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Geiss was a staff writer and songwriter for Sesame Street and wrote for iconic characters Elmo, Big Bird, and Kermit the Frog. He wrote Don't Eat the Pictures (1983), for which he was nominated for a Primetime Emmy Award.
- Overview
- Composer Credits
- Writing Credits
- Interviews
- See also
- Sources
- External links
Tony Geiss (November 16, 1924 - January 21, 2011) was a staff writer and songwriter for Sesame Street and related productions, often teamed with Judy Freudberg. Geiss conceptualized the Honkers (based on his own childhood habit of honking his nose) and Abby Cadabby.
Geiss' early TV career was spent in London scripting The David Frost Show and worked on one entry in the Experiment in Television series for NBC. He first joined Children's Television Workshop as a writer on the health series Feelin' Good. He also scripted television specials and revues for the likes of Dick Cavett and Bill Cosby. In the 1980s, after scripting Follow That Bird as his cinematic debut, Geiss and Freudberg co-wrote the Don Bluth animated features An American Tail and The Land Before Time. He was also credited as head writer for several Sesame Street home videos.
Unfinished songs
•"How Do You Do?"
•"Rowing Down the Nile"
•"That's What's Important To Me"
The Academy of Television Arts and Sciences Foundation interviewed Geiss in 2004 for the Archive of American Television. The hour and a half interview was posted on YouTube in 2008.
•Tony Geiss papers at Yale University
1.Children's Television Workshop. Biographical Sketches. 1983
2.Susan Dominus, "A Girly-Girl Joins the 'Sesame' Boys", The New York Times, 6 August 2006.
3.Television Academy interview, part 1. 01:45.
4.ibid. 03:25.
•Joseph Berger, "Tony Geiss, 86, Writer for ‘Sesame Street,’ Dies", The New York Times, January 30, 2011.
Jan 30, 2011 · Tony Geiss, who entertained generations of children by putting words in the mouths of Big Bird, Kermit the Frog, Elmo and other characters on “Sesame Street,” helping the show win 22 daytime...
Tony Geiss was born on 16 November 1924 in Bronx, New York City, New York, USA. Tony was a writer and composer, known for Sesame Street (1969), An American Tail (1986) and The Land Before Time (1988).
- January 1, 1
- Bronx, New York City, New York, USA
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- Manhattan, New York City, New York, USA
Jan 31, 2011 · Writer Tony Geiss, who helped “ Sesame Street ” win 22 daytime Emmys for scriptwriting and songwriting by means of the words he put in the mouths of Kermit the Frog, Big Bird and Elmo, died on...
Jan 31, 2011 · Tony Geiss, a longtime screenwriter and songwriter who put words into the mouths of Sesame Street 's puppet characters, has died at the age of 86. Geiss died on Jan. 21, after having...
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In his one-and-a-half-hour interview, writer Tony Geiss (1924-2011) speaks in great detail about his 28-year association as a writer of the classic children's series Sesame Street. He describes the basics of writing for the show, the importance of research, and his composition of the show's classic songs including "Butterfly" and "Elmo's World."
