1982 Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade (found NBC broadcast of parade; 1982)

The intro for the 1982 parade, followed by the first marching band performance of the morning.

The Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade 1982 was the 56th annual Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade and was held on November 25, 1982 in New York City, and shown to viewers live on NBC that same day. While almost all of NBC's parades since 1980 have been widely bootlegged, the 1982 parade is the only one since 1980 that has yet to surface in full. Only a handful of clips have made their way to YouTube, including the one seen at right. Some other clips were also shown in the parade's 85th anniversary special, which aired in November 2011.

This year's parade is especially notable for Sesame Street fans as it was the last public appearance of Will Lee, who played Mr. Hooper since the show started in 1969. Though he was ill with cancer, Lee performed the best that he could. He was hospitalized a few days later, and passed away on December 7th. The next Thanksgiving, Sesame Street aired a sobering episode that openly addressed Mr. Hooper's death and helped the cast deal with it.