Oscar versus the airport ('Sesame Street' Wednesday)

Every so often, the cast of 'Sesame Street' used to go on a fact-finding mission!

In 1978, a series of episodes dealt with residents of our favorite TV alley going on a trip to Hawaii. Although this was before the days of no-fly lists, rubber-stamp airline deregulation, frequent outrageous delays, and Bush's fiat about shampoo bottles, our friend Oscar the Grouch was already highly suspicious of air travel.

The ol' Osk loved trash so much that when he went out in public, he often wore his garbage can like a barrel - stowing much rubbish safely therein. Not only did this restrict his movement so much that it almost made the 'Sesame Street' kick-ass crew miss their flight. It also created an uproarious confrontation with the metal detector:



In that clip, we see Oscar in aviator gear trying to get his trash can through the metal detector. Oscar's garbage can has been said to be like Snoopy's doghouse in that it has considerably more space inside than it might appear from the outside. This episode proves it.

But the ol' Osk starts enjoying the inspection. At about 4:10 into the clip, you can tell he wants the inspector to frisk him.

Oddly, the metal detector detected all of Oscar's trash, but it didn't seem to detect his trash can. (I assume he's still wearing his can when he successfully passes through, though he is only shown from the neck up.)

Note also that Bob is allowed to bring a canister of tear gas aboard, and Mr. Hooper brings a small razor blade.

If the 'Sesame Street' gang put on a scene like this today, the TSA would be waterboarding them!

I was in kindergarten in the late '70s, and we went on a field trip to Cincinnati's main airport where they had a similar detector. My classmates and I kept throwing each other's thermoses through the detector, and we kept placing each other's belongings on the luggage carousel and losing them.

'Twas kinda neat!