- [Announcer] Lead support for this program has been provided by the William Penn Foundation with additional support from the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, the Sidewater Family Foundation, the Thomas Locke Charitable Fund, and viewers like you!

(upbeat music) ♪ At the start of the day, the sun says hello ♪ ♪ It's shining my way, it's saying, "Let's go" ♪ ♪ It's so nice to hear the button go ding ♪ ♪ Who could it be ♪ My heart starts to sing ♪ Albie's elevator ♪ Albie's elevator ♪ Albie's elevator ♪ Oh yeah ♪ Each floor is a friend, each floor is a neighbor ♪ ♪ And where do we meet ♪ On Albie's elevator ♪ Albie's elevator ♪ Albie's elevator ♪ Albie's elevator ♪ Oh yeah ♪ Albie's elevator (upbeat musical sting) (button beeping) (elevator dinging) (door whirring) (upbeat music) ♪ I have a friend who lives in a stump ♪ ♪ Her hat is a cherry and her feet are waffle cones ♪ (Albie singing wordlessly) (girl clearing throat) - Um, excuse me?

- Oh!

- Are you the elevator operator?

- Uh... Yeah!

Yes, yes, yes!

Self-appointed, yes.

- Oh, great!

Can you press the button for the fifth floor?

- Button, fifth!

Uh, five!

Five-th floor?

Yes.

Going up!

(elevator humming) - My name is Sable.

I'm just visiting.

My aunt lives in apartment 502.

Do you always press the elevator buttons?

That's a neat job.

I like pressing buttons, too.

I'm going to say hi to my aunt, then I'm going to the park to play some basketball.

Do you like basketball?

- I... What do I, uh... - Now arriving at the fifth floor.

(elevator dinging) - It was nice meeting you.

Thanks for the elevator ride.

Maybe I'll see you on the way back down?

(door whirring) (door whirring) - Zia!

Oh, Zia, thank goodness you're here!

Did you just see that?

- Albie, hey!

See what?

The kid that just got off the elevator?

- An awesome kid!

With a basketball!

And she has such cool hair, and I bet she can dribble, and shoot, and I mean she's, what, at least 20 feet tall.

She's probably a pro!

- She's most definitely not 20 feet tall.

- I think she was, Tibitz!

- Albie, slow down.

Let's take a deep breath together.

(Zia inhaling deeply) (Albie inhaling deeply) Exhale.

(Albie gasping and panting) Feel better?

- I can't tell.

- Now, start from the beginning.

What is going on?

- I met a new kid, and her name is Sable, and her aunt lives in 502!

- Albie, that is so exciting!

A new friend!

- An awesome new friend!

She was so nice and friendly!

- But Albie, you're nice and friendly, too.

What's the problem?

- Well, I wanted to be her friend and play with her, but I just couldn't think of what to say.

I kept freezing up!

- Freezing up?

- Freezing up!

- Sometimes it can be hard to think of what to say, especially if we're feeling shy around someone new.

- I just didn't know where to start!

- Okay.

(bag rustling) Well, why don't you practice on me?

Pretend I'm Sable and try introducing yourself.

- Okay!

Good tidings, fair Sable, whose Aunt liveth in 502!

'Tis I, Albie!

No, wait, ugh.

Let me try again.

Greetings.

I am Albie 5,000.

I have two eyes and also a head.

Beep boop!

- I mean, it's true.

You do have two eyes and a head.

- (groans) Lemme try again.

Howdy, there!

My name is Zia, and I have some headphones, and I deliver groceries in the building!

- Albie, my name is Zia, and I deliver groceries in the building!

We can't both be me!

- Oh, you're right!

How am I ever supposed to talk to Sable?

- Albie, the best way to make friends is to be honest and to be ourselves.

You don't need to pretend to be someone you aren't.

- Really?

- Of course!

Speaking of friends, I think I know someone who might be able to help you figure out how to introduce yourself to a new friend.

Should we visit them?

- Let's do it!

Where are we going today, Zia?

- That one, please.

- You got it!

Going up!

(elevator humming) - Starling mode activated, Albie!

(upbeat music) ♪ Powering up, up, up, up, up, up, up ♪ ♪ Calling voice machine ♪ Location Locked on - Valley cores are fluxing!

♪ Powering down, down, down, down, down, down, down ♪ - [Tibitz] We have arrived.

(door whirring) - Hey, Zia, what's up?

- Hey, Kah!

This is my friend, Albie.

She's feeling a little shy around a new kid she met and I was hoping you could help.

- (sighs) Absolutely!

I used to be really shy when I was a kid, and I would draw just to calm myself down.

I like to draw people, and, like, what I want in my life to be like in the future, but my favorite thing to draw was just other people.

Now that I'm older, I still really like drawing and painting.

Sometimes really little things, and sometimes enormous things, like this mural on the side of a bakery.

I like that it's got people in it, my favorite thing, it's got pink, it's got purple, my favorite color, and I love that it's here for the whole neighborhood to see.

I'm actually working on another art project today.

Come with me!

(calm happy music) So these are my friends, Emma and Julian.

- [Emma And Julian] Hi, Albie.

- So we're gonna make something, like, really cool today.

Have y'all ever heard of a pep talk?

- No.

- No?

You've never heard of a pep talk?

- No.

- Okay.

So a pep talk is when you're nervous, and you have, like, butterflies in your stomach, and you do something to pump yourself up.

So when I'm drawing a picture of someone, I like to focus on all the things that make that person special and make them who they are, like their really cool hair, or their really cool shirt!

Their amazing ponytails or their really cool shoes.

So today, we're gonna draw pictures of ourselves and point out all the special things about us.

Sound good?

Yeah, yeah?

Awesome.

Yeah?

Cool, okay.

(calm happy music) So I'm gonna draw first my ear, then my face.

I have, like, really chubby cheeks, so they gotta be round.

My nose, my glasses.

Yeah, I love the bright purple.

I'm gonna use this one.

(calm happy music) Can you tell me about your picture?

- So I'm playing a video game at my house.

- A video game?

- Yeah.

- That's beautiful.

Wait, can you tell me about this picture?

What do you like about you?

- I like my pigtails.

- For me, I like my hair, 'cause I, like, curl, like super curly natural hair.

I like my glasses.

I love, like, drawing glasses, I love wearing glasses.

I like my cool gap teeth.

They're awesome.

I'm, like, proud of them.

- That was so much fun.

- I agree.

- [Emma] That was so much fun.

- It was awesome.

Albie, maybe you just need a reminder of all the things that are special about you.

Hope that that helped.

Bye, Albie!

- Bye, Albie.

- Bye, Albie.

- Bye!

- Bye.

- Oh, wow, Zia!

Kah is a really awesome friend, too!

- I thought you might like them.

- Julian and Emma made those pictures.

(gasps) Maybe I can make my own pep talk portrait with all of the things I like about myself!

- Albie, that's a great idea!

Do you have some easels?

I'll get the crayons.

- Tibitz, where are the easels?

(jolly music) How about some easels, Tibitz?

- Ah, yes, easels.

Did you want model 814s, model zed fellows, aluminum-based drafting models... (objects clattering) Telescopic marginal chariots with counterbalanced- - How about just regular wooden easels?

- Righty-o.

- I'm gonna start with my head.

It's big, and macaroni-and-cheese-colored, and very cute.

I'm gonna go and add some tiny, happy little hairs right here.

Just happy, perky little hairs.

- Nice.

I'm going to draw my long, shiny hair.

- Ooh!

And I'm gonna draw my glasses, like Kah did in their self portrait.

My glasses help me see the things I'm working on and add some pizazz to my face.

- Ooh, pizazz!

- That's right, pizazz!

I also like lots of colors.

Orange, like Sable's basketball, but also red, and green, and my very favorite.

It has a long name.

(romantic music) - [Both] Cerulean.

- It's like blue.

- But with pizazz.

- All right, my picture is done.

- (gasps) Whoa!

Zia!

Your hair is so long and shiny!

- I also have a couple of freckles on my face.

I like that they're a little pair, like two buddies.

What about your picture?

- Are you ready?

- Uh-huh!

(drum roll playing) - Introducing an elevator operator who loves buttons, and colors, and wears awesome glasses!

Who is ready for new friends, even when I don't know what to say.

Introducing, me!

(audience cheering) - Wow!

Albie, it's... - I know, I'm a little rusty, but I like it.

It has all the things that make me unique, and special, and that makes me me!

Even if I'm not 20 feet tall, like Sable.

- [Tibitz] Beep, beep!

Just a reminder, Sable is also not 20 feet tall.

- (laughs) If you say so, Tibitz.

- [Tibitz] I do say so.

I just said so.

- Oh, that reminds me.

I have to finish delivering these groceries.

Albie, would you mind taking me to the fifth floor?

- The fifth floor?

Isn't that your floor, Zia?

- Yes.

These are my groceries.

I have to finish delivering them to myself.

- Then why did you get on the elevator in the first place?

- Because I wanted to see you, Albie.

You're my friend.

- Oh, Zia!

Fifth floor, coming up!

Going up!

(button clicking) (elevator humming) - Now arriving at the fifth floor.

Again.

- Thanks, Tibitz.

And thanks, Albie.

I had fun today.

- You're welcome, Zia!

Glad I got to meet your friend, Kah!

Have fun with your groceries!

(upbeat music) - Hey, Albie, can you press the button for the lobby?

- You got it, Sable!

And you know?

I really like playing basketball, too.

- Really?

- Yes!

And I also love cerulean!

It's blue with pizazz!

And also, I have two eyes and also a head.

- Me too!

- You too?

What a small world.

(door whirring) (upbeat musical sting) (energetic dance music) Wearing a hat that he himself designed and created, Sir Jay of Wetherby is ready for anything!

The brown paper construction gives a loud, crinkly sound!

(hat crinkling) The jingle bells are funky and functional!

Letting everyone know you're ready to mingle and jingle!

And topping it all off, the confetti.

(confetti fluttering) - Coming down the runway next, we have Lady Albie of Elevator wearing an extremely large and extra papery hat she made entirely by herself.

- I am talented.

- The brown paper bag-ness of the brown paper bag make it extra brown-paper-baggy.

- Paper bags are in this season.

- Of course, it's covered in pompoms, and the pompoms... - The pompoms are not to be eaten.

(pompoms popping) - Fierce.

- Beep, boop!

A late entry into this season's Fancy Hat Fashion Show, it's me, Duke von Tibitz of Intercomnia.

- The foil stars bring out the metal in his face.

- While the fringe adds a certain spaghetti-like flair.

- [Albie] Like a bunch of octopus tentacles!

- [Jay] Like blades of grass in the wind.

- Like the yarn tassels at the end of a scarf!

- Like long, skinny worms doing a dance they all learned together at a birthday party!

- Like a poodle that's been trained in the circus- - [Tibitz] Beep, boop!

Doors are opening.

- Who's ready for movie night- Oh.

(disapproving music) - Movie nigh-o?

What's that?

- Well, I was saying "movie night."

- Ooh, I'm definitely ready for movie night!

♪ Movie night, it's movie night ♪ ♪ It's movie night, we're movie night ♪ - Well, it's supposed to be Tibitz's movie night, but this place is a mess.

- I guess we did get a little carried away with making our fancy hats for our Fancy Hat Fashion Show.

- I was forced to participate.

- It's no big deal.

We can still do movie night just like Tibitz planned.

I'll just pull down the screen!

(Albie humming) (Albie grunting) (Albie screaming) (objects clattering) - I suppose I could reschedule our movie night for another time.

- No, it's fine!

We can still watch a movie.

I think I have one of those vacuum cleaning robots that cleans up for you.

Jay, can you look in that cabinet?

- This cabinet?

(party favor honking) - Okay, maybe it is a mess in here.

(objects clattering) (Albie screaming) - Oh, dear me, Albie.

- Whoa, Albie, are you all right?

- I'm fine.

I just- I really don't feel like cleaning the elevator for movie night.

- You were having so much fun playing Fancy Hat Fashion Show with Jay.

- And cleaning up seems like no fun.

- But it would help us get ready for movie night, and I'm here to help!

- But it's gonna take a long time and I wanna watch movies!

- You know, I think I know someone who might be able to help with this.

- Is it one of those vacuum cleaning robots that cleans up for you?

- Not exactly.

Or at all.

(drum roll playing) Albie, could you please press that button for me?

- Now that, I can do!

(elevator humming) - Starling mode activated, Albie!

(upbeat music) ♪ Powering up, up, up, up, up, up, up ♪ ♪ Calling voice machine ♪ Location locked on - Valley cores are fluxing!

(upbeat music) ♪ Powering down, down, down, down, down, down, down ♪ - [Tibitz] We have arrived.

(drums thumping) - Hey, Rosie!

- Hey, Tony!

These are my friends, Albie and Jay.

We're supposed to be having a movie night, but the space needs to get cleaned up first.

- And cleaning doesn't sound like fun to me.

- I get that.

Cleaning isn't always my favorite part of the day either.

But I think we can make almost anything fun.

- Whoa!

Is that a drum?

- Yes, it is.

I'm a drummer and I'm practicing with my drumline today.

We have a big performance.

Come check us out!

All right, ladies and gentlemen!

Let's get some drum sticks and grab your drum!

And five, six, (hands clapping) five, six, seven, and... (drums thumping) Yes!

(drums thumping) (calm happy music) I love practicing and making music with my friends, but we can't practice here all day.

We have a show to get to, so we have to pack up.

(drums thumping) Positive!

- [Drumline] Movement!

- Positive!

- [Drumline] Movement!

- Positive!

- [Drumline] Movement!

- Positive!

We're out here today doing a show for our neighbors.

We're bringing the energy, and we're so excited to get everyone involved and out in the streets, dancing with us.

(drums thumping) (drumline cheering) (drums thumping) Number two this time!

(drums thumping) (Tony sighing in relief) Now that the show is over, I'm so tired, but it's time to clean up.

We have to make sure that we put all the drums back into the drum room so they can be ready for tomorrow.

And I'm gonna make that as fun as possible.

I'm gonna sing a song and put these drums away.

♪ Pick up some drums and put 'em away ♪ ♪ Gonna pick up the drums and put 'em away ♪ ♪ Pick up the drums and put 'em away ♪ ♪ We wanna keep the drum room clean, let's go ♪ ♪ Pick up the drum and put it away ♪ ♪ Pick up the drum and put it away ♪ ♪ Pick up the drum and put it away ♪ ♪ We wanna keep the drum room clean, let's go ♪ ♪ Put 'em in the drum room, put 'em away ♪ ♪ Put 'em in the drum room, put 'em away ♪ ♪ Put 'em in the drum room, put 'em away ♪ ♪ Let's go, let's go ♪ Pick up some drums and put 'em away ♪ ♪ Pick up some drums and put 'em away ♪ ♪ Pick up some drums and put 'em away ♪ ♪ We gonna put the drums up, let's go ♪ ♪ We're cleaning, we're cleaning ♪ ♪ We're cleaning, cleaning, cleaning ♪ ♪ We're cleaning, we're cleaning ♪ Guess what?

We're all done!

There, we're all cleaned up and ready to play again tomorrow.

Thanks for stopping by!

See you later!

(door whirring) - Whoa!

Tony is a really smart guy!

Even though cleaning up will take a lot of time, it'll be worth it when we get to enjoy movie night together.

And tomorrow-Albie will be way happier!

- And tomorrow-Jay.

- And tomorrow-Rosie!

- And tomorrow-Tibitz!

- And we can make cleaning fun so it doesn't feel like work!

All we need is a little music, just like Tony!

- Do we know anyone who plays music, Albie?

- I bet Huggy Pepper does.

- [Jay And Rosie] Huggy Pepper?

- Huggy Pepper!

- [All] Huggy Pepper!

(door creaking) - Huggy Pepper!

- Hey, Huggy!

We need some music.

Is anyone playing music on your stage today?

(Huggy speaking gibberish) All right!

Do you think they would play a song for us so we can clean along with it?

(Huggy speaking gibberish) (hip hop music) - All right, you ready, Albie?

You got this.

Here we are.

♪ I know that it's hard to face ♪ ♪ I know that it's hard to do ♪ That's why I wrote this song 'cause I believe in you ♪ ♪ I know that it's hard to face ♪ ♪ I know that it's hard to do ♪ That's why I wrote this song 'cause I believe in you ♪ ♪ You got a problem, yep ♪ Feeling like you might cry, day or the nighttime ♪ ♪ Gotta take big things, make 'em into bite-size ♪ ♪ Look at it on the bright side ♪ ♪ There's nothing wrong with it ♪ ♪ You gotta make a song of it ♪ Or better yet, grab a friend ♪ And then you gotta make a game of it ♪ ♪ Like, wait, who can do it the fastest ♪ ♪ Can you finish before I finish rapping ♪ ♪ Games are sweeter than short cake ♪ ♪ If you get tired, take a short break ♪ It's okay.

Yeah, just like that!

♪ Yeah, and then jump back into it ♪ ♪ And if you get stuck, here's a quick tip ♪ ♪ Break it down, down, down, down, down, down, down, down ♪ ♪ Yeah ♪ So you don't have to do it all at once ♪ Yeah, break it into pieces!

Yeah!

♪ So you don't have to do it all at once ♪ ♪ I know that it's hard to face ♪ ♪ I know that it's hard to do ♪ That's why I wrote this song 'cause I believe in you ♪ ♪ I know that it's hard to face ♪ ♪ I know that it's hard to do ♪ That's why I this song 'cause I believe in you ♪ (audience clapping) - Thanks, Huggy Pepper!

Thanks, Bolbay!

- Albie, this place looks great!

- Thanks, Rosie.

The music helped it go by faster.

And now we have plenty of space for movie night!

(upbeat musical sting) - Now, who's ready to watch my favorite movie, "The Incredible Adventures of Vacuum Robot?"

- Uh, Jay?

Do you mind if we watch something with a little less cleaning in it?

I feel like I might have had enough for one day.

- How about my favorite movie?

It's a love story between a tomato named Belinda and a radish named Luke, and it's called "Salad Means Forever."

- We could watch my favorite movie.

It's called "The Secret Hobbies of Ducks."

It's a documentary!

- I think those all sound like great movies, and I would watch any of them.

Hey, which one of these turns off the lights?

- [Albie And Tibitz] Don't touch that!

(energetic dance music) (objects clattering) - Oops.

My goodness!

Look at that hat!

- At least there's popcorn.

(energetic dance music) (upbeat music) - [Announcer] Lead support for this program has been provided by the William Penn Foundation with additional support from the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, the Sidewater Family Foundation, the Thomas Locke Charitable Fund, and viewers like you!

- [Announcer 2] Continue the fun at home with art projects, activities, and printables paired with the episode you just watched.

Available at whyy.org/AlbiesElevator.

(dog barking) (trumpet playing musical sting) (synth musical sting)