]> freudberg_j Judy Freudberg Papers An inventory of her papers at Syracuse University MRC &su_name; &su_address; 30 Aug 2012 Michele Combs 30 Aug 2012 English Overview of the Collection &su_name; &su_address; Freudberg, Judy. Judy Freudberg Papers 1976-2010 4.5 linear ft. American television writer. Collection includes notes, drafts, scripts and story ideas for Sesame Street, Elmo's World and various other creative projects. 3950797 English Biographical History

Judy Freudberg (1949-2012) was an American television writer. A graduate of Syracuse University, she was a scriptwriter for Sesame Street for more than 35 years and was the co-creator and head writer of the "Elmo's World" segment. She also wrote sketches for celebrities appearing on Sesame Street, and co-wrote the screenplays for the animated features films The Land Before Time and An American Tail.

 Scope and Contents of the Collection

The Judy Freudberg Papers consists of notes, drafts, scripts and story ideas for Sesame Street, Elmo's World and various other creative projects.

The Elmo's World series consists of an official guide to the show (including a sketch of the set) and notes and scripts (some partial) for six seasons as well as an Elmo's World special (undated). The miscellaneous material includes lists of Elmo's World home videos, ideas for show topics, notes and memos about the show, and other assorted items.

The Sesame Street series contains bound scripts, inserts, files for individual shows, and miscellaneous Sesame Street-related items. Bound scripts encompass 25 years and eleven seasons. Not all shows are represented, and the scripts that are present are partial only; presumably only the parts that Freudberg wrote are included but this cannot be verified. Inserts consist of very short pieces intended to be inserted into a show; the inserts for Season 41 include a CD labeled "SS Puppet Inventory Animals." Show files contain notes, memos, and various version of scripts (drafts, production meeting copies, final copies). A few also contain music or lyrics for songs. The show file for show #4126, Rocco's birthday party, includes a CD labeled "Operatic Lullaby." Miscellaneous material includes handwritten notes with ideas for sketches, copies of Sesame Street curriculum guides for several seasons, handouts from creative meetings and workshops, and assorted other items.

Subject files contains notes, ideas, scripts and pitch documents for a range of creative projects, ranging from two episodes for the WGBH series Between the Lions to pitch documents for Mrs. Sparklenose's Flying Fairy School to handwritten notes for what appears to be a novel.

 Arrangement of the Collection

Material is divided into the three series given above. Within each series, scripts, inserts and show files are arranged chronologically while subject files are arranged alphabetically by title or topic.

 Separated Material

Five hardcover books have been transferred to Rare Books for cataloging. Please refer to &summitref; to locate these items. The titles are:

Sesame Street Unpaved: Scripts, Stories, Secrets and Songs (Borgenicht) Susan and Gordon Adopt a Baby (based on script by Freudberg) Vegetable Soup (Freudberg and Geiss) Molly Moves to Sesame Street (Freudberg), hardcover, book club edition Molly Moves to Sesame Street (Freudberg), hardcover, trade edition Subject and Genre Headings Popular culture Radio, television, filmFreudberg, Judy. Children's Television Workshop. Sesame Workshop. Elmo's world. Sesame Street (Television program) Muppets (Fictitious characters) Television and children. Television in preschool education. Correspondence. Drafts (documents) Research notes. Synopses. Television scripts. Treatments (documents) Authors. Television writers. Women television writers. Access Restrictions

The majority of our archival and manuscript collections are housed offsite and require advanced notice for retrieval. Researchers are encouraged to contact us in advance concerning the collection material they wish to access for their research.

 Use Restrictions

Written permission must be obtained from SCRC and all relevant rights holders before publishing quotations, excerpts or images from any materials in this collection.

 Preferred Citation

Preferred citation for this material is as follows:

Judy Freudberg Papers, &su_name;

Acquisition Information

Gift of Joan Leibovitz, Jean Ballin, and Lee Freudberg, 2012.

 Inventory Elmo's World Official guide includes sketch of set 1998, undated Show files Season 33, Wild Wild West script, various versions 2001 2 folders 1 Season 35, Bathtime script, various versions 2003 1 Season 36, Jumping script, various versions 2004 1 Season 37, Horses script, various versions 2005 1 Season 38, Violins script, various versions 2006 1 Season 39, Eyes script, various versions 2007 1 Special undated 1 Miscellaneous notes, memos, lists of Elmo home videos, potential topics, etc. 2 Sesame Street Bound scripts Season 8 shows 926, 941, 946, 957, 965, 1000, 1011, 1016, 1023, 1026, 1035, 1053 1976-1977 2 Season 9 shows 1058, 1063, 1070, 1075, 1081, 1089, 1095, 1124, 1125, 1127, 1129, 1135, 1136, 1137, 1143, 1146, 1148, 1154, 1157, 1168, 1172, 1173, 1181, 1178, 1182, 1185 1977-1978 2 Season 10 shows 1186, 1188, 1196, 1208, 1215, 1216, 1217, 1225, 1226, 1228, 1252, 1256, 1261, 1263, 1284, 1290, 1293, 1299, 1304, 1307, 1313 1978-1979 2 Season 11 shows 1316-1321, 1324, 1329, 1331, 1339, 1347, 1349, 1356, 1363, 1366, 1371, 1409 1979-1980 3 Season 23 shows 2885, 2886, 2901, 2906, 2912, 2915, 2920, 2936, 2949, 2968, 2994, 3000, 3005 1991-1992 3 Season 25 shows 3153, 3140, 3161, 3181, 3199, 3212, 3233, 3248, 3255, 3261 1993-1994 3 Season 26 shows 3280, 3297, 3300, 3331, 3352, 3367, 3370, 3395 1994-1995 3 Season 27 shows 3401, 3405, 3406, 3456, 3457, 3473, 3478, 3496, 3500, 3503, 3508, 3509, 3516, 3525 1995-1996 4 Season 28 shows 3530, 3536, 3549, 3557, 3561, 3600, 3593, 3592, 3602, 3619, 3648, 3652, 3653 1996-1997 4 Season 29 shows 3656, 3660, 3666, 3672, 3674, 3687, 3698, 3702,3715, 3761, 3762, 3766, 3776, 3782 1997-1998 5 Season 31 shows 3854, 3879, 3882, 3904, 3905, 3913, EW 20 1999-2000 5 Inserts International 5 Nathan Lane 5 Season 35 "Trash Gordon" inserts 5 Season 38 miscellaneous, for shows 4141, 4145, 4152, 4158 5 Season 40 miscellaneous, for shows 4187, 4190, 4194, 4197, 4203, 4207 6 Season 41 miscellaneous, for shows 4216, 4223, 4229, 4238; handwritten notes; CD, "SS Puppet Inventory Animals" (freudberg_002) 6 Show files

Season number is given in parentheses following the show number.

 4057 (35) Sesame Street meets Elmo's World; draft; Revision #1, #2, #3; lyrics for "The Street I Live On," music and lyrics for "The Snuffleupagus" 2003 2 folders 6 4069 (35) Snuffy's invisible, part 1; notes, drafts, production meeting copy, lyrics to "I Love Trash" 2003 6 4070 (35) annotated draft 2003 6 4075 (35) Cookie Monster, while waiting for cookies, writes a story; notes, drafts 2003 6 4080 (35) Elmo's [Barkley's] fairy godperson grants his wish to become a bird [turn Zoe into a bird]; notes, draft, production meeting copy 2003 6 4090 (36) Big Bird wants to bake special birdseed cookies for his granny; drafts, production meeting copy, final 2004 6 4099 (36) Zoe needs a rock-sitter for Rocco; drafts, production meeting copy, final 2004 6 4100 (36) Baby Bear and Telly collaborate on a story; drafts, production meeting copy, final 2004 7 4107 (36) Rosita can't go to Mexico so Big Bird and friends bring Mexico to her; notes, drafts, production meeting copy, final 2004 7 4111 (37) Cookie World; drafts, production meeting copy, final 2005 7 4117 (37) Elmo celebrates the letter J by changing his name to Jelmo; drafts, final 2005 7 4126 (37) Rocco's birthday party; drafts, production meeting copy, final; includes CD, "Operatic Lullaby" (freudberg_001) 2005 7 4132 (37) Big Bird and Snuffy want to play with Gina's new baby; notes, draft, production meeting copy, final 2005 7 4138 (38) Elmo is in love with his favorite book, "Lucy the Lazy Lizard"; drafts, photocopy of music and lyrics for "What Makes Music" 2006 7 4141 (38) Big Bird accidentally breaks Elmo's tricycle; notes, drafts, production meeting copy, final 2006 7 4148 (38) drafts 2006 7 4152 (38) Elmo wishes he had a pet dinosaur; notes, drafts, production meeting copy, final 2006 7 4171 (39) drafts only 2007 7 4175 (39) drafts only 2007 7 4177 (39) drafts only 2007 7 4180 (39) drafts only; includes "30 Rock" parody 2007 7 4183 (39) Maria the Cowgirl; drafts, final (partial?); date differs because original show no. was 4171 2006 7 4194 (40) Quest for words that start with Y; drafts 2008 8 4197 (40) Cookie Monster wishes for a cookie tree; drafts, production meeting copy 2008 8 4206 (40) Big Bird visits the doctor when he hurts his arm and has to wear a sling; notes, drafts, production meeting copy 2008 8 4207 (40) letter G; notes, drafts 2008 8 4210 (40) Gordon teaches Abby to ride a tricycle; notes, drafts, production meeting copy, "Revised #1" 2008 8 4218 (40) notes, drafts 2008 8 4223 (41) letter K, number 19; notes, drafts 2009 8 4229 (41) notes, drafts, words and music for "Singing in the Shower," proof of concept document for "Munchin' Impossible" by Syndi Shumer 2009 8 4238 (41) letter Z, number 15; notes, drafts 2009 8 Miscellaneous ideas handwritten notes with various ideas for Sesame Street spots 8 Miscellaneous season curriculm guides, notes, memos, etc. 1996-2010, undated 8 Subject files The Alphabet Thieves 1995 8 Between the Lions WGBH series Pirates contract, episode guide, notes, drafts, feedback from WGBH 1998-1999 9 Pygmalion notes, episode outline, drafts 1998-1999 9 Boomer story of a horse; notes, outline, drafts 2007 9 Fairy School "Mrs. Sparklenose's Flying Fairy School," a school for magical preschoolers; pitch documents, drafts of two scripts 2007 9 Letter stories notes, partial draft about Sam the Singing Sock undated 9 Murray notes, drafts; draft episodes include karate school, farming school, nature school, gymnastics school, etc. 2008 9 Show ideas, miscellaneous Furry Arms pitch document (Freudberg et al.), Zoe Hawker Neighborhood Dog Walker (Katchke), Frog and Toad Together, Extreme Adventure (Nat. Geo / Fox Kids) 2002, undated 9 Umbilical Brothers

See The Upside Down Show

 The Upside Down Show Pitch documents explanation, outline, characters, etc., using title "The Umbilical Brothers" 9 Barbershop thumbnail, drafts 9 Beach pilot script, using title "The Umbilical Brothers" 9 Miscellaneous character outline, curriculum, word lists, development notes, possible episode topics/titles, etc. 9 Unidentified several handwritten pages, possibly the outline for a novel 9