The TV show's title card.
An image from "Meet Mister P".
The Letter People is a television series that first aired from 1974 to 1976 on KETC (St. Louis' 9 PBS channel) and other cable channels in the US. It is an adaptation of the Letter People classroom program.
Format[]
In each 15-minute installment, the Letter People (relatively primitive puppets) undertake various adventures in Letter People Land, a dark, featureless place populated by strange people and creatures. Episodes usually focus on introducing new Letter People or new sounds formed by combining two Letter People together (such as /TH/ or /OU/). Other episodes take the Letter People to more exotic (though still featureless) locales such as outer space (eventually, the show would include more standard scenery, like cityscapes, meadows, Miss O's opera house, etc.), while a few highlight the characters' conflicts over various sounds (such as Mr. C fighting Mr. K and Mr. S for his sound). Another common feature of the show is "The Catching Game", a game show hosted by Monty Swell (a character based on Monty Hall) where the Letter People must form words by positioning themselves correctly side-by-side.
Episode guide[]
| No. | Episode Title | Director | Writer | Original Airdate |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Meet Mister M | Thomas K. McDonough | Thomas K. McDonough | March 13, 1974 |
| 2 | Meet Mister T | Thomas K. McDonough | Thomas K. McDonough | 1974 |
| 3 | Meet Mister F | Thomas K. McDonough | Thomas K. McDonough | 1974 |
| 4 | Meet Mister H | Thomas K. McDonough | Thomas K. McDonough | 1974 |
| 5 | Meet Mister N | Thomas K. McDonough | Thomas K. McDonough | 1974 |
| 6 | Meet Mister B | Thomas K. McDonough | Thomas K. McDonough | 1974 |
| 7 | Meet Miss A | Thomas K. McDonough | Thomas K. McDonough | 1974 |
| 8 | What's The Catch? | Thomas K. McDonough | Thomas K. McDonough | 1974 |
| 9 | The Tryout | Thomas K. McDonough | Thomas K. McDonough | 1974 |
| 10 | The Catching Game | Thomas K. McDonough | Thomas K. McDonough | 1974 |
| 11 | Meet Mister Z | Thomas K. McDonough | William F. Bailey | 1974 |
| 12 | Meet Mister P | Gary Twitchell | William F. Bailey | 1974 |
| 13 | Meet Mister S | Thomas K. McDonough | Thomas K. McDonough and William F. Bailey | 1974 |
| 14 | Meet Miss E | William F. Bailey | Thomas K. McDonough | 1974 |
| 15 | Meet Miss I | Gary Twitchell | William F. Bailey | 1974 |
| 16 | Meet Miss O | Gary Twitchell | William F. Bailey | 1974 |
| 17 | Meet Miss U | Thomas K. McDonough | William F. Bailey | 1974 |
| 18 | Meet Mister V | Thomas K. McDonough | Thomas K. McDonough | 1974 |
| 19 | Meet Mister L | Gary Twitchell | William F. Bailey | 1974 |
| 20 | The Story of Mister V; The Story of Mister S | Gary Twitchell | William F. Bailey | 1974 |
| 21 | The Squoosh | Thomas K. McDonough | William F. Bailey | 1974 |
| 22 | Meet Mister D | Gary Twitchell | Gayle Waxman | 1974 |
| 23 | Meet Mister G | Thomas K. McDonough | Gayle Waxman | 1974 |
| 24 | Meet Mister C | Thomas K. McDonough | Harry John Luecke | 1974 |
| 25 | Meet Mister K | Thomas K. McDonough | William F. Bailey | 1974 |
| 26 | The Story of Mister C and Mister K; Soft C | Thomas K. McDonough | William F. Bailey | 1974 |
| 27 | Meet Mister W | Thomas K. McDonough | Gayle Waxman | 1974 |
| 28 | Long Vowel Sounds | Thomas K. McDonough | William F. Bailey | 1974 |
| 29 | Cooperation (Silent E) | Thomas K. McDonough | Gayle Waxman | 1974 |
| 30 | Adjacent Vowels (Two Vowels Standing Side-by-Side) | Thomas K. McDonough | Gayle Waxman | 1974 |
| 31 | Review I | Jeffrey Jones | Jeffrey Jones | 1975 |
| 32 | Review II | Jeffrey Jones | Jeffrey Jones | 1975 |
| 33 | Review III | Jeffrey Jones | Thomas K. McDonough | 1975 |
| 34 | Review IV | Jeffrey Jones | Thomas K. McDonough | 1975 |
| 35 | Meet Mister Y | Thomas K. McDonough | William F. Bailey | 1975 |
| 36 | Y as a Consonant and a Vowel | Thomas K. McDonough | William F. Bailey | 1975 |
| 37 | Meet Mister J | Thomas K. McDonough | William F. Bailey and Patrick Clear | 1975 |
| 38 | Soft G | Thomas K. McDonough | Thomas K. McDonough | 1975 |
| 39 | Meet Mister R | Thomas K. McDonough | Gayle Waxman, Patrick Clear and Thomas K. McDonough | 1975 |
| 40 | Star Trip, part I (AR) | Jeffrey Jones | Ron Cohen | 1975 |
| 41 | Star Trip, part II (OR) | Jeffrey Jones | Ron Cohen | 1975 |
| 42 | Star Trip, part III (ER, IR, UR) | Jeffrey Jones | Ron Cohen | 1975 |
| 43 | Review V | Thomas K. McDonough | Thomas K. McDonough | 1975 |
| 44 | Meet Mister X | Thomas K. McDonough | Thomas K. McDonough and James Scott | 1975 |
| 45 | Meet Mister Q | Thomas K. McDonough | James Scott | 1975 |
| 46 | The Word Machine (Runaway Words) | Jeffrey Jones | Ralph St. William | 1975 |
| 47 | Chewy Cherry Choo-Choo (CH) | Thomas K. McDonough | Thomas K. McDonough | 1975 |
| 48 | The Thing (TH) | Jeffrey Jones | Ralph St. William | 1975 |
| 49 | WH and SH | Jeffrey Jones | Thomas K. McDonough | 1975 |
| 50 | Review VI | Thomas K. McDonough | Thomas K. McDonough | 1975 |
| 51 | The -ING Sound, part I | Jeffrey Jones | Ralph St. William | 1975 |
| 52 | The -ING Sound, part II | Jeffrey Jones | Ralph St. William | 1975 |
| 53 | Words in Parts, part I | Thomas K. McDonough | Ralph St. William | 1975 |
| 54 | Words in Parts, part II | Thomas K. McDonough | Ralph St. William | 1975 |
| 55 | OU and OW | Jeffrey Jones | Ralph DiGuglielmo | 1976 |
| 56 | OI and OY | Thomas K. McDonough | Ralph DiGuglielmo | 1976 |
| 57 | Double O (OO) | Thomas K. McDonough | Ralph DiGuglielmo | 1976 |
| 58 | AU and AW | Jeffrey Jones | Ralph DiGuglielmo | 1976 |
| 59 | Sentences, part I | Jeffrey Jones | Jeffrey Jones | 1976 |
| 60 | Sentences, part II | Thomas K. McDonough | Thomas K. McDonough | February 25, 1976 |
An advertisement for the Letter People [1]
Availability[]
The show continued to air reruns on PBS stations until the Letter People program was revised in late 1996. It is rumored that PBS was ordered to destroy the show's master tapes on behalf of the newer program, given that the original program's characters depicted negative imagery. Prior to this, NDE released the show's episodes on a 5-tape VHS set of Letter People "Learning Advantage Videos" as part of the Letter People curriculum in the early-to-mid 1990s;[2] on the other hand, fans have preserved the episodes on many VHS recordings taped off of TV while the show was still on the air, and various DVDs having the episodes preserved can be found from time to time on auction sites such as eBay. You can watch the entire archived version here: Letter People TV Show
Cast and Crew[]
Creative Team[]
- Thomas K. McDonough – Producer, Director, Writer
- Jeffrey Jones – Producer, Director, Writer
- Don Jeffries – Executive Producer
- Gary Twitchell – Director
- William F. Bailey – Director, Writer
- King Hall – Head Puppeteer, Set Designer, Puppet Designer
- Tom Ray – Assistant Head Puppeteer, Puppet Designer
- Alan Pratt, Ph.D. – Curriculum Consultant
- Ruth Lerner Perle – Editorial Supervisor
- Gayle Waxman – Writer
- Harry John Luecke – Writer
- Patrick Clear – Writer
- Ron Cohen – Writer
- James Scott – Writer
- Ralph St. William – Writer
- Ralph DiGuglielmo – Writer
- Peter Bretz – Technical Producer
- John Muench – Technical Producer
- Filmgrafik International – Animation
- Vic Atkinson Productions – Animation
- Computer Image Corp. – Animation
- M-K Inc. – Animation
- Joe René and Jacquelyn Reinach – Music and Lyrics
- Clayton Frohman – Theme Song and "The Squoosh"
- Miles Goodman – Music
- Tom Tichenor – Puppet Designer
- Art FitzSimmons – Photography
An advertisement for the Letter People in Texas
Puppeteers and Voices[]
- King Hall – Mister M, Various
- Tom Ray – Mister W, Various
- Patrick Clear – Mister H, Mister J, Mister R, Various
- Lynn Cohen – Miss I, Various
- John Cothran – Mister N, Mister L, Various
- Allan Trautman – Mister C (voice), Mister K, Various
- Gregg Berger – Mister Z, Mister T, Mister V, Various
- Don Boevingloh – Monty Swell, Various
- Cheryl Brown – Various
- Jane Deeken – Miss O, Various
- Pam Dunn – Various
- John Erickson – Mister C, Various
- David Herzog – Mister T (sometimes), Various
- Bert Hinchman – Mister ?, Various
- Bob Kramer – Mister F, Various
- Nancy Swet – Miss A, Various
- Genevieve Bierman – Miss U, Various (voice)
- Sally Eaton – Miss E, Various (voice)
- Shelley Heeley – Various (voice)
- Joneal Joplin – Mister S, Mister G, Various (voice)
- Barbara Marentette – Miss A (sometimes), Various (voice)
- Nancy Margulies – Miss U(sometimes), Various (voice)
- Thomas K. McDonough – Various (voice)
- Bob Miller – Mister B, Mister D, Various (voice)
- James Scott – Mister P, Various (voice)
- Will Shaw – Mister Q, Various (voice)
- Gail Simmons – Various (voice)
- Simon O’Connor – Mister X, Various (voice)
- Ken Monroe – Mister C(sometimes), Various (voice)
- Dick Teneau – Mister Y (sometimes), Various (voice)
- Gayle Waxman – Mister Y, Various (voice)
Behind the Scenes Gallery[]
