Michael Sporn

 Michael   Sporn  ( 1 9 4 6  -  2 0 1 4  ) was a  New York  - base d independent animator & film make r who directed multiple segment s & song s for  SESAME STREET  beginning in the  1 9 8 0 s  & in to the  9 0 s. His work was of ten marked by strong line s suggestive of sketch illustration s. Most of the script s & song lyric s were by Maxine Fisher.

Sporn directed a number of television special s base d on c h i l d r e n ’ s book s, of ten f or H B O  , & his  Abel ' s   Is la nd  aired on the  P B S  anthology  Long   A go   &   Far   A way . 1| 1 of his earliest solo short s,  Doctor   DeSoto  receive d an  Oscar  nomination f or Best Animate d Short Subject in  1 9 8 5. Sporn began his career work in g as an animator f or other s, including the Hubley ’ s   Eve r y body   Ride s   the   Carousel  & other project s & Richard William s ’ feature film  Raggedy Ann & Andy . He also supplied animate d sequence s for the series  Brain game s ,  Read in g  R A I N B O W  , &  Between t h e Lion s .

In his own film s, Sporn adapted Lewis Carroll  for  The   Hun t in g   of   the   Snark  &  Robert Louis Steven son  for  A   Child ’ s   Garden   of   Verse s . A later effort was the 2 00 5  short  The   Man   Who   Walked   Between   Tower s  ( narrate d by  Jake Gyllenhaal  ). In the 1 9 8 0 s , he create d animated sequence s for 2| 2   Broad way  musical version s of film s ,  Woman   of   the   Y ear  ( with  Lauren Bacall  ) &  Meet   Me   in  '' St.   Louis ''. 1| 1  of his last projects was an unfinished animate d feature base d on the life & work of Edgar Allan Poe.