American musician, actor and writer
Christopher Cerf
|
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Born
| (
1941-08-19
)
August 19, 1941
(age 82)
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Occupation
|
- Author
- Composer
- Lyricist
- Voice actor
- Record
and television producer
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Alma mater
| Harvard University
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Spouses
|
Genevieve Charbin
(
m.
, divorced)
[1]
[2]
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Parents
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Christopher Cerf
(born August 19, 1941) is an American author, composer-lyricist, voice actor, and record and television producer. He has contributed music to
Sesame Street
,
and co-created and co-produced the PBS literacy education television program
Between the Lions
.
Biography
[
edit
]
Cerf's father was
Random House
co-founder, publisher, editor and TV panelist
Bennett Cerf
. His mother was journalist and children's book publisher
Phyllis Fraser
. Cerf attended the
Deerfield Academy
and graduated from
Harvard College
. He was married to Genevieve Charbin who is a Catholic of French descent. Cerf and
Katherine Vaz
were married on June 21, 2015.
[3]
After his father's death, his mother married ex-New York City mayor
Robert F. Wagner Jr.
[4]
Musical compositions
[
edit
]
In the early 1960s, he was involved as a writer and performer on musical satires released by
The Harvard Lampoon
. Since its first season in 1969, Cerf has played a role in the creation and production of the
Sesame Street
television program, most notably as a regular contributor of music and lyrics, and as the producer of many of its music albums. In the process, he has won two
Grammy Awards
and three
Emmy Awards
for songwriting and music production. Since writing and performing his first song for
Sesame Street
, "Count It Higher" (1973) in Season 5, Cerf has written or co-written over 200 songs featured on the program, including "Put Down the Duckie", "The Word Is No", "Dance Myself to Sleep", "
Monster in the Mirror
", and such parody songs as "Born To Add", "Letter B", "Wet Paint", and "
Furry Happy Monsters
". Cerf also played a role in the ongoing funding of
Sesame Street
, founding and serving as the original editor-in-chief of
Sesame Workshop
's books, records, and toys division.
In addition to his contributions to
Sesame Street
, Cerf's musical material has appeared on
Saturday Night Live
,
The National Lampoon Radio Hour
,
The Electric Company
,
Square One Television
,
Between the Lions
, and in numerous
Muppet
productions, and his songs have been performed by
Paul Simon
,
Ray Charles
,
Johnny Cash
,
R.E.M.
,
James Taylor
,
Tony Bennett
,
Dixie Chicks
,
Tracy Chapman
,
Carol Channing
,
Randy Travis
,
The Four Tops
,
Melissa Etheridge
,
Smokey Robinson
,
Bonnie Raitt
,
Wynton Marsalis
,
Little Richard
,
B.B. King
,
Jimmy Buffett
,
Bart Simpson
, and the
Metropolitan Opera
's
Jose Carreras
. The blond, curly-haired Muppet character from
Sesame Street
is his namesake and the lead singer of the rock group "Chrissy and the Alphabeats."
1963?70: Cerf at Random House
[
edit
]
Before joining
Sesame Street
, Cerf spent eight years as a senior editor at
Random House
(co-founded by his father in 1927), where he worked with authors
George Plimpton
,
Andy Warhol
,
Abbie Hoffman
,
Ray Bradbury
,
Richard Farina
, and
Dr. Seuss
(Theodor Geisel). In 1993, Cerf renewed his ties to Random House when he assumed the role of Chairman of the
Modern Library
's Board of Advisors.
[
citation needed
]
Collaborations with Marlo Thomas
[
edit
]
Cerf edited and produced the
Marlo Thomas
& Friends'
Free to Be... a Family
book, album and TV special. The book reached No. 1 on
The New York Times
bestseller list within a week of its publication in 1989, and the show received a prime-time Emmy as the year's outstanding children's special.
[5]
Cerf and Thomas collaborated again, co-editing and co-producing
Thanks & Giving: All Year Long
, a book and CD about generosity and sharing (and their polar opposites, selfishness and thoughtlessness). Royalties from the project, for which Thomas and Cerf won a 2005
Grammy Award
, go to
St. Jude Children's Research Hospital
, founded by Thomas' father,
Danny Thomas
, in 1962.
[6]
Between the Lions
[
edit
]
Cerf served as Executive Producer, and Music and Audio Producer, of
Between the Lions
, the children's literacy series that his company, Sirius Thinking, Ltd., created for PBS.
Between the Lions
has twice won the Television Critics' Award as the nation's outstanding children's television program, and won ten
Emmy Awards
.
[7]
In two independent studies, conducted by the
University of Kansas
and
Mississippi State University
, the program has also demonstrated success in helping children ? including those at the highest risk of literacy failure ? to learn how to read.
[8]
Lomax, the Hound of Music
[
edit
]
In 2008, Cerf served as co-creator (with
Norman Stiles
and Louise Gikow), Executive producer and writer of the
PBS Kids
series
Lomax, the Hound of Music
.
The show, which debuted in the winter of 2008, is a children's series featuring "a good-natured, melody-obsessed puppet pooch named Lomax, his fluffy feline sidekick Delta, and their human companion,
Amy
, on a tune-filled train ride crisscrossing the musical landscape of America. With the help ? and full participation ? of real kids on the train, on location, and the viewers at home, Lomax and his friends doggedly pursue their mutual passion: tracking down the wonderful songs that form the heart of our nation's diverse musical heritage."
[9]
The show had educational credentials. Aware that many American children do not receive any formal musical education, Cerf, Stiles and Gikow based
Lomax
on the music education curriculum created by the music educator John Feierabend, PhD, proven to increase children's musical ability and intelligence. It included appearances by
Larry Campbell
and
Tom Chapin
.
Lomax
ran for only one season.
[10]
Humorous writings
[
edit
]
Cerf also worked as an author and satirist. In 1970, he helped launch the
National Lampoon
, serving as a Contributing Editor from its first issue until the mid-1970s, and in 1978, he co-conceived and co-edited with
Tony Hendra
,
George Plimpton
and Rusty Unger the journalistic parody
Not The New York Times
.
[11]
The Experts Speak,
the "compendium of authoritative misinformation" that Cerf co-authored with
Victor Navasky
in 1984, has recently been reissued. In 1986, Cerf collaborated with
National Lampoon
colleague
Henry Beard
on
The Pentagon Catalog: Ordinary Products at Extraordinary Prices
, which offered readers the historic opportunity to obtain a free hex nut?valued at $2,043 by the
McDonnell Douglas
Corporation?with every copy they purchased. (The book has a die-cut hole in its front cover and first few pages: the book was sold in clear plastic
shrink wrap
with a steel hex nut inside this hole, slightly less than flush with the cover. The shrink wrap displayed the hex nut and prevented it from falling out before the book was purchased.)
The Official Politically Correct Dictionary
, also written with Beard, first appeared in 1992.
[
citation needed
]
In 2008, to commemorate the fifth anniversary of
George W. Bush
's victory speech aboard the
U. S. S.
Lincoln
, Cerf again collaborated with Victor Navasky to produce
Mission Accomplished!: Or How We Won the War in Iraq
based on America's military presence in Iraq.
[12]
Objections to the use of his music to break captives' will
[
edit
]
In December 2008, the Associated Press reported that various musicians were coordinating their objections to the use of their
music as a technique for softening up captives
.
[13]
The songs used were primarily
heavy metal
, but included songs from
Sesame Street
. The Associated Press reported that Cerf "was horrified to learn songs from the children's TV show were used in interrogations".
As a consequence, he researched how music is being used for military purposes and published his findings in the documentary movie
Songs of War
.
[14]
Selected bibliography
[
edit
]
- Alligator
, with
Michael K. Frith
as by "I*N FL*M*NG" (
Harvard Lampoon
parody of
Ian Fleming
's
James Bond
novels), 1962
- The Vintage Anthology of Science Fantasy
(editor), 1966
- The World's Largest Cheese,
1968
- The Chicago Conspiracy Trial: The Chicago Conspiracy vs. The Washington Kangaroos / Official Pogrom
(editor, with Michael Frith), New York: Domesday Books, 1969
- Official National Lampoon Bicentennial Calendar 1976
(with Bill Effros), 1975
- Not The New York Times
(co-editor, with Larry Durocher, Josh Feigenbaum,
Tony Hendra
,
George Plimpton
, and Rusty Unger), 1978
- The 80s: A Look Back at the Tumultuous Decade 1980?1989
(co-editor, with
Tony Hendra
and Peter Elbling), 1979 (
ISBN
0-89480-122-8
,
ISBN
0-89480-119-8
[paperback])
- The Experts Speak: The Definitive Compendium of Authoritative Misinformation
(with
Victor Navasky
), 1984 (
ISBN
0-394-71334-6
[paperback],
ISBN
0-394-52061-0
[hardcover]), 1990, 1998 (
ISBN
0-679-77806-3
)
- The Pentagon Catalog: Ordinary Products at Extraordinary Prices
(with
Henry Beard
), 1986 (
ISBN
0-89480-036-1
)
- Marlo Thomas & Friends:
Free to Be... a Family
(co-editor, with
Marlo Thomas
), 1987
- The Book of Sequels
(with
Henry Beard
,
Sarah Durkee
, and
Sean Kelly
), 1990
- Small Fires: Letters From the Soviet People to
Ogonyok
Magazine, 1987?1990
(co-editor, with Marina Albee), 1990 (
ISBN
0-671-69397-2
,
ISBN
0-671-72876-8
[paperback])
- The Gulf War Reader: History, Documents, Opinions
(co-editor, with Micah L. Sifry), 1991 (
ISBN
0-8129-1947-5
)
- The Official Politically Correct Dictionary and Handbook
(with
Henry Beard
), 1992 (
ISBN
0-679-74113-5
), 1993
- The Official Sexually Correct Dictionary and Handbook
(with
Henry Beard
), 1995 (
ISBN
0-679-75641-8
)
- The Iraq War Reader: History, Documents, Opinions
(co-editor, with Micah L. Sifry), 2003 (
ISBN
0-7432-5347-7
)
- Marlo Thomas & Friends: Thanks and Giving: All Year Long
(co-editor, with
Marlo Thomas
), 2004 (
ISBN
0-689-87732-3
)
- Blackie: The Horse Who Stood Still
(with
Paige Peterson (artist)
), 2006 (
ISBN
1-59962-017-0
)
- Mission Accomplished!
(or
How We Won the War in Iraq),
(with
Victor S. Navasky
), 2008 (
ISBN
1-4165-6993-6
)
- Spinglish: The Definitive Dictionary of Deliberately Deceptive Language
(with
Henry Beard
), 2015 (
ISBN
0-3991-7239-4
)
- A Skunk in My Bunk!
, 2019 (
ISBN
0-525-57872-2
)
Discography
[
edit
]
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References
[
edit
]
- ^
"Christopher Bennett Cerf Weds Genevieve Charbin"
.
The New York Times
. July 9, 1972.
Archived
from the original on May 16, 2021
. Retrieved
May 16,
2021
.
- ^
Nir, Sarah Maslin (July 10, 2015).
"Katherine Vaz and Christopher Cerf: Kermit Will Attend"
.
The New York Times
.
Archived
from the original on May 16, 2021
. Retrieved
May 16,
2021
.
- ^
Nir, Sarah Maslin (July 10, 2015).
"Katherine Vaz and Christopher Cerf: Kermit Will Attend"
.
The New York Times
.
Archived
from the original on May 16, 2021
. Retrieved
May 16,
2021
.
The wedding announcement appears in the Friday, July 10, 2015, edition of the New York Times, references the date of the marriage: "Their wedding took place on the anniversary of their first date, the first day of summer. It was also Father's Day, chosen in homage to Ms. Vaz's father, August Mark Vaz, who died two years earlier."
- ^
Stevenson, Laura H. (October 6, 1975).
"Chris & Genevieve Cerf: She's Throwing Off Her Chains, but the Yoke Is on Him"
.
People
.
- ^
"Outstanding Childrens Program Nominees"
.
Emmy Awards
. Retrieved
November 30,
2023
.
- ^
"48th Annual Grammy Awards"
.
Grammy Awards
. Retrieved
November 30,
2023
.
- ^
"Between the Lions - Awards"
.
IMDb
. Retrieved
November 30,
2023
.
- ^
"PBS KIDS Series Between the Lions Proves Again That TV Can Help Children Learn to Read"
.
PBS.org
. Retrieved
November 30,
2023
.
- ^
"Lomax the Hound"
.
Sirius Thinking, Ltd
. Retrieved
November 30,
2023
.
- ^
"Lomax the Hound"
.
Sirius Thinking, Ltd
. Retrieved
November 30,
2023
.
- ^
Dwyer, Jim (November 14, 2008).
"In 1978, A Faux Paper was Real Genius"
.
The New York Times
. Retrieved
November 30,
2023
.
- ^
"Mission Accomplished!"
.
C-SPAN
. July 2, 2008
. Retrieved
November 30,
2023
.
- ^
Selsky, Andrew (December 9, 2008).
"Musicians protest use of songs by US jailers"
.
Associated Press
. Archived from
the original
on December 12, 2008
. Retrieved
December 9,
2008
.
- ^
"Songs of War: Music as a Weapon (2010)"
.
IMDb
. Retrieved
May 9,
2019
.
Further reading
[
edit
]
External links
[
edit
]
Interviews
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1958?1974
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1975?1992
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2011?present
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International
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National
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Academics
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Artists
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People
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Other
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