Garbage
Fuzzy memories from Eric Berger about this old, live action skit shown in two parts.
UPDATE: The video has been posted on YouTube (check with The Original Sesame Street Sounds Archive for a direct link; too many changes to link on each song/skit's individual page) and it turns out Eric has a pretty impressive memory! I've made some minor corrections/additions to the following transcript.
This piece is filmed in stop-action photography, still a pretty radical film technique in the '70s. It must have taken ages to line up some shots, such as when the janitor is held in mid-air as he picks up the last of trash, or the second man drops his paper so slowly. It looks like an invisible string is attached to his ball of paper as it falls to the ground.
Eric's Memories: As I remember it, it starts off in a pretty cluttered park, with papers and stuff lying around. There was some type of harpsichord music in the background. Then the janitor comes on with a wastebasket, and also one of those sticks with a nail at the end. Sets the wastebasket down. Looks at the park, picks up a paper with the stick, and tosses the paper in the trash. He comes up and looks at the camera, with a sort of grin on his face, then points his index finger as if to say "Just a second," turns around, picks up some more trash, and tosses that in. He repeats the actions, with looking at the camera, giving a thumbs-up, and picking up the trash, until he gets all the trash picked up. Then, looking pleased with himself, he takes off, and that part's over.
After they show another skit (insert your favorite letter/number skit here) they come back to the park, with different harpsichord music. Another man, dressed in tacky, touristy shorts and a panama hat (TD: Making him the villain of the piece, I guess!), comes up with a newspaper, sits on the edge of the wastebasket, looks at the paper for a few seconds, then balls it up and tosses it on the ground, and walks off. There's a closeup of the paper. Then, the music changes to a faster pace tune, and the little girl runs up. She sees the paper, there's another closeup of it, then a closeup of her, she sticks out her tongue, you hear someone say "Yeech!" She picks up the paper, tosses it in the trash basket, then runs off. The music ends, and she repeats "Yeech!" in a voiceover. And then the skit's over.
Transcribed by Eric Berger