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The Number Painter, also known as The Mad Painter, was the title character of a series of comedy live-action films produced for the children's television program ''Sesame Street''. This series of slapstick films — each one ran anywhere from one minute to 90 seconds — were used to teach children number recognition, including appearance and symbolic representation of Arabic numerals, and how the number is drawn. As such, "The Number Painter" contrasted with the show's other animated and live-action number-related skits, where the primary focus was on counting. There were ten "Number Painter" skits produced in the series, one each for the numbers 2 through 11. No skit was produced for the number 1, as that number was not featured in individual ''Sesame Street'' segments during the era when the films were produced and aired. Although the numbers showcased up to 12 in this same era, the number 12 film was not produced either, thus the number 11 was the last segment in the "Number Painter" series. The title character and protagonist in these movies, portrayed by Paul Benedict, was an eccentric character who enjoys painting numbers in a series of public and private locations. His outfit consists of a black-and-white striped shirt, gray pants held up with suspenders, black sneakers, and a paint-splattered smock, topped with a black bowler hat. He carries a can of paint and a brush, along with a cut-out of the number he intends to paint. The Painter never spoke on-camera, although his thoughts were heard using voice over. The films were produced in 1971, and the first film in the series — that for the number 2 — aired on February 23, 1972. Robert Dennis composed the jaunty piano score in each of the segments. Eliot Noyes Jr. directed and produced the series.〔Lenburg, Jeff. Who's Who in Animated Cartoons, 2006〕 ==Skit format== The skits in each of the films followed the same basic format. The Painter announces that he is going to paint a specific number, all while scouting out a suitable location to engage in said activity; he would then pull a stencil of the number out of his smock to emphasize (to viewers) the shape of said number. Any one of a number of objects were fair game to The Painter, including sailboat sails, slices of bread, umbrellas, rubber balls, elevator doors and even a bald man's head. At one point (in the #8 film), the Painter's work became the subject of a dramatic, large-font newspaper headline ("PAINTER STRIKES AGAIN!"). Several of the films ended with the painter having to deal with people who were upset over his activities. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア(Wikipedia)』 ■ウィキペディアで「The Number Painter」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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