Joseph Raposo Jr., OIH (February 8, 1937 – February 5, 1989), left, was an American composer, pianist, television writer and lyricist, best known for his work on the children's television series Sesame Street, The Electric Company, Shining Time Station and on the sitcom Three's Company, including its theme song. In addition to these works, Raposo also composed extensively for Theodore Geisel, also known as Dr. Seuss, in Geisel's productions of Pontoffel Pock and His Magical Piano, Halloween Is Grinch Night, and The Grinch Grinches The Cat In The Hat for DePatie-Freleng Enterprises. The Order of Infante D. Henrique (Portuguese: Ordem do Infante D. Henrique) is a Portuguese honorific order that distinguishes relevant services for Portugal, in the country or in foreign ones, in the expansion of the Portuguese culture, its history and its values. ... February 8 is the 39th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar. ... 1937 (MCMXXXVII) was a common year starting on Friday (link will take you to calendar). ... is the 36th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 1989 (MCMLXXXIX) was a common year starting on Sunday (link displays 1989 Gregorian calendar). ... A composer is a person who writes music. ... Pianist Claudio Arrau, Carnegie Hall, 1954. ... A writer is anyone who creates a written work, although the word more usually designates those who write creatively or professionally, or those who have written in many different forms. ... This article or section does not adequately cite its references or sources. ... Childrens television series are television programmes designed for and marketed to children, normally aired during the morning and afternoon hours, mainly before and after school. ... Sesame Street is an American educational childrens television series for preschoolers and is a pioneer of the contemporary educational television standard, combining both education and entertainment. ... The Electric Company was an educational American childrens television series produced by the Childrens Television Workshop (now Sesame Workshop) for PBS in the United States. ... Shining Time Station was an American spin-off of Thomas the Tank Engine and Friends series, although it was co-created by Britt Allcroft. ... For the Entourage episode, see Threes Company (Entourage). ... Dr. Seuss is the pen name of Theodor Seuss Geisel (March 2, 1904 - September 24, 1991). ... Theodor Seuss Geisel (March 2, 1904 – September 24, 1991) was a famous American writer and cartoonist best known for his classic childrens books under the pen name Dr. Seuss, including The Cat in the Hat, Green Eggs and Ham, How the Grinch Stole Christmas and One Fish Two Fish... Halloween is Grinch Night is a 1977 cartoon narrated by Hans Conried Staring The Grinch. ... DePatie-Freleng Enterprises (sometimes abbreviated to DFE) was a Hollywood-based animation production company, active from 1963 to 1981. ...

The son of Portuguese immigrants, Raposo was born in Fall River, Massachusetts.^[1] He was a graduate of Harvard College, class of 1958, where he was well known for writing the scores for several Hasty Pudding shows, and was a close friend of mathematician, songwriter and satirist Tom Lehrer and Academy Award-winning filmmaker Bert Salzman. The Fall River skyline, as seen from Somerset. ... Harvard University (incorporated as The President and Fellows of Harvard College) is a private university in Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA and a member of the Ivy League. ... The Hasty Pudding Theatricals, known informally simply as The Pudding, is a theatrical student society at Harvard University, known for its burlesque musicals. ... Leonhard Euler, one of the greatest mathematicians of all time A mathematician is a person whose primary area of study and research is the field of mathematics. ... A songwriter is someone who writes the lyrics to songs, the musical composition or melody to songs, or both. ... List of satirists below - writers, cartoonists and others known for their involvement in satire - humourous social criticism. ... Thomas Andrew (Tom) Lehrer (born April 9, 1928) is an American singer-songwriter, satirist, pianist, and mathematician. ... Although he never won an Oscar for any of his movie performances, the comedian Bob Hope received two honorary Oscars for his contributions to cinema. ... The film director, on the right, gives last minute direction to the cast and crew, whilst filming a costume drama on location in London. ...

Raposo worked prodigiously in musical theater both before and after his work for The Children's Television Workshop and Sesame Street; musical theater was where he first encountered future collaborator Jim Henson. He was the musical supervisor and arranger for the original Broadway run of You're a Good Man, Charlie Brown, and contributed additional music to that play. In the 1970s, Raposo wrote original music for the animated film Raggedy Ann & Andy: A Musical Adventure; he later teamed with William Gibson (The Miracle Worker) to create a stage musical about Raggedy Ann. The musical was the first theatre company production from the United States to perform in the former Soviet Union upon resumption of cultural relations between the two countries. It later had a brief run on Broadway in 1986. Sesame Street is an American educational childrens television series for preschoolers and is a pioneer of the contemporary educational television standard, combining both education and entertainment. ... Jim Henson (September 24, 1936 – May 16, 1990) was the most widely known American puppeteer in modern American television history. ... Youre a Good Man, Charlie Brown is a musical comedy with music and lyrics by Clark Gesner and a book by John Gordon, based on the characters created by cartoonist Charles M. Schulz in his comic strip Peanuts. ... William Gibson (1964) William Gibson (b. ... The Miracle Worker is a play by William Gibson based upon Helen Kellers autobiography, The Story of My Life. ...

Raposo composed "Bein' Green," a song that has had success in popular culture and has been recorded by at least 25 artists, including Van Morrison, Frank Sinatra and Ray Charles. His song "Sing," written for Sesame Street, earned a gold record for the Carpenters. Bein Green is a song sung by Kermit the Frog (voice of Jim Henson) on Sesame Street in 1972. ... Popular culture, sometimes called pop culture, consists of widespread cultural elements in any given society. ... George Ivan Morrison OBE (generally known as Van Morrison) (born August 31, 1945) is a singer-songwriter from Belfast, Northern Ireland. ... Francis Albert Sinatra (December 12, 1915 – May 14, 1998) was an American jazz oriented popular singer and Academy Award-winning actor. ... Ray Charles was the stage name of Ray Charles Robinson (September 23, 1930 – June 10, 2004), a pioneering American pianist and soul musician who shaped the sound of rhythm and blues. ... Sing is a song created for Sesame Street, that gained popularity when performed by The Carpenters. ... The Carpenters were a vocal and instrumental duo, consisting of siblings Karen and Richard Carpenter. ...

Raposo also collaborated with Sheldon Harnick (Fiddler on the Roof) on a musical adaptation of the 1948 film It's a Wonderful Life. A Wonderful Life was first performed at the University of Michigan in 1986, and had a successful run at Washington, DC's Arena Stage in 1991. It was performed in concert on Broadway for one night only on December 12, 2005; the production starred Brian Stokes Mitchell, David Hyde Pierce, and Judy Kuhn. Sheldon Harnick (born 1924) is an American lyricist best known for his collaboration with composer Jerry Bock on hit musicals such as Fiddler on the Roof. ... For the film, see Fiddler on the Roof (film) Fiddler on the Roof is a well-known musical with music by Jerry Bock, lyrics by Sheldon Harnick, and book by Joseph Stein, set in Tsarist Russia in 1905. ... Its a Wonderful Life is a 1946 film produced and directed by Frank Capra and based on the short story, The Greatest Gift written by Philip Van Doren Stern. ... A Wonderful Life is a musical stage adaptation of the classic Frank Capra film, with a book and lyrics by Sheldon Harnick and music by Joe Raposo. ... The University of Michigan, Ann Arbor (UM, U of M or U-M) is a coeducational public research university in the state of Michigan, and one of the foremost universities in the United States. ... Aerial photo (looking NW) of the Washington Monument and the White House in Washington, DC. Washington, D.C., officially the District of Columbia (also known as D.C.; Washington; the Nations Capital; the District; and, historically, the Federal City) is the capital city and administrative district of the United... The following is taken from the Arena Stage website: Arena Stage today stands as a flagship American theater. ... is the 346th day of the year (347th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 2005 (MMV) was a common year starting on Saturday (link displays full calendar) of the Gregorian calendar. ... Brian Stokes Mitchell (b. ... David Hyde Pierce (born April 3, 1959) is a Tony Award and Emmy Award-winning American actor, best known for his role as psychiatrist Dr. Niles Crane on the sitcom Frasier. ... Judy Kuhn is an American actress and singer. ...

Along with numerous Grammy and Emmy nods, his song "The First Time It Happens," from The Great Muppet Caper, was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Song in 1981, only to lose to "Arthur's Theme" from the film Arthur. The Great Muppet Caper is the second of a series of live-action musical feature films, starring Jim Hensons Muppets. ... The Academy Award for Best Song is one of the awards given to people working in the motion picture industry by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences; nominations are made by Academy members who are songwriters and composers. ... Arthur is a 1981 film which tells the story of drunken playboy millionaire Arthur Bach (Dudley Moore), who was on the brink of an arranged marriage to a wealthy heiress, Susan Johnson (Jill Eikenberry). ...

During his career Raposo composed themes for other sitcoms, such as Ivan The Terrible and Foot In The Door, and composed for and narrated documentaries, most notably Peter Rosen's production America Is for which Raposo scored a patriotic, critically well-received title theme. As a strongly identifying characteristic, Raposo's songwriting tended lyrically towards wistful introspections on life and nature. Known for bright, uptempo major-key compositions, he also tended towards blues and jazz scored in unusual meters, and took frequent sudden melancholy melodic detours in the midst of otherwise cheerful songs. Ivan IV (August 25, 1530–March 18, 1584) was the first ruler of Russia to assume the title of tsar. ... Blues is a vocal and instrumental form of music based on the use of the blue notes and a repetitive pattern that most often follows a twelve-bar structure. ... This article needs additional references or sources for verification. ...

Like other noted modern composers, such as John Williams, Raposo also contributed themes to regional as well as national news broadcasts, including evening and noon cues for television stations KCCI[2], KCRA [3], KHOU [4], KSDK [5], WKBW [6], and many others, but most notably, on a national level, The CBS Morning News[7] and NBC's The Today Show [8]. Although primarily known for award-winning work in live-action and animated children's television, Joe Raposo actually aspired to become a Broadway musical composer[9]. This article needs additional references or sources for verification. ... KCCI is a television station that broadcasts on channel 8 in Des Moines, Iowa. ... KCRA is a television station in Sacramento, California owned by Hearst-Argyle Television, Inc. ... KHOU could refer to two articles about Houston, Texas in the United States: Hobby Airport, a commercial airport with ICAO code KHOU. KHOU-TV, a CBS affiliate television station broadcasting on channel 11 analog. ... KSDK-TV/DT NewsChannel 5 is the NBC television affiliate in St. ... WWKB (formerly WKBW) is a radio station in Buffalo, New York that operates on an AM frequency of 1520. ... Today, commonly referred to as The Today Show to avoid ambiguity, is an American morning news and talk show airing weekday mornings on the NBC television network. ... Broadway theatre[1] is the most prestigious form of professional theatre in the U.S., as well as the most well known to the general public and most lucrative for the performers, technicians and others involved in putting on the shows. ... The art of singing and dancing in a prepared fictional play has been a time-honored tradition ranging to the early days of civilization. ...

Raposo died in Bronxville, New York, in 1989 of non-Hodgkin's lymphoma, three days before his 52nd birthday. He was survived by two sons, Joseph and Nicholas, from his first marriage and a son and a daughter, Liz[10], ^[2] from his marriage to Pat Collins-Sarnoff.^[3] In 1998, many of his manuscripts were donated by his widow, Pat Collins-Sarnoff, to Georgetown University Library^[2]. Bronxville is a village in Westchester County, New York, United States, located 15 miles north of midtown Manhattan. ... Non-Hodgkins lymphoma is a type of cancer. ...

He was eulogized in the 1990 documentary Sing! Sesame Street Remembers Joe Raposo and His Music, which was hosted and directed by fellow Sesame Street crew member Jon Stone. This article or section does not cite its references or sources. ...

Trivia

Frank Sinatra recorded four of Raposo's songs on his 1973 album, Ol’ Blue Eyes Is Back . Francis Albert Sinatra (December 12, 1915 – May 14, 1998) was an American jazz oriented popular singer and Academy Award-winning actor. ... Ol’ Blue Eyes Is Back is a 1973 album by the American singer Frank Sinatra. ...

The short-lived but memorable Sesame Street character Don Music maintained a framed photograph of Raposo on the wall; it was never actually identified on the show as such. Don Music Composer Don Music was a character on the childrens television show Sesame Street who would become frustrated by his inability to think of the final line to songs such as Twinkle Twinkle Little Star and Mary Had a Little Lamb, and react by banging his head on... This article or section does not adequately cite its references or sources. ...

In Sesame Street segment "The Great Cookie Thief", the muppet seen playing the saloon piano is a puppet characterization of Raposo [11]. However, the pianist's voice is performed by a recording of Jim Henson. The Raposo muppet is first to notice and correctly identify the Cookie Monster as The Great Cookie Thief to several other muppets, but says nothing else for the remainder of the clip. Cookie Monster (right) and his mother in a season 33 Letter of the Day segment, 2002. ...

Raposo performed several uncredited stock characters on Sesame Street during the early 1970's. According to his son Nicholas in a 2002 telephone conversation, Joe Raposo usually chose or was assigned to portray "not-too-bright" characters in these segments, which were nearly always on 16mm film. A notable film performance by Raposo is in the 1971 segment "Fred, Get Me A Twenty". Raposo is seen extensively throughout the five-minute segment as a dim office employee searching New York City for a number 20, finally finding it in the hands of a large gorilla, which promptly chases him through the corridors of a tall building. New York, New York and NYC redirect here. ... Type species Troglodytes gorilla Savage, 1847 distribution of Gorilla Species Gorilla gorilla Gorilla beringei The gorilla, the largest of the living primates, is a ground-dwelling omnivore that inhabits the forests of Africa. ...

Raposo also performed minimal stock characters for film segments in CTW's language arts series The Electric Company. One notable segment exhibits him attempting to dress in business attire against a white cyc wall under the word "dressing", while the prefix "un-" appears and attaches itself to the word, forcing him to engage in a mock striptease which ends with him modestly hopping off-screen and tossing the remainder of his clothing into an empty chair [12]. The Electric Company was an educational American childrens television series produced by the Childrens Television Workshop (now Sesame Workshop) for PBS in the United States. ...

In addition to his live-action appearances, Joe Raposo also occasionally served as a puppeteer on Sesame Street. Muppet puppeteering performances by Raposo include the singing trombonist in "I Am A Travelling Musician", a tan "hippie" vocalist muppet who later became one of "Jerry and The Monotones" in "Good Morning Starshine", and as Cookie Monster in "Everyone Loves Ice Cream", which Raposo also composed. A puppeteer is a person who manipulates an inanimate object — a puppet— in real time to create the illusion of life. ... A trombonist is a musician who plays the trombone. ...

His voice contributions to Sesame Street were diverse and arguably prolific. Voice performances by Joe Raposo include an argumentative dog in Sesame Street animated segment "An 'I' Looks Like A Bone", the title role in animator Bud Luckey's "Farmer" segments, the title role in Luckey's "Eight Penny Candy Man" (for both of which Luckey segments Raposo also served as musical arranger), and several singing animals in film clips for which CTW commissioned him to score lyric and musical material. Raposo also performed the animated Sesame Street segment "What Do You Do With A Pet"[13], which depicted a small boy demonstrating the do's and don'ts of caring for a large white dog, and for which he composed the title song[14]. This article or section does not cite its references or sources. ...

Other forays by Raposo included acting and singing tenor as Gil Gickler in DePatie-Freleng's Dr. Seuss cartoon program "Pontoffel Pock and His Magic Piano", and writing the theme song to not only Three's Company but its later spin-off, The Ropers. The Ropers was an American sitcom that ran from March 1979 to April 1980. ...

He was distantly related to pop-rock musician Gregory Raposo. However, the two never met. His middle son Nicholas followed him into educational television, writing for Arthur and Wishbone, among other PBS children's programs, and is a musician, author and painter. Gregory Raposo (born May 3, 1985) is an American pop singer and actor. ... // This article is a disambiguation page about the first name. ... Look up wishbone in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. ... Not to be confused with Public Broadcasting Services in Malta. ...

Jim Henson died unexpectedly the same night Sing! Sesame Street Remembers Joe Raposo and His Music aired on PBS. WTTW announced Henson's death in a voice-over immediately before airing the special. Joe died exactly one week after the first episode of the final children's show he composed for, Shining Time Station, aired. Jim Henson (September 24, 1936 – May 16, 1990) was the most widely known American puppeteer in modern American television history. ... WTTW (Channel 11) is one of three PBS member stations serving the Chicago, Illinois market; the others are WYCC and WYIN. WTTW began broadcasting on March 5, 1955 and is owned and operated by Window to the World Communications Inc. ... Shining Time Station was an American spin-off of Thomas the Tank Engine and Friends series, although it was co-created by Britt Allcroft. ...

The "J-Joe, wearing jeans", who "got himself a pocket full of jelly beans" in Sesame Street composition "The J Song", is rumored to have been a fond characterization of Raposo by fellow Sesame composer Jeffrey Moss. Sesame Street is an American educational childrens television series for preschoolers and is a pioneer of the contemporary educational television standard, combining both education and entertainment. ... Jeffrey Kenneth Moss (born June 29, 1947, Melbourne, Victoria) is a former Australian cricketer who played in one Test and one ODI in 1979. ...

Joe Raposo was an ardent fan of satirical composer and balladeer Spike Jones. "The Peanut Butter Song", which Raposo composed for 1970's-era Sesame Street, was the former's sound-effects-laden musical homage to the latter. Raposo also composed numerous other works influenced by Jones for Sesame Street, many featuring kazoos and other comical sound-effects. a balladeer is a Dutch musical group, originating from Amsterdam, formed around singer-songwriter Marinus de Goederen. ... Spike Jones For the music video and film director, see Spike Jonze. ... Sesame Street is an American educational childrens television series for preschoolers and is a pioneer of the contemporary educational television standard, combining both education and entertainment. ... For a description of the medieval homage ceremony see commendation ceremony Homage is generally used in modern English to mean any public show of respect to someone to whom you feel indebted. ...

Joe Raposo was very fond of rich, highly caloric sweets, according to many who personally knew him. One favorite food of his, according to one of his children, was cookies. It is rumored the Wheel-Eating Monster created for commercial advertisers in the Sixties by Jim Henson was altered by Henson into a Cookie Monster when Henson observed his co-writer Raposo's extreme fondness for the snack. However, whether this is true has not yet been proved, and first Wheel-Eating Monster and second (and primary) Cookie Monster puppeteer Frank Oz has never substantiated it. Raposo was the first puppeteer to operate the Cookie Monster on television for Sesame Street, which with his marked "cookie fetish" may be the origin of the rumor. The 1960s, or The Sixties, in its most obvious sense refers to the decade between 1960 and 1969, but the expression has taken on a wider meaning over the past twenty years. ... Cookie Monster (right) and his mother in a season 33 Letter of the Day segment, 2002. ... Richard Frank Oznowicz (born May 25, 1944), better known as Frank Oz, is an English film director, actor and puppeteer. ...

References

External links

• Joe Raposo at the Internet Movie Database
• Joe Raposo at the Internet Broadway Database
• A brief biography of Raposo at the Rodgers & Hammerstein Association
• Muppet Central article with photo of Raposo