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1[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/theletterpeople.jpg]]
2
3->''"Come and meet the Letter People.''\
4''Come and visit the family.''\
5''Words are made of Letter People''\
6''A B C D, follow me!"''
7-->-- '''''The Letter People'' ThemeSong'''
8
9First produced in 1972, ''The Letter People'' was an EdutainmentShow created by the St. Louis Creator/{{PBS}} station KETC and was based on a phonics program for children that featured a cast of anthropomorphic letters. Using primitive puppets and simplistic backdrops, interspersed with NonSequitur [[ArtShift animated sequences]], each episode would either introduce a Letter Boy or Letter Girl, or explore a new phonetic principle, such as "silent e" or the "ing" sound. Every Letter Person had his or her own special sound, demonstrated by their outfits and {{Mad Libs Catch Phrase}}s. Living alongside the Letter People were the other denizens of Letter People Land, ranging from the Purple Peekaboo Palooklas to GameShowHost Monty Swell, who hosted the ShowWithinAShow, "The Catching Game", in which contestants sounded out words and won prizes that relate to them.
10
11Soon after its premiere, the show began to gain popularity and spread to other PBS stations via syndication. Its popularity largely grew from the fact that, despite being based on the rather mundane topic of phonics, all of the characters have rather distinct personalities (LargeHam: Mister G, JerkWithAHeartOfGold: Miss O, TheCape: Mister S). Also, even with the show's simplistic nature, a number of the Letter People went through a good deal of CharacterDevelopment and found themselves involved in a number of [[WeirdnessMagnet wacky hijinks]]. And according to Website/TheOtherWiki, the show has aired almost constantly since its premiere.
12
13[[https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLBD5A1B9BBA62681A The complete series]] [[https://www.youtube.com/user/letterpeopleland/videos is now available on]] Website/YouTube.
14
15The Letter People's sounds are:
16||Miss A ||Achoo ||Mister N ||Noisy Nose
17||Mister B ||Beautiful Buttons ||Miss O ||Obstinate
18||Mister C ||Cotton Candy ||Mister P ||Pointy Patches
19||Mister D ||Delicious Donuts ||Mister Q ||Quiet
20||Miss E ||Exercise ||Mister R ||Ripping Rubberbands
21||Mister F ||Funny Feet ||Mister S ||Super Socks
22||Mister G ||Gooey Gum ||Mister T ||Tall Teeth
23||Mister H ||Horrible Hair ||Miss U ||Upsy-Daisy Umbrella
24||Miss I ||Itchy Itches ||Mister V ||Violet Velvet Vest
25||Mister J ||Jumbled Junk ||Mister W ||Wonderful Wink
26||Mister K ||Kicking ||Mister X ||[=MiXed=] Up
27||Mister L ||Lemon Lollipops ||Mister Y ||Yawning
28||Mister M ||Munching Mouth ||Mister Z ||Zipping Zippers
29----
30!!The Letter People provides examples of:
31
32* ActionGirl: Miss E's name refers to Exercise, and she's stated to be one of the strongest Letter People alongside FlyingBrick Mister S.
33* AddedAlliterativeAppeal: Most of the Letter People tend to use words that start with their sound.
34* AlienAbduction: Mister R and the Letter Girls are kidnapped by Empress Mung of the planet Snickers in order to make use of her [[MacGuffin Divided Catching Clue Box]].
35* AlliterativeName: Charlie [=McChoo=], and his engine, the Chewy Cherry Choo-Choo
36** The Thing
37** And lots of others
38* AllJustADream: Miss U's experience with the Unforgettable Underground Uglies. OrWasItADream
39* AllYourPowersCombined: The Letter People combine their sounds to make words.
40* AnimatedActor: A variation. Puppets would be reused as different characters, each one wearing a different outfit.
41* AnimatedCreditsOpening: The show's opening was an animated sequence of kids and a dog skipping through the archway to Letter People Land.
42* ArtShift: Again, a variation. The initial few episodes had very simple sets with largely black backgrounds. Then, there was a very sudden change to the sets, which came to include buildings, street signs, roads, and landscapes.
43* AscendedExtra: A number of throwaway characters from the initial, introductory episodes reappeared later in the series in more story-focussed episodes.
44** Detective Nardo, for instance.
45* BerserkButton: Do NOT add anything to Mister V's velvet vest, such as pointy patches, beautiful buttons, or zipping zippers.
46* BlessedWithSuck: Mister N's nose goes crazy when he hears a word that starts with his sound.
47** In the Classroom version, poor Mister N's nose goes crazy anyhow and he couldn't always control it. There was even a sympathetic story about how insecure he was because of his Noisy Nose and how he felt like he didn't fit in with anyone.
48** Miss I has an invisible FairyCompanion, Itchy Itch, who tickles her when she hears a word that starts with her sound.
49*** In the Classroom version, she still loves her companion anyway.
50** Mister X's letter makes whatever it's put on to go "all wrong." At least until he gets a sound.
51* BigEater: If it's not enough that Mister M's sound is "Munching Mouth", his song cements his status this way as he lists foods starting with M that he loves to eat. And if that's still not enough, his introductory episode had him at a market, eating foods beginning with M, making a mess.
52* BizarreSexualDimorphism: All the Letter Girls are largely human in form, while most of the Letter Boys have much more bizarre forms.
53** Mister T is essentially an orange rectangle with an enormous mouth.
54** Mister F has gigantic feet.
55** Mister N has a multi-colored trunk that makes random noises.
56** Mister X is the most ordinary-looking of the lot. He can't even get wrongness right!
57* BlitheSpirit: The Runaway Words. They don't want to follow the rules, but still want to recognized as words.
58** Examples: To, Are, Cold, World, Great, etc.
59*** In later episodes, they would become a [[RunningGag Running]] [[IncrediblyLamePun Gag]].
60* BreakoutCharacter: Miss O, to a degree. The sheer number of sounds that the letter O produces meant she was the star of a disproportionate number of episodes. In a number of later episodes, she was often thrown into the background in crowd scenes and such.
61--> '''Miss O:''' I beg your pardon! It's the letter O, and I'm Miss O. And my sound is the same sound that starts Obstinate. I also have my long sound as in the word "go". Mr. R and I make the "or" sound together. Miss I and I make the "oi" sound together as in "coin." And I make the "oy" sound in the word "joy." Oh, and then of course, we all know that Miss U and I make the "ou" sound as in the word "shout." And I also make the "ow" sound with Mr. W as in "town," and the long o sound with Mr. W as in "show." And wow, I make two sounds with myself. The long double o "oo" sound as in the word "pool," and the short double o "oo" sound as in "look". Oh, my goodness, I'm so proud of myself!
62* CampStraight: Mister B and Mister D have high-pitched, campy voices, but never show romantic interest in other male characters.
63* CatchPhrase
64** Mister B - "Boy oh boy!"
65** Mister H - "Hubba hubba! Hey, hey, hey!"
66** Mister S - "Darn my socks!"
67** Mister Z - "Zowey!"
68** Monty Swell - "Goodbye everyone, and kissy-kissy!"
69* TheCape: Mister S is a FlyingBrick superhero.
70* CoincidentalBroadcast: "News flash! Dolly the Dancing Dragon disappeared yesterday..."
71** {{Lampshaded}} in a later episode where the radio actually ''responds'' to Mister J's questions.
72* CollectorOfTheStrange: Mister J. He owns a junkyard.
73* ContrivedCoincidence: Whenever the Letter People decide to play the Catching Game, the exact Letter People needed for the word they want to make are always present.
74* CircusOfFear: Not so much the circus, but the funhouse nearly scares Miss A, Miss U, and Mister W to death.
75* DeadpanSnarker: Mister H
76--> '''Mister H:''' "You know, Miss O, I think you should sing tenor."
77--> '''Miss O:''' "Tenor?"
78--> '''Mister H:''' "Ten or twelve blocks away!"
79* DemotedToExtra: Unfortunately, possibly due to budget from the TV show, not all off the Letter People got to be seen much and few such as Mister Z and Mister V were PutOnABus. In the Classroom version, they appeared more and you were allowed to use a Letter Person or more into a story or lesson as much as you desired. The same happened with the Word Machine. In the TV Show, he only appeared in one episode and was invented by Professor Foghorn. In the classroom version, we don't really know where the Word Machine came from, but he appeared more then just one story and he needed the Letter People to help him make words rather then just simple letters like in the TV show. Plus, a lot of the Letter People got involved in the Runaway words mishap then just Miss O.
80* DisneyAcidSequence: Frequently
81* DistractedByTheShiny: Mister T gets his toothache fixed while he's trying to listen for his sound.
82* DiscoDan: Frantic Freddie. When the series was first made (in the 1970s), he probably wasn't intended to be this, but he comes off this way to some modern viewers.
83* EasilyForgiven: Most of the villains get off pretty lightly. Once they're thwarted, they pledge to change their ways, and the Letter People usually find somewhere in Letter People Land that their talents would be useful.
84* EverythingIsBigInTexas: Mister T. He has huge teeth and a Texan accent.
85* EvilIsHammy: Empress Mung of the Planet Snickers. She borders on LaughingMad. Constantly.
86* FoodPorn: You'll probably be craving donuts after listening to Mr. D's song.
87* FormulaBreakingEpisode:
88** The two-part episode that introduced syllables centers around a new character, Chopper, and makes almost no mention of the actual Letter People.
89** The last episode (of 60) in the series barely featured the Letter People. It was about the characters playing a baseball game but focused entirely on the announcers in the booth.
90* GeniusBruiser: Miss E is super strong, writes songs, and is an excellent piano player.
91* GeniusDitz: Professor Foghorn, inventor of the Word Machine. He constantly forgets even the simplest things and his favorite food is bologna and jelly sandwiches.
92** Also Miss I in the classroom version, even though she was girly and silly, she was still intelligent, imaginative and creative.
93* GirlishPigtails: Miss A, Miss E, Miss O in the Classroom version. Miss U in the TV Show version. Also Yolinda and Cindy.
94* GrandFinale: "Sentences, Part 2." Although there's nothing to overtly indicate it's a finale [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LXPqpb_czYw the ending song]] features a fair chunk of the cast parading by the camera and Monty Swell saying goodbye.
95* HeavySleeper: Captain Zemo is actually an anthropomorphic boar, and has a habit of falling asleep at the drop of a hat. Even when he's on stage, playing a villain in a melodrama!
96* IAmSong: Each Letter Person has one.
97** Also the Word Machine and 'The Thing'(from the books)in the TV version.
98* TheIgor: Mister Q's assistant, Bottomsly Ups-Down.
99* IncrediblyLamePun: The monks that train Chopper to break words into parts are called the Order of the Silly Bull. Get it? Syllable, silly bull?
100---> ''His name has just been spoken,''
101---> ''So words must now be broken!''
102---> ''No time! No time to explain in full!''
103---> ''Watch out! Watch out, for the Silly Bull!''
104* JerkWithAHeartOfGold: Miss O's sound is "Obstinate", and she can be a prima donna at times, but she ultimately means well.
105* LargeHam: Mister G and Mister H both have very hammy introductory songs.
106* MadLibsCatchPhrase: "I'm Mister/Miss [letter], and my sound is the same sound that starts '[namesake phrase]'."
107* MistakenForSubculture: The Letter People are mistaken for a rock band when they pitch the idea for "[[ShowWithinAShow The Catching Game]]."
108* MoreTeethThanTheOsmondFamily: Mister M, Mister T, Miss A
109* OmnidisciplinaryScientist: Mister Q, who can build a machine capable of producing objects and cured Miss O after she lost her voice.
110* OneLetterName: Obviously--each letter person's name is Mr./Ms. and then a letter.
111* OurGhostsAreDifferent: The Thing is, for all appearances, a ghost, but it's actually some ill-defined creature that haunts an old theater. It also has two sounds.
112* PaperThinDisguise: Dolly the Dragon managed to disguise herself as a daisy and a Dalmatian.
113* ParasolOfPrettiness: This seems to fit Miss U cause she has her Umbrella and is pretty, graceful, feminine, polite and innocent.
114* ParentalBonus: More than you'd expect. Mr. T sings Music/JohnnyCash, and Miss I tells Detective Nardo, "[[Film/ToHaveAndHaveNot You know how to stop an itch, don't you, Nardo? You just spread your fingers apart and... scratch.]]"
115* PoliticalOvercorrectness: The current version of the Letter People program. Not only have the genders of the characters been changed to make half of the letters boys and the other half girls, but a lot of the traits of the characters have been changed to be happier or more positive. For example, Mr. H's Horrible Hair is now ''Happy'' Hair, Mr. J and his junk have been swapped for ''Miss'' J and her Jingle Jacket, and don't even count on Mr. D having Delicious Doughnuts anymore since he now does Dazzling Dances. Mr. X gets it the worst--his namesake phrase no longer includes his letter!
116* PowerOfFriendship: Solves a ''lot'' of problems.
117* PragmaticAdaptation: Rather than introduce the letters in alphabetical order, the show introduced those that had the most potential to appear in single syllable words (M, T, F, N, H, B, A). They then introduced word building (The Catching Game) and built both of them up simultaneously.
118** That's how many kindergarden handbooks for teaching to read are constructed.
119*** The classroom version started out like that too.
120* PrivateDetective: Detective Nardo isn't part of the police force, as at one point in the series, he takes a job as a night watchman in a museum.
121* QuarterHourShort: All 60 episodes of the 1970s series ran for roughly 15 minutes each.
122* QuintessentialBritishGentleman: Mister V has the accent, behaves very courteously, and is well-dressed in his [[AddedAlliterativeAppeal Violet Velvet Vest]].
123* RealisticDictionIsUnrealistic: Surprisingly {{Averted}} in a number of places, but played straight in others.
124* RuleOfThree: Look carefully at the sets. Whenever there is three of something (trees, arches, etc.), those three things will probably be used as Clue Boxes for playing a Catching Game at some point in the episode.
125* SassyBlackWoman: Miss I. She has sass, but is much more mellow than most examples.
126* SayMyName: The Letter Girls' (the vowels) long sounds are their names.
127* ShoutOut: Whenever a Runaway Word shows up, it shouts, "[[Radio/TheLoneRanger Hi-ho Silver, away]]!" as it [[DepartmentOfRedundancyDepartment runs away]].
128* ShowWithinAShow
129** The Catching Game
130*** The game was played two ways. Contestants would sound out words and call out the corresponding Letter People to stand in the Clue Boxes (Starting, Catching, and Ending). Then, the Letter People would make their sounds "catch" to create the word.
131*** Or, the letter people would already be in the Clue Boxes, and the contestants would have to figure out what word they were spelling by sounding it out.
132** Frantic Freddie's Rocking, Hopping, Dancing Party
133* ShrinkingViolet: Mr. X is a rare male example of this; being very shy around the other letter people due to his X causing everything to go all wrong. He comes out of his shell a bit once Mr. K and Mr. S let him borrow their sounds, which cancels his "all wrong" effect.
134* SmurfettePrinciple: Only the vowels are girls, resulting in five Letter Girls and 21 Letter Boys.
135** {{Averted}} with most of the minor characters, as there seem to be roughly even numbers of both genders.
136*** In the classroom version, they made only the girls vowels to show that they can't spell out most words without a Letter "Girl".
137*** This has been changed has far as the current modern incarnation of the Letter People are concerned; see PoliticalOvercorrectness above.
138* SupremeChef: Mr. D and his Delicious Donuts.
139* SympatheticInspectorAntagonist: Mr. J's introductory episode had a police officer named [[AddedAlliterativeAppeal Jasper Jabberwocky]] who was tasked by a judge to evict Mr. J from his junkyard. Officer Jabberwocky even admitted he didn't want to do the eviction, but had to uphold the law and do his job. [[spoiler: Fortunately Mr. J was able to convince the judge of the value of his junkyard to the community and change her mind.]]
140* TalkingIsAFreeAction: No one ever interrupts the Letter People when they talk about their sounds and words that start with them.
141* ThemeMusicPowerUp: Most characters would sing a song about their sound or their characteristic in their first appearance. For instance, Mister S sang about his "Super Socks."
142* TitleThemeTune
143* UncommonTime: "Mrs. E" has a few bars in 5/4, while "Mr. J" is in 7/4 (which shows up more often in the European folk it's based off of)
144* TheVoice: Tom Bargo, who is apparently the announcer to every TV show in Letter People Land
145* TheVoiceless: Mister Q ''was'' this until Miss U stood next to him.
146* WeirdnessMagnet: The Letter People seem prone to meeting unusual people.
147--> '''Mister H:''' "Psst, how do we find these guys?"
148* WhyDidItHaveToBeSnakes: Mister H is always scared of Squoosh Boxes. They're sharp and pointy!
149** In the classroom version, he's scared of all things sharp and pointy because they hurt and you can get cuts. And he thinks the same applies for his hair, which is why he never gets a haircut.
150* {{Zeerust}}: The Word Machine, which [[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin makes words]], was meant to be a rather advanced computer (It talks!), but it's covered in glowing windows and lights, while making a lot of boops and beeps.

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