>Come and Meet The Letter People

/ Sassybear

>

Come and meet the Letter People,
Come and visit our family,
Words are made of Letter People,
A-B-C-D, follow me

So, I was at dinner with a group of friends Monday night when I mentioned The Letter People in Passing, and none of the other 7 guys had ever hear of them.

I became familiar with the show and characters in 1976, in my Kindergarten class at Andalucia Elementary School in Phoenix Arizona.

Every Monday (or Friday?) after breakfast snack and nap, one of us would get picked to go outside and bring in our “new guest” for the afternoon, and it would be an inflatable Letter Person. We would listen to the theme song for that letter person, play with him or her by passing
them around while we danced, then spend the afternoon doing activities with that letter.

Originally, all the consonants were men, all the vowels were woman, and all had a gimmick that started with their respective letters. For example:

Miss A would ‘A’choo’ (sneeze)
Mister B had beautiful Buttons
Mister C loved Cotton Candy
Mister D loved Delicious Donuts
Miss E loved to Exercise

You can see the whole list here if you scroll down to the list at the bottom of the page.

It will come as no shock, I’m sure, that my favorite was Mister S and his Super Socks. Not only was he the coolest because he was a superhero, but my name started with S so it was as if he were my own, special letter person. Perhaps this is where my fascination with superheroes actually started.


Before doing this post, I researched this morning to try and find (and maybe purchase) an inflatable Mister S. I had no luck, but found a site that sells individual stuffed dolls of the letter people. I was so excited, so I looked for Mr. S only to discover and be horrified by the fact that they’ve updated the list to include more women* and Mister S is now “Ms. S.” Uggh. Sorry, but that’s not what I wanted and I’m bummed they’ve messed with the original concept, of Mister S, much like they ruined weebles by altering the original egg shapes. Boo!

* Normally, this is a good thing and I’m all for inclusiveness and equal representation, but this is NOT the character I feel in love with and I’m bummed about it. It would be like updating Big Bird and making him an endangered species, like an honest Democrat…

Anyhoo…

You can see Mister S’ original video and song here. Or, the lyrics are printed below and I’ve embedded a video with a great performance of his song.

I loved the letter people and I loved that they resurfaced in my mind and I got to share their existence with a whole new group of people that night and now.

I’m Mr. S, and sometimes when I go to sleep, I’m scared
So then I sneak across my room
And find my secret box
And slip
Into my super socks

And suddenly…

I am a supersonic streak in the sky
Mr. S to the rescue, they cry
Straight on, super socks, we’ve got to stop that train
Save that sinking sailboat from a hurricane

I’m Mr. S, and sometimes when they’re scolding me,
I smile
As soon as I can sneak away
I find my secret box
And slip
Into my super socks
And suddenly…

I am a supersonic streak in the sky
Mr. S to the rescue, they cry
Straight on, super socks, there’s been a robbery
Stop, sir, and surrender, don’t you mess with me

I’m Mr. S, and sometimes no one plays with me
No one at all
So I just play all by myself
Go to my secret box
And slip
Into my super socks
And suddenly…

I am a supersonic streak in the sky
Mr. S, save the ballgame, they cry
Straight on, super socks, let’s swing and sting the ball
Going, going, gone, it won’t come back at all
Super special super socks, we save the day
Super socks, you are super OK
Super socks, I’ll never put you away,
Super socks, super socks, hooray!

6 thoughts on “>Come and Meet The Letter People”

  4. How is it that I missed out on the Letter People – love the Mr. S song – as a somewhat shy little boy and often picked on by the bullies can really identify with the – lyrics: I'm Mr. S, and sometimes no one plays with me. No one at all. So I just play all by myself. Go to my secret box And slip Into my super socks And suddenly… THANKS for posting.

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