O Rare Bayn Johnson!

Here's a cute sketch from "The Electric Company" which gives Short Circus player Bayn Johnson a bit of a chance to stretch out. In this Fargo North bit, Fargo (Skip Hinnant) goes on vacation and Kelly (Johnson) gets to take over. Crank (Jim Boyd) comes in and then asks Kelly to decode a message.

Johnson (born 1959) was only on "Electric Company" for two years (1973-1975) and was the replacement for Denise Nickerson. She had previously appeared on television on "What's It All About, World?" (a 1969 ripoff of "Laugh-In") and on Broadway in "Curley McDimple" (playing the title role). Almost the entire Short Circus (except for June Angela) was replaced for the 1975-1976 season and another blonde, tall, willowy Janina Mathews, was her replacement. After TEC, Bayn had a few small parts on TV series (I remember her being on "Switch") and pretty much faded from view after 1978.

Unfortunately, this clip comes from a kinescope, but I'd like to think there are nicer copies in Sesame Workshop's vault... buried under all of Elmo's fan mail.