Radio (13:30)
3. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H7TDiqoH5LE October 22, 2009 Interview on CBC Radio (1:30)
4. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H7TDiqoH5LE October 22, 2009 Interview on CBC Radio (1:51)
5. Sesame Street Characters in German wikipedia
6. http://muppet.wikia.com/wiki/Rumpel Muppet Wiki entry for Rumpel
7. Late Nights with MacHack, p. 27
8. http://canadianpress.google.com/article/ALeqM5hr5xOKyormdfCmLWURxL-T5zv2vg

External links