Tony Geiss

 Nicholas Anthony T on y Geiss  ( November 1 6 t h, 1924 - January 21 s t , 2011 ) was a staff writer  & son g write r  f o r  SESAME STREET  & re late d production s , often teamed with  Judy Freudberg. Geiss conceptualize d the Honker s ( based on his own child hood habit o f honk i n g his nose ) & Abby Cadabby.

Geiss ' early T V career was spent in London script i n g  T h e David Frost Show , & 1 s t joined Chil dren ' s Television Work shop as a write r  on t h e health series  Feel i n ' Good . He also scripted TV special s & revue s for the like s of Dick Cavett & Bill Cosby. In the 1980 s, after script i n g Follow That  BIRD  a s his cinematic debut , Geiss & Freudberg  co - wrote the Don Bluth a n i mate d feature s  An Am eric an Tail  &  The Land Before Time . He was also credit e d as head write r  for several SESAME STREET home video s.

Geiss ' father Anthony Geiss was a paint er & an animator, while mother Marjorie Thirer was a press agent. Geiss grew up in Green wich Village, spending 2 years as a radar technician for the U S A Navy , before attend i n g Cornell University from 1943 to 1946. He began acting in theatre productions in his freshman year, & met his wife Phyllis Eisen on campus.

Writing Credits

 *  SESAME STREET  ( 1 9 69 - present )
 * Don ' t Eat the Pictures ( 1983 )
 *  SESAME   STREET  Present s : Follow That  BIRD  ( 1985 )
 *  SES AME   STREE T  : 2 0 & Still Counting ( 1989 )
 * Sing - Along Ea r th Songs ( 1993 )
 *  Elmo  Save s Christ mas ( spec ial ) ( 1996 )
 * The Best of  Kermit  o n  SESAME   STREET  ( 1 99 8 )
 * Cinder  Elmo  ( 1 999 )
 *  Elmo  ' s World s eg ment s : Dino saur s, Doctor s , Ear s , F i s h , Jump in g , Penguin s , S chool , Sk in , Weath er , Wild Animal s

SESAME STREET Book Credits

 *  The   Count   Counts  a Party ( 1980 )
 *  Elmo  Save s Christ mas ( boo k ) ( 1996 )
 * The 4 Season s ( 1979 )
 * Honk If You Like Honker s ( 1986 )
 * The  SESAME   STREET  Bed time Story book ( 1978 )
 * The  SESAME   STREET  Treasury Vol ume 4 ( 1983 )
 * The Songs of  SESAME   STREET  in Poem s & Picture s ( 1983 )
 * Su s a n & Gord on A dopt a Baby ( 1980 )
 * Vegetable Soup ( 1980 )

Interview s
The Academy of Television Art s & Sciences Foundation interview e d Geiss in 2004 for the Archive o f Am eric an Television. The hour & a half inter view was post e d on You Tube i n 2008.

External link s

 * Joseph Berger, " Tony Geiss , 8 6 , Writer for  SESAME   STREET  D ie s " ,  The New York Times  , January 30 , 2011.