The Letter People

The Letter People is a children's literacy program and the television series based on said program. The term also refers to the various characters depicted in the program and television show.

Original program
Card used in a public school classroom that shows an early version of Mr. T "tall teeth" from The Letter People

Elayne Reiss-Weimann and Rita Friedman created the concept of Letter People as teachers in Nanuet, New York. In 1964, first-grade teacher Reiss-Weimann formed the original idea for the Letter People. She had struggled daily to draw the attention of her 24 students (who were typical first-graders, eager and rambunctious) in a distraction-fond hallway classroom at the overcrowded school. Weimann collaborated with an early childhood coordinator, Rita Friedman, to create an educational program that revolved around 26 anthropomorphic characters, each representing a letter of the alphabet, to teach beginning readers how to "decode" or "sound out" the consonants and vowels that form words. They embodied the basic rules of phonics into stories about these make-believe characters called Letter People.

Each letter of the alphabet had a distinct characteristic to help children learn not only the letter but the sound the letter represents in the written word. For example, Mr. M has a Munching Mouth, Mr. N has a Noisy Nose, or Mr. T has Tall Teeth. The characters were painted on large, two-dimensional portrait cards. Each character was given an engaging personality to help the teacher bring her or him alive in the classroom, and each character had a song (or a poem at the time) to help children recall the distinguishing feature and sound. With the help of the Letter People, children remained on-task, learned more quickly, and retained what they learned. From the beginning, the children viewed the Letter People as real people and not just letters of the alphabet, phonics devices, or toys. On one occasion, when the Letter People had to be shipped to another school, the children insisted that holes be placed in the boxes so that the Letter People could breathe as they traveled.[1]

Weimann and Friedman later sold the idea to New Dimensions in Education, Inc. (based in Plainview, New York, and later in Norwalk, Connecticut) which, in turn, copyrighted and published The Letter People educational products in 1968. NDE hired Liz Callen to design the look of the characters in the classroom programs. NDE developed the concept into classroom programs: Alpha One in 1968, and Alpha Time in 1974.

In Alpha Time, the two-dimensional portrait card characters were made into three-dimensional, inflatable, child-sized vinyl characters commonly known as "The Huggables",[2] which were large enough for small children to hug (though there were smaller-sized Huggables as well).[1] Eventually, Alan J. Pratt, Ph.D., a director and vice-president of NDE, Inc. approached KETC-TV, a PBS affiliate in St. Louis, Missouri, about creating a TV series based on the escapades of the Letter People. After five pilot programs were produced, Dr. Pratt approached the Council of Great City Schools (the 20 largest school districts in the US). Eventually, with the cooperation of the superintendents of the Council, NDE, and KETC-TV, a joint venture commenced. The series comprised sixty 15-minute episodes that became extremely popular nationwide with children who were learning to read. To ensure phonetic and linguistic accuracy in the television production process, Ruth Lerner from NDE served as the Editorial Supervisor. Pratt was the Curriculum Consultant for the TV series. Tom McDonough of KETC-TV was the series' writer-director.

The program's basic concept was simple: Each letter of the English alphabet was represented by a unique character with traits derived from itself. The consonants were males (as "the Letter Boys"), and the vowels were females (as "the Letter Girls", whom there could be no word without). Reiss-Weimann, Friedman, and Callen also wrote two series of books about the characters, Fables from the Letter People and Read-to-Me. Each Letter Person also had an accompanying song (available on 8-track cartridge and vinyl record), and inflatable vinyl effigies in two sizes 12 to 14 in (300 to 360 mm) or 30 in (760 mm) a.k.a. "life-size") known as "Huggables". Other merchandise included filmstrips and flash cards. Educators who adopted the program were trained in its implementation, and The Letter People was soon picked up by hundreds of schools across the US.

Abrams and Co. Publishers, Inc. revamped the Letter People program in 1996. However, the original 1968 program still has thousands of adult fans who remember learning how much fun it was learning to read with the help of The Letter People.

Television series

While thousands of children were learning about the Letter People in school, thousands of others were being exposed to them through the television series based on the program. The show was produced by PBS member station KETC in St. Louis, Missouri, and the show first went into production in 1972.[3] The show was extremely popular with children, and it quickly spread to other television stations across the country, via syndication, mainly to PBS and educational stations. The television series premiered on March 13, 1974, and ended on February 25, 1976.

The Letter People consists of 60 episodes. 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 /CH/ 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.

Opening and closing sequence

A little dog is minding his own business when various figures (including a female figure carrying a bunch of helium balloons) enter the gates of Letter People Land as the song plays:

Come and meet the Letter People
Come and visit the family
Words are made of Letter People

thumb A, B, C, D — follow me!

Episode guide
  1. Meet Mister M (March 13, 1974)
  2. Meet Mister T (March 13, 1974)
  3. Meet Mister F (March 16, 1974)
  4. Meet Mister H (March 20, 1974)
  5. Meet Mister N (March 20, 1974)
  6. Meet Mister B (March 23, 1974)
  7. Meet Miss A (March 27, 1974)
  8. What's the Catch? (March 27, 1974)
  9. The Tryout (March 30, 1974)
  10. The Catching Game (April 3, 1974)
  11. Meet Mister Z (April 3, 1974)
  12. Meet Mister P (April 6, 1974)
  13. Meet Mister S (April 10, 1974)
  14. Meet Miss E (April 10, 1974)
  15. Meet Miss I (April 13, 1974)
  16. Meet Miss O (April 17, 1974)
  17. Meet Miss U (April 17, 1974)
  18. Meet Mister V (April 20, 1974)
  19. Meet Mister L (April 24, 1974)
  20. The Story of Mister V; The Story of Mister S (April 24, 1974)
  21. The Squoosh (April 27, 1974)
  22. Meet Mister D (May 1, 1974)
  23. Meet Mister G (May 1, 1974)
  24. Meet Mister C (May 4, 1974)
  25. Meet Mister K (May 8, 1974)
  26. The Story of Mister C and Mister K; Soft C (May 8, 1974)
  27. Meet Mister W (May 11, 1974)
  28. Long Vowel Sounds (May 15, 1974)
  29. Cooperation (Silent E) (May 15, 1974)
  30. Adjacent Vowels (Two Vowels Standing Side-by-Side) (May 18, 1974)
  31. Review I (May 22, 1974)
  32. Review II (May 22, 1974)
  33. Review III (May 25, 1974)
  34. Review IV (May 29, 1974)
  35. Meet Mister Y (May 29, 1974)
  36. Y as a Consonant and a Vowel (May 29, 1974)
  37. Meet Mister J (May 29, 1974)
  38. Soft G (January 7, 1976)
  39. Meet Mister R (January 7, 1976)
  40. Star Trip, part I (AR) (January 10, 1976)
  41. Star Trip, part II (OR) (January 14, 1976)
  42. Star Trip, part III (ER, IR, UR) (January 14, 1976)
  43. Review V (January 17, 1976)
  44. Meet Mister X (January 21, 1976)
  45. Meet Mister Q (January 21, 1976)
  46. The Word Machine (January 24, 1976)
  47. Chewy Cherry Choo Choo (CH) (January 28, 1976)
  48. The Thing (TH) (January 28, 1976)
  49. WH and SH (January 31, 1976)
  50. Review VI (February 4,1976)
  51. The ING Sound, part I (February 4, 1976)
  52. The ING Sound, part II (February 7, 1976)
  53. Words in Parts, part I (February 11, 1976)
  54. Words in Parts, part II (February 11, 1976)
  55. OU and OW (February 14, 1976)
  56. OI and OY (February 18, 1976)
  57. Double O (OO) (February 18, 1976)
  58. AU and AW (February 21, 1976)
  59. Sentences, part I (February 25, 1976)
  60. Sentences, part II (February 25, 1976)

Revised

In 1990, Abrams & Co. Publishers Inc. of Austin, Texas, bought the rights to The Letter People from the previous owner, Norwalk, Connecticut-based New Dimensions in Education, Inc. At first, the company slightly revised the program considerably, such as adding lowercase letters to the back of each Letter Person (previously they had been placed on each character somewhat randomly), but in 1996, they gave the program a major update, completely redesigning the look of the characters and the associated materials, and also made sweeping changes to over half of the Letter People's genders themselves, most obviously equalizing the proportion of male to female characters (vowels are now distinguished by their ability to light up via "LetterLights," which appear as yellow suns on their right shoulders). The male characters' names changed from "Mister" to "Mr.", and the female characters' names changed from "Miss" to "Ms.". Most of the characters' associated characteristics were changed as well, such as all references to "junk food" being swapped for non-food-related characteristics (Mr. D's "delicious donuts" were exchanged for "dazzling dance", for example) and any Letter Person that Abrams deemed as expressing negative images being changed to be more positive (Mr. H's horrible hair became happy hair instead, Mr. R's Ripping Rubberbands became Rainbow Ribbons, and Mr. X was no longer all wrong and became different). New Letter People storybooks were written with an eye toward teaching conflict resolution and problem-solving skills. They used Alphakid A as their mascot.

The program is divided into three levels with increasing emphasis on phonics: Let's Begin with the Letter People for preschool, Land of the Letter People for kindergarten, and Lives of the Letter People for first grade. The program is currently taught to about 30 million children.

Though the program is generally well-received by educators, some have criticized its strong focus on phonics at the expense of other literacy-building techniques.

In the early 2010s, four new Letter People characters were added to the program in order to teach children Spanish.[4] The four characters are Señorita Ch, Señor Ll, Señorita Ñ and Señor rr.

In May 2019, Abrams & Co. Publishers Inc was acquired by Excelligence Learning Corporation with The Letter People characters which were planned to being incorporated into subsidiary Frog Street Press.[5] As of September 21, 2020, no new Letter People products are being produced, seeming the program appears to have become defunct. However, worksheets and flashcards of the Letter People are still available second-hand through online stores.

The Number People

Along with the original program of The Letter People, its mathematics-equivalent program The Number People was also created circa 1977.[6] The Number People are referred to as numerical "friends" or "cousins" of the Letter People and were created to help children learn not only about numbers, their sounds and how many there are in each number, but also symbols, mathematics, time, addition, and measurement.[7] They range from numbers 1-9, with odd numbers consisting of males and even numbers consisting of females. Each Number Person carries a number of objects to teach children how many there are to represent the number (such as Mister 1 having "only one of everything: a one-legged table, a one-legged chair, one microscope, one test tube and one clock with one hand"),[6] and also represents the job they employ: Mister 1 as a scientist, Miss 2 as a doctor, Mister 3 as a pilot, Miss 4 as a construction worker, Mister 5 as a sports player (similar to Mister K), Miss 6 as a shape stacker, Mister 7 as an ice cream salesman, Miss 8 as a photographer, and Mister 9 as a magician.

Unlike The Letter People, The Number People was lesser-known and had very little products, including an Alpha Math workbook[6] and a CD containing accompanying songs each Number Person had.[7]

When The Letter People program was revamped in 1996, The Number People program was also revamped along with it, featuring six males (Mr. 0, Mr. 2, Mr. 4, Mr. 5, Mr. 9 and Mr. 10) and five females (Ms. 1, Ms. 3, Ms. 6, Ms. 7, and Ms. 8), with two new numbers 0 and 10 introduced. Each Number Person has the numeral placed to the top-right corner of his/her uniform, while a number word was also added to the back of each Number Person. A Spanish-language version was also available to teach the Spanish names of the numbers.[8]

Place where the Letter People live

In the original 1968 program, the place where the Letter People live was originally called "Letter People Land", but when the program was revised in 1990, it was renamed the "Land of the Letter People" in 1991. As the newly revised program in 1996 utilized the newer version of the characters, the Letter People's residence "Land of the Letter People" still remained the same.

List of Letter People
Original Program (1968) Characteristic Revised Program (1996) Characteristic
Miss A A'choo Ms. A A'choo
Mister B Beautiful Buttons Mr. B Beautiful Buttons
Mister C Cotton Candy Mr. C Colossal Cap
Mister D Delicious Doughnuts Mr. D Dazzling Dance
Miss E Exercise Ms. E Exercise Energy
Mister F Funny Feet Ms. F Funny Feet
Mister G Gooey Gum Mr. G Gooey Gum
Mister H Horrible Hair Mr. H Happy Hair
Miss I* Incredible Inventor (Itchy Itch) Mr. I Impossible Inches
Mister J Jumbled Junk Ms. J Jingle Jingle Jacket
Mister K Kicking Ms. K Kaboom Kick
Mister L Lemon Lollipops Ms. L Longest Laugh
Mister M Munching Mouth Mr. M Munching Mouth
Mister N Noisy Nose Mr. N Noisy Nose
Miss O* Optimistic Optimist (Obstinate) Mr. O Opposite
Mister P Pointy Patches Ms. P Pointy Patches
Mister Q Quiet Mr. Q* [Quiet] Questions
Mister R Ripping Rubberbands Mr. R Rainbow Ribbons
Mister S Super Socks Ms. S Super Socks
Mister T Tall Teeth Ms. T Tall Teeth
Miss U Upsy-Daisy Umbrella Ms. U Unusual Umbrella
Mister V Violet Velvet Vest Ms. V Vegetable Vest
Mister W Wonderful Wink Ms. W Wonderful Words
Mister X Mixed-Up Mr. X Different
Mister Y Yawning Ms. Y Yodeling Yawn
Mister Z Zipping Zippers Mr. Z Zipping Zippers
  • Note: The characteristics of Miss I and Miss O changed after The Letter People television series entered production. Therefore, they are known by the names in parentheses on that program.
  • Note: The characteristics of Mr. Q changed from "Quiet Questions" to just "Questions" to teach children that keeping your questions "quiet" will not answer them.

Cast

Television series
  • King Hall - Head Puppeteer
  • Allan Trautman - Puppeteer, Mister C (voice), Mister K
  • Gregg Berger - Mister Z (voice), Mister V
  • Patrick Clear - Mister J, Mister R, various (voices)
  • Joneal Joplin - Mister S and Mister G (voices)
  • Tom Tichenor - Puppeteer/puppet designer

Songs
  • Yvonne Lewis - Ms. A
  • Lenny Roberts - Mr. B (original)/Mr. M/Mr. N
  • Frank Simms - Mr. B
  • Ron Marshall - Mr. C/Cockatoo/Giraffe
  • Bert Dovo - Mr. D
  • Doris Eugenio - Ms. E
  • Michelle Lewis - Ms. F (original)
  • Jackie Presti - Ms. F
  • Darryl Tookes - Mr. G
  • Al Dana - Mr. H
  • Paul Evans - Mr. I
  • Holli Ross - Ms. J
  • Damaris Carbaugh - Ms. K/Ms. S (original)
  • Miriam Valle - Ms. L
  • Shawn Elliot - Mr. O
  • Florence M. Warner - Ms. P
  • Paul Rolnick - Mr. Q
  • Marlon Saunders - Mr. R/Mr. Z
  • Emily Bindiger - Ms. S/Ms. Y
  • Ellen Woloshin - Ms. T
  • Annette Sanders - Ms. U/Caterpillar/Horse
  • Vivian C. Cherry - Ms. V
  • Robin Small - Ms. W
  • Marty Nelson - Mr. X

Strategy Tapes
  • Annette Sanders - Ms. W
  • Lenny Roberts - Mr. N/Mr. R
  • Marlon Saunders - Mr. M
  • Michelle Lewis - Ms. F/Ms. T
  • Kathleen Facher - Ms. P
  • Stew Merrit - Mr. R (in "Catch a Phrase")
  • Paul Evans - Mr. I
  • Katreece Barnes - Ms. A
  • Doris Eugenio - Ms. S
  • Al Dana - Mr. H
  • Paul Rolnick - Mr. C
  • Holli Ross - Ms. U
  • Georgia Jones - Ms. E
  • Bert Dovo - Mr. O
  • Emily Bindiger - Ms. Y

References
  1. Lehr, Fran R. "Abrams Learning Trends: Research Foundations for The Letter People® Programs" (PDF). abramslearningtrends.com. Abrams & Company Publishers, Inc.; Learning Trends, LLC. Archived from the original on 2015-03-24. Retrieved 2020-01-31.CS1 maint: unfit URL (link)
  2. "The Huggables". Life Magazine. May 12, 1972.
  3. KETC Timeline
  4. "Spanish Puppets, Set of 4". abramslearningtrends.com.
  5. https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/excelligence-learning-corporation-acquires-abrams-pre-k-curriculum-and-the-letter-people-300843983.html
  6. "The Number People - Alpha Math Worksheets". Amazon.com. Retrieved 20 May 2019.
  7. "The Number People CD Album - Letter People Cousins". Teachers Pay Teachers. Retrieved 20 May 2019.
  8. "The Number People". Abrams & Company Education Products – Home of the Letter People. Archived from the original on 28 February 2008. Retrieved 30 May 2019.
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