90 Friday, September 9, 1983
Best wishes for a
happy, healthy
New Year
MR. & MRS. PAUL FRANK
& FAMILY
THE DETROIT JEWISH NEWS
`Sesame Street' Goes Israeli
_ By ADDLE DRECKSLER
From Israel Scene
A giant hedgehog dressed
in Sherlock Holmes plaids
and carrying an over-sized
A Very Happy and Healthy
New Year to All Our Friends
and Family
BEN & CELL STOCKER
M111111511I1W1111111111
May the coming year be
one filled with health,
happiness and
prosperity for all our
friends and family.
THE KATZMAN'S, PAUL & LOIS,
DAVID, STEVEN & HEIDI
May the New Year Bring
To All Our Friends
and Family
Health,
Joy, Prosperity
and Everything
Good in Life
HAROLD & LISA PERLSTEIN
May the New Year Bring
To All Our Friends
and Family
Health,
Joy, Prosperity
and Everything
Good in Life
FRANCES ROSENZWEIG (MRS. FELIX) & CHILDREN
MICHAEL & SHELLI
ROBERT, DENA & MIRIAM
magnifying glass paces be-
fore a sign which reads, in
Hebrew, "Kippi the Detec-
tive — Brief and To the
Point."
Kippi is engrossed in solv-
ing the great mysteries of
the neighborhood — like
why trash cans are always
full at night and empty in
the morning.
The detective role is a
new one for Kippi Ben Kip-
pot. In fact, Kippi himself is
new. He is one of the resi-
dents of "Rehov Sumsum,"
literally translated as
"Sesame Street."
Attempts were made
many years ago to bring
"Sesame Street" to Israel,
but the results were less
than satisfactory. After
all, there were the
English letters and words
on the screen — with He-
brew subtitles under-
neath. The result was
total confusion.
Then, about two years
ago, the idea of presenting
"Sesame Street" in Israel
was broached once again by
members of the Children's
Television Workshop,
which produced the pro-
gram in the U.S.
This time, however, the
plan was not to show the
American series in Israel,
but rather to create a
home-made version that
would be based on the origi-
nal.
It fell to the Children's
Television Workshop corn-
pany to find funding for the
initial phase of production,
which they did at the
Charles Revson Founda-
tion. Meanwhile, the task of
Israel Educational TV was
to find the personnel to
make it all happen. They,
too, succeeded.
Ruth Ben-Shaul was
appointed executive
producer and a team of
nearly 80 talented young
writers, actors, musi-
cians, animators and di-
rectors was assembled.
Once the skeleton team
was established in Israel,
they traveled to New York
to study with their CTW
counterparts. In addition,
preliminary seminars were
organized in Israel to pre-
pare educators and
teachers, and Norman
Stiles, the chief writer for
the original "Sesame
Street," came over to con-
duct a scripwriters' semi-
nar.
Then the job really began
in earnest.
For Ben-Shaul and the
five production teams under
her — handling studio seg-
ments, filming, animation,
dubbing and music — the
new project is challenging,
difficult — but also fun and
a bit crazy. Phase One of
"Rehov Sumsum" consists
of 65 shows composed of
about 10 minutes of Ameri-
can content dubbed in He-
brew.
The curriculum is
geared to Israel with the
emphasis on teaching
children about their own
country and cultures,
along with the reading,
conceptual learning and
the rest.
The "Rehov Sumsum" set
.
has been built as "Any-
Street" in "Any-Town," Is-
rael, with typical houses
and architectural styles
surrounded by parks,
playgrounds and street
signs.
It is peopled with a di-
verse selection of char-
acters: Natan, a typical
young Sabra; Yona, a
motherly Yemenite woman;
Shosh, an attractive
Sephardi girl; Albert, a new
immigrant learning He-
brew in a language school;
and Rassan, an Arab stu-
dent.
The central message of
the program, says Ben-
Shaul, is that there is a
great diversity of cultures,
habits, languages and opin-
ions in Is-rael — and yet all
can, and do, exist together
on one street.
At present, Kippi is the
only puppet among the
humans. He was de-
signed by Israeli Avner
Katz and made in the
New York studio of
Bobby Harrison, creator
of Miss Piggy. It is hoped
that during Phase Two of
production, a second
puppet — perhaps a
grouchy parallel to Oscar
— will be added to reduce
Kippi's workload.
The program is a full co-
production with CTW,
which means that it will al-
ways be part American.
Also, CTW sets very high
standards for levels of pro-
gramming; and content
must be fit into the existing
"Sesame Street"
framework.
But the arrangement also
means that the Israeli team
reaps the benefits of the
"Sesame Street" develop-
mental experience. There is
no worry of censorship by
New York of Israeli plans
since the two groups are
thinking and writing along
the same lines.
Both in Israel and in New
York, there are high expec-
tations for "Rehov Sum-
sum." When the program
airs for the first time in Sep-
tember, it will be seen four
afternoons and two morn-
ings a week. Because of Is-
rael's centralized educa-
tional system, support per-
sonnel will be able to work
closely with teachers, help-
ing them to make the best
use of the show and reinforc-
ing its goals and educa-
tional format.
Already, work is
underway for prepara-
tion of accompanying
books, records, toys and
games. And if the pro-
gram proves - as suc-
cessful as early predic-
tions indicate, "Kippi
dolls" may be next year's
hottest Hanuka gift
items.
There are also thoughts
already of sending "Rehov
Sumsum" back to the
United States via cable
television. It could be an ex-
cellent vehicle for teaching
Hebrew as a second lan-
guage, as well as for giving
American children a view of
life in Israel. But many
problems must first be
worked out by the think-
tank investigating the idea.
111111111HEINWrill1111
May the coming year be
one filled with health,
happiness and
prosperity for all our
friends and family.
MRS. SOL AMSEL &
DAUGHTER MARILYN
MR. &
To All Our
Relatives
and Friends,
Our wish for a
year filled with
happiness,
health and prosperity
ROSA, GEORGE, MARK &
ELANA CHESSLER
May the New Year Bring
To All Our Friends
and Family
Health,
Joy, Prosperity
and Everything
Good. in Life
DAVID, ROBERTA,
MARC & JODI COOPER
May the New Year Bring
To All Our Friends
and Family — Health,
Joy, Prosperity
and Everything
Good in Life
MAE & MILT GOODMAN,
LESLIE, ROBBIE & CINDY