❝Story01:00
How Singing and Typing Opened the Door to Sesame Street
Rabe arrived in New York intending to become an opera singer, but auditions were not supporting her. A former high school music teacher working on Sesame Street asked whether she could type, which led to a music production assistant role and eventually singing with the Muppets.
- Rabe earned a four-year opera degree with a minor in jazz
- Her former teacher was assistant music director on Sesame Street's second season
- She first hired Manhattan jingle singers and later performed on the show, albums, and specials
“And he asked me if I could type. And I said, "Yes, I can sing and I can type."”
“So, I got a job as music production assistant at Sesame Street.”
#sesame street#career#music#serendipity
❝Story06:00
A Broken Teapot Became Tish Rabe's First Children's Book
When Sesame Street asked staff for book ideas, Rabe adapted a childhood memory in which her mother valued her over a broken family teapot. An editor asked her to turn it into a Bert story, creating Bert and the Broken Teapot and preserving the message that friendship matters more than possessions.
- Sesame Street needed books and invited ideas from staff
- Rabe pitched a personal childhood memory
- The editor asked her to adapt the premise for Bert
- The published story placed friendship above a treasured object
“I'm not mad or anything. I love you more than any teapot.”
“And from the back of the room the editor for Sesame Street books said, "Could you make it a story for Bert?"”
#children's books#friendship#sesame street#adaptation
❝Story24:00
Being Green Became a Hit Without a Single Rhyme
Joe Raposo wrote Being Green after being asked how Kermit felt living on Sesame Street. Rabe recalls that the song broke the end-rhyme convention used in children's songs, sounded like natural speech, and left the office thunderstruck when Raposo first performed it.
- The song began with a question about Kermit's inner life
- Its lyrics did not use end rhyme
- The unconventional song became a major hit
- Rabe could identify only Moonlight in Vermont as another non-rhyming song
“Being Green, there's not one rhyme.”
“And he came into the office and sang it for the first time and people were thunderstruck.”
#songwriting#kermit#joe raposo#creative risk
❝Story29:30
The Rejection That Led to Writing for Dr. Seuss
Random House rejected Rabe's rhyming dinosaur manuscript because it was the home of Dr. Seuss's rhyming books. The same manuscript demonstrated that she could reproduce the required rhythm and rhyme scheme, so the publisher instead asked her to continue a science-in-rhyme series Dr. Seuss had not finished before his death.
- Morris Aurorus was rejected for Random House publication
- The manuscript proved Rabe could handle Seussian rhythm and rhyme
- She was offered two science books on a four-month deadline
- The resulting books were Is a Camel a Mammal? and Fine Feathered Friends
“We cannot publish Morris the Moose Brachiosaurus because we are the rhyming home of Dr. Seuss.”
“How would you like to write a new series for Dr. Seuss?”
#dr seuss#publishing#rejection#opportunity
❝Story45:00
How Rabe Repaired a Solar-System Mnemonic After Pluto
Rabe's planet mnemonic originally ended with pizzas to represent Pluto. When Pluto was demoted and the illustrator was unavailable to redraw the scene, she replaced the line with nickels so the existing pizza boxes only needed to be changed into containers of coins.
- The original mnemonic represented Pluto with pizzas
- Random House requested a correction after Pluto's demotion
- The art could not be substantially changed
- A replacement line preserved the illustrated composition
“So, I get a call from Random House. Pluto has been demoted.”
“So, I changed it to Malory, Valerie, Emily Mickels just showed us 999 nickels.”
#mnemonics#pluto#editing#constraints
❝Story54:00
Why Tish Rabe Started Her Own Company at 71
Rabe had book ideas established publishers would not pursue, including a dialogic-reading board book with questions that prompt conversation. She started her own company to make those projects herself, taking on illustrators, printing, shipping, Amazon, and direct website sales after decades of only delivering manuscripts.
- Rabe started the company during the COVID period
- Publishers had declined her dialogic-reading idea
- Independence gave her control over messages and formats
- She had to learn the operational side of publishing
“I couldn't get anyone to let me write a book for them. So, I finally said, "Well, then I'll just do it myself."”
“Now I've got to find an illustrator and a you know, printer and a shipment thing and be on Amazon and sell books on my…”
#entrepreneurship#publishing#later life#independence
❝Story58:00
Months of Military Interviews Shaped a Book About Separation
Wanting to honor her former-prisoner-of-war father and reflect military family life, Rabe researched existing books and connected with United Through Reading. She then spent months interviewing service members, partners, spouses, and children so the story and its practical tips reflected their experiences of deployment.
- Rabe wanted military children to see their own family story in a book
- United Through Reading records deployed parents reading to children
- Interviews supplied both emotional detail and practical tips
- One family posted a traced hand so children could high-five the absent parent
“And the first thing I did was I interviewed service members, spouses, partners, and kids. It took me months.”
“When my husband leaves, he traces his hand on paper and I put it up next to the door so the kids can give him…”
#military families#research#deployment#children's books
❝Story1:07:00
Four Imagined Seagulls Unlocked a Two-Day Draft
The Mystic Chamber of Commerce asked Rabe to produce a children's book about the town on a compressed timeline. During the meeting she visualized four seagulls, then used a seagull family flying over local landmarks as the organizing idea and wrote the book in about two days.
- The request came during a Chamber of Commerce meeting
- The book needed to be completed within months
- A seagull family provided a natural tour of Mystic
- The complete concept led to a rapid draft
“And all of a sudden, I saw four seagulls fly over her head.”
“And I wrote the whole thing in like 2 days.”
#inspiration#mystic#children's books#creativity
❝Story1:17:00
Big Bird in China Survived 13 Straight Days of Rain
Rabe joined the first film crew allowed into China with Big Bird and had to protect the only hand-dyed costume from rain. She scheduled 13 rain days, only for heavy rain to consume all 13 at the start of the month-long shoot; the team still completed the 90-minute special, which won an Emmy.
- The production carried only one Big Bird costume
- The costume could not be filmed in rain
- All 13 scheduled rain days were used consecutively
- The finished NBC special ran 90 minutes and won an Emmy
“We were the first crew allowed into China, the first film crew.”
“I scheduled 13 rain days. We were there a month in China. It poured the first 13 days.”
#big bird#china#production#sesame street