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

Sesame Street

Sesame Street has undergone significant changes in its history. According to writer Michael Davis, by the mid-1970s the show had become "an American institution". The cast and crew expanded during this time, including the hiring of women in the crew and additional minorities in the cast. The...

. This series of slapstick

Slapstick

Slapstick is a type of comedy involving exaggerated violence and activities which may exceed the boundaries of common sense.- Origins :The phrase comes from the batacchio or bataccio — called the 'slap stick' in English — a club-like object composed of two wooden slats used in Commedia dell'arte...

 films — each one ran anywhere from one minute to 90 seconds — were used to teach children number

Number

A number is a mathematical object used to count and measure. In mathematics, the definition of number has been extended over the years to include such numbers as zero, negative numbers, rational numbers, irrational numbers, and complex numbers....

 recognition, including appearance and symbolic representation of Arabic numerals

Arabic numerals

Arabic numerals or Hindu numerals or Hindu-Arabic numerals or Indo-Arabic numerals are the ten digits . They are descended from the Hindu-Arabic numeral system developed by Indian mathematicians, in which a sequence of digits such as "975" is read as a numeral...

, 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.

Ten "Number Painter" skits were 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, no number 12 film was produced either, leaving the Painter's final fate in the number 11 film ambiguous.

The title character and main protagonist in these movies, portrayed by Paul Benedict

Paul Benedict

Paul Benedict was an American actor who made numerous appearances in television and movies beginning in the 1960s...

, 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

Bowler hat

The bowler hat, also known as a coke hat, derby , billycock or bombin, is a hard felt hat with a rounded crown originally created in 1849 for the English soldier and politician Edward Coke, the younger brother of the 2nd Earl of Leicester...

. 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.

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

Headline

The headline is the text at the top of a newspaper article, indicating the nature of the article below it.It is sometimes termed a news hed, a deliberate misspelling that dates from production flow during hot type days, to notify the composing room that a written note from an editor concerned a...

 ("PAINTER STRIKES AGAIN!"). Several of the films ended with the painter having to deal with people who were upset over his activities.

Mac

Portrayed by Broadway actor Jerome Raphael, Mac was the most frequent target of the Number Painter's antics. He appeared in seven of the skits, including the owner of a boat (#2), a baker (#6), a customer at a department store (#7), the unassuming homeowner enjoying a lazy afternoon in his swimming pool (#8), the operator of a street cleaning truck (#9), and a janitor (#10 and 11). Usually, Mac managed to foil — either deliberately or unwittingly — The Painter's work; only once was The Painter able to get the upper hand (in the #8 film, at the end of the fast-paced chase in the swimming pool where the shock of the Painter's antics literally kills Mac, but his death turns out to be a retcon

Retcon

Retroactive continuity is the alteration of previously established facts in a fictional work. Retcons are done for many reasons, including the accommodation of sequels or further derivative works in a series, wherein newer authors or creators want to revise the in-story history to allow a course...

 as he next appears in the #9 film).

The Lady

Stockard Channing

Stockard Channing

Stockard Channing is an American stage, film and television actress. She is known for her portrayal of First Lady Abbey Bartlet in the NBC television series The West Wing; for playing Betty Rizzo in the film Grease; and for her role as Ouisa Kittredge in the play Six Degrees of Separation and its...

 — who went on to greater fame in Grease

Grease (film)

Grease is a 1978 American musical film directed by Randal Kleiser and based on Warren Casey's and Jim Jacobs's 1971 musical of the same name about two lovers in a 1950s high school. The film stars John Travolta, Olivia Newton-John, Stockard Channing, and Jeff Conaway...

 and The West Wing

The West Wing (TV series)

The West Wing is an American television serial drama created by Aaron Sorkin that was originally broadcast on NBC from September 22, 1999 to May 14, 2006...

— appeared in four of the sketches, playing the lady at the picnic (#3); the woman holding the umbrella (#4); the woman inside the elevator having her plastic handbag painted on (#7); and finally, the nurse saying "Next" to her patients (#11).

Sketch list

Number	Overview
2 (March 1972)	The Painter is at a marina where, after rejecting two dock poles, he chooses someone's sail to paint his 2, then quickly flees in a rowboat from the sailboat's irate owner.
3 (February 1972)	The Painter meets a woman who is enjoying a picnic lunch alone at a park. The Painter uses a knife to "paint" condiments — mayonnaise Mayonnaise Mayonnaise, , often abbreviated as mayo, is a sauce. It is a stable emulsion of oil, egg yolk and either vinegar or lemon juice, with many options for embellishment with other herbs and spices. Lecithin in the egg yolk is the emulsifier. Mayonnaise varies in color but is often white, cream, or pale... , mustard Mustard (condiment) Mustard is a condiment made from the seeds of a mustard plant... , and ketchup Ketchup Ketchup is a sweet-and-tangy condiment typically made from tomatoes, vinegar, sugar or high-fructose corn syrup and an assortment of...  — on slices of bread, which the woman grabs (as the Painter is admiring his work) to assemble a large Dagwood sandwich Dagwood sandwich A Dagwood sandwich is a tall, multi-layered sandwich made with a variety of meats, cheeses and condiments. It was named after Dagwood Bumstead, a central character in the comic strip Blondie, who is frequently illustrated making enormous sandwiches... . The woman quickly devours the sandwich; time-lapse Time-lapse Time-lapse photography is a cinematography technique whereby the frequency at which film frames are captured is much lower than that which will be used to play the sequence back. When replayed at normal speed, time appears to be moving faster and thus lapsing...  filming techniques were used to create the comic effect.
4 (February 1972)	Walking down the street, The Painter encounters a woman in rain gear carrying an open umbrella, asking where the rain is. While she is not looking, the Painter goes about his work. Just as the woman inspects the umbrella to see what The Painter had done, both are doused with a sudden deluge of water.
5 (January 1972)	At the zoo, The Painter walks into a cage that appears to be empty. Thinking nobody is around, he finds a yellow ball and begins his work. Just as he is finishing, the cage's inhabitant, a gorilla, interrupts The Painter's work. The Painter nervously hands the brush to the gorilla, who finishes the 5. The two give each other a high five High five The high five is a celebratory hand gesture that occurs when two people simultaneously raise one hand, about head high, and push, slide or slap the flat of their palm and hand against the palm and flat hand of their partner...  as the skit ends.
6 (February 1972)	The Painter walks into a bakery, where a baker is trying to finish icing a birthday cake. The baker leaves the area briefly, giving The Painter enough time to grab one of the icing tools to draw the number 6. When the baker returns and sees what has been done to the cake, he cuts a slice of cake and offers it to The Painter in an apparent gesture of thanks. Before The Painter can take a bite, the baker shoves the cake in his antagonist's face (as a sign of disapproval) ... then takes the slice he cut and eats it.
7 (February 1972)	The Painter tries to paint a 7 on the elevator door of a department store, but winds up painting the number on a shopping bag and purse carried by some customers. The third customer he encounters is a football American football American football is a sport played between two teams of eleven with the objective of scoring points by advancing the ball into the opposing team's end zone. Known in the United States simply as football, it may also be referred to informally as gridiron football. The ball can be advanced by...  player in full uniform whose jersey has a 7 on it.
8 (January 1972)	The Painter pops up from under the water of a backyard swimming pool, where Mac, the owner, is trying to enjoy a relaxing afternoon while reading the newspaper headline of the Painter's previous antics in the #6 film. The Painter decides that the man's bald head is the perfect place to paint his 8. When the man realizes what The Painter did, he goes after his antagonist to demand an explanation; the chase scene uses fast-motion photography to create the comic effect. However, for the first and only time in the series, The Painter manages to get away, taking the man's inflatable raft before escaping, while a humiliated Mac falls in the pool and drowns.
9 (February 1972)	The Painter decides to paint his 9 on the street, but after doing so, a street cleaner truck (led by Mac, thought to have died in the previous film) comes by and its water jet wrecks his beautiful creation.
10 (February 1972)	The Painter decides to paint his 10 on the seat of a bar stool in the room he's in. As he shows it off, the janitor comes in and gestures for him to put the stool down. The man sits on the stool and eats a banana, unaware that the wet paint has transferred onto his coveralls Overall An overall, coverall, over all, or dungarees, is a type of garment which is usually used as protective clothing when working... .
11 (February 1972)	In the final film (although materials list the final film about the number 2), the Painter comes into the waiting room of a doctor's office and immediately decides that the window of the door leading into the office would be a perfect place to paint the number 11. After waiting patiently for other patients to go into the patient rooms, The Painter goes about his work. As The Painter views his work, the janitor (Mac) comes in and washes the 11 from the window. The Painter returns to the waiting room, dejected over his work being washed off; just then, the annoyed nurse yanks The Painter out of the waiting room, presumably to meet his final fate.