In Search of Bernice

In Search of Bernice (alternatively referred to as "The Great Pigeon Chase") was a proposed Sesame Street special, intended to be produced in conjunction with National Geographic. The one-hour special, written by Tony Geiss, would take Bert and Ernie on a globe-trotting adventure to find Bert's pigeon, Bernice.
This project was first announced in a 2004 Sesame Workshop press release. It was set to air as a Thanksgiving special in late 2005, but never went into production. Given the timing and similar concept, it's possible that the idea for the special evolved into the series of shorts, Bert and Ernie's Great Adventures. A similar premise of the pair traveling the world had been explored for the 20th anniversary special (co-scripted by Geiss), as well as the 1988 book Bert and Ernie See the World.
==Plot outline==
The following description is based on the fourth version of the story outline.
Set a week prior to Thanksgiving, Bert reads "American History for Pigeons" to Bernice, detailing the first Thanksgiving from the pigeon perspective. Upon hearing how friends and family gather for the holiday, Bernice excitedly pecks at the computer to tell her fellow bird friends on the internest. Ernie returns to the apartment with a turkey for Thanksgiving dinner (a Muppet turkey as an invited guest). Bert chides him for neglecting to get any actual food (as they are preparing the dinner for the street this year), failing to notice Bernice take a print-out and escape out the window.
Upon realizing Bernice is gone, Bert goes into a panic. He, Ernie, and the other Sesame Street residents frantically search; her disappearance has even made the newspapers. A representative from the Bureau of Missing Pigeons believes she must not be in the city anymore, prompting Bert to utilize his GPL (Global Pigeon Locator) device, connected to a transponder wrapped to Bernice's right leg. The GPL shows her flying south and out of the country. Grover appears, working for the "Global World Travel" agency, and offers to prepare their mode of transportation - a hot air balloon.
The pair don some explorer gear and pack their bags; Bert wears a shirt with a photo of Bernice, and Ernie packs a stuffed panda. Gabi hands them a copy of the print-out Bernice made earlier that could prove useful. The balloon struggles to take off due to a heavy load, until Ernie drops the panda doll. As they take off into the skies, Elmo calls out for them to watch out for his many cousins around the world. They sing a song as they fly through the air. Animated sequences (with simple graphics) present the pair traveling across a map of the world.
While flying, Bert starts to read the print-out. Although the message is written in "tweets," Bert recognizes the recipient is Paco, a baby condor (and Bernice's "number one internest pal") who lives in Cuzco, but they don't know where it is. Zooming over the Grand Canyon, Bert consults his GPL Atlas and locates Peru on the map. Sailing forth, Bert reads in "So You've Lost Your Pigeon!" that the best place to locate pigeons is in public parks or large buildings. Ernie pulls the rope to begin their descent, and Rubber Duckie falls out from the basket. The pair have a rough landing, while Rubber Duckie sails down with a parachute.
Now in the Plaza de Armes in Cuzco, the pair start asking locals for help finding Bernice, but only manage to find Bernice Gonzales (a human woman). Bert suddenly sees the distinct footprints of Bernice and follows them, while Ernie believes he spots her flying off in the opposite direction. Bert's trail hits a wall (literally) when he notices Ernie is gone. Bert meets a young boy named Luis, who helps Bert (in song) make a drawing of Ernie to help locate him. Meanwhile, Ernie finds he's been following the wrong pigeon, but sees he's wound up in a marketplace. He loads up on many types of foods they can use for Thanksgiving before getting directions back to the Plaza.
In the Plaza, a Thanksgiving fiesta is underway. Bert and Luis show their picture to various partygoers with no luck of finding Ernie. A policeman informs Bert of how they celebrate Thanksgiving in Peru. Luis bestows Bert with his lucky rainbow cloth, as rainbows are considered good luck around here. Bert notices the local band has an extra member making squeaking sounds - it's Ernie, playing along with Rubber Duckie. One of Elmo's cousins also appears, playing flute in the band. Luis points towards the sky, where they see Bernice fly past with her condor pal, Paco, unable to hear their cries. Ernie gives a whistle and Grover (in Incan garb) appears, ready to procure them another mode of travel. Luis and his mother bid them farewell before providing them with some corn. Grover has arranged a boat to take them south, but since they're in the mountains, they need to get to the coast via a "taxi" (riding llamas).
The pair board a ship and the skipper spots the birds flying south. They follow behind, getting caught in a brief storm that temporarily sends Rubber Duckie overboard (they fish him back out). Once the ocean calms, Bert checks Bernice's print-out and finds she was also communicating with her pal Rollo, a roller who lives in the Kruger National Park in South Africa. The ship charts a course south and is blown ashore by a great wind. Upon arrival, Grover is called upon once again, driving a land rover to take them to the park; he warns them to not leave the vehicle at any point.
Ernie and Bert marvel at the many animals across the Kruger Game Park, when Bert believes he spots Bernice and leaves the car to follow the bird. It turns out not to be Bernice, but now, the pair are separated from the car by a herd of elephants, and a charging rhino sends them fleeing up a tree. When the area is safe, a park ranger happens by and recognizes Rollo; he uses the computer in the ranger station. He recalls seeing the birds heading towards the city of Thiva and takes the pair there in his jeep.
In town, Ernie and Bert pop by a kid-run hot food stand, where they utilize a music cassette to time how long the sausage is cooked. Everyone (including a South African relative of Elmo) dances to a Kwaito tune, when one of the truck beds becomes a stage for a local singing star to perform on. While eating, Bert asks if any of the kids have seen the birds. They reply that they saw the three flying north. Bert checks Bernice's messages again and finds a message send to her friend Mister Hoopoe (remarking how his name sounds like an old friend of theirs), who lives in a bazar in "Coria." The GPL doesn't recognize a place, and a map confirms Bernice made a typo; she's heading for Cairo. Grover arrives once again to provide them appropriate travel. Before leaving, Ernie and Bert are given some pap and souse.
The pair take off in an aircraft with a bush pilot heading for Athens; the pair parachute out over Egypt, landing on a camel. The pair hail a taxi and see the sights as they are taken in the downtown bazar. There, they obtain some fuul and flatbread. Their waiter recalls seeing the birds, but with Bert's GPL now in the fritz, they have no way of finding the birds now. The taxi driver's daughter recommends they visit a local man who can read coffee grounds. On the way, they pass a cafe, where a female cousin of Elmo's is performing a belly dance.
At a different cafe, the reader is able to divine that Bernice and friends are heading towards "Ash-shaari Sim Sim," which translates to Sesame Street! Bert is happy that Bernice is heading back home and Ernie calls on Grover once again for transportation. This time, Grover has secured them a flying carpet ("200,000 original miles!"), which is powered by happy thoughts. Ernie, Bert, and their bags of food begin to fly home, passing Mount Everest and the Great Wall of China along the way. Ernie suddenly drops Rubber Duckie again, forcing the carpet to land on a remote desert island. Back on Sesame Street, the pilgrimage of Bernice and friends is reported by the local news.
Night falls on the island, where the carpet is in tatters. Ernie and Bert fret that they'll be stuck on the uninhabited island for life (imaging themselves with long hair and beards). As they try to sleep, Bert rubs the lucky rainbow cloth for comfort, when they heard a peculiar noise. They follow the sound through the thicket and discover the source - a beach resort, with music and dancing. Among the crowd is yet another Elmo cousin and Grover, who has a new travel method for them - Air Super Grover! He ducks into a cabana to get his hero gear on, then the pair hop on his back as he flies them towards home.
As instructed, the three cry out "Mommie!!!" as they crash land back on Sesame Street, where Bert and Ernie woozily reunite with Bernice. At Hooper's, Alan reads in the paper that Bernice's trip has made her "Explorer of the Month" as recognized by National Geographic; Oscar is disappointed by such good news.
It is now Thanksgiving, and everyone on the street (including Bert's brother Bart and Ernie's cousin Ernestine) are gathered at tables for dinner; Elmo and Zoe join Bernice's bird friends at one table together. They are all sharing the many foods Ernie and Bert brought back from their trip. Big Bird translates Bernice's messages, which were inviting her bird friends to Sesame Street for Thanksgiving; none of them knew how to get there, so she offered to show them. Everyone sings a reprise of an earlier song as they continue to laugh and eat.
===Changes from previous drafts===
;First Treatment
*In the first treatment on the story, the Thanksgiving element is not present. Bernice goes off on her own adventure, suggested to initially visiting her cousin Paloma in Mexico, and she is glimpsed in brief scenes snacking on breadcrumbs in various locales.
*Bert has no Global Pigeon Locator, instead relying on his copy of the "World Guidebook for Carrier Pigeons," which has peck indents on the particular places Bernice would like to visit.
*Rather than Cuzco, Ernie and Bert's first stop is in Mexico, specifically Zócalo in Mexico City. Grover brings them there via a pair of burros, Francesco and Jamie (aka Frank and Jim). In Mexico, they meet some kids, enjoy a performance of "La Paloma" by a mariachi band, and then look for Bernice in a forest.
*Their South African destination is Soweto, where they dine with a family who sings them a song about not giving up. From there, they take a helicopter piloted by Cookie Monster, who also takes (and eats) their boat tickets in Egypt.
*The pair sail down the Nile before hailing some camels to take them closer to the pyramids. Ernie imagines a story where he plays a lonely Egyptian prince who befriends another version of himself inside one of the pyramids.
==Songs==
Suggested musical numbers in the outlines include:
*"Bernice": A "bright waltz love song" as the pair scour the skies for Bernice, which would also serve as a musical motif used during travel sequences. The song was suggested to be sung by Bert, or alternatively a guest star vocalist in voiceover. The title was also proposed to be "Fly Like a Bird" or "Never Stop Looking."
*"My Friend Ernie": Bert's song to Luis, describing what Ernie is like as they draw his picture.
*"Just Before the Rainbow": Luis' song about what a rainbow means culturally around Peru.
*Kwaito song: The hip-hop song that plays during the cooking of food in South Africa.
*"I'm Thinking Of...": Ernie and Bert sing about things they draw happiness from in order to get the carpet to fly. The song is suggested to be reprised at the end, with everyone now singing about what they're thankful of.
==Celebrities==
Proposed celebrity cameos for the special include:
*Reese Witherspoon as the bureaucrat at the Bureau of Lost Pigeons.
*Jack Black or George Carlin as the skipper who sails the pair through Tierra del Fuego.
*Danny Glover as the veldt park ranger.
*Charlize Theron as the bush pilot who drops them off in Egypt.
*Amr Diab would sing a song during Ernie and Bert's taxi ride through Egypt.
*Bette Midler as a hostess at a beach resort. 
*Marc Anthony performing at the beach resort, where Jennifer Lopez is doing a salsa.
*Omar Sharif as the coffee grounds reader.
==Ernie & Bert's Global Adventures==
A similar concept was explored in 1999 with a series of cereal boxes released by Kellogg's. Using the title "Ernie & Bert's Global Adventures," the boxes featured the duo searching for Bernice in international locations as they followed the case of the missing pigeon. Five different box designs were released — Corn Flakes, Rice Krispies, Raisin Bran (Mexico), Frosted Flakes (Russia), and Froot Loops (China) — and featured activities, games, cultural facts, trivia, and a piece of 4-part growth chart ruler.
BertAndErniesGlobalAdventures-FrostedFlakes-Front.jpg
BertAndErniesGlobalAdventures-FrostedFlakes-Back.jpg
BertAndErniesGlobalAdventures-RaisinBran-Front.jpg
BertAndErniesGlobalAdventures-RaisinBran-Back.jpg
BertAndErniesGlobalAdventures-FrootLoops-Front.jpg
BertAndErniesGlobalAdventures-FrootLoops-Back.jpg
==Sources== 
* Sesame Workshop's Press Room (archive link)
* Tony Geiss papers at the Beinecke Rare Book & Manuscript Library, Yale University
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Category:Unfinished Sesame Street Projects
Category:Unfinished TV
Category:Thanksgiving