You
know, it's been a really long time since I have done a blog entry
solely on Sesame Street. If I remember correctly, the last time I
talked about Sesame Street on the blog was when I did that spotlight
on the “loaf of bread, container of milk, stick of butter”
segment.
Okay,
you know what? Let's watch it again!
The
truth is that Sesame Street has a history of longevity. Did you know
that the show debuted on PBS on November 10, 1969? That means that
the show will be celebrating its 44th anniversary in 2013!
It seems hard to believe that the show was only twelve years old
when I was born. I literally grew up watching that show.
The
show was one that was very educational back in the day (and still is
to some extent, although it has been years since I have watched an
episode). I can remember learning my letters from A-Z, I learned how
to count to twelve (though as of the late 1980s/early 1990s, that
number has been expanded to include numbers up to 20), and we were
all entertained by segments such as the one below.
For
44 years, Sesame Street has welcomed generations of children to the
neighbourhood, and we all went through a number of experiences.
During the time period in which I watched, a fire nearly burned down
123 Sesame Street, a hurricane blew through Sesame Street (something
I found impossible until Hurricane Sandy passed through New York City
in October 2012), and the beloved Mr. Hooper passed away, and
everyone had to explain what death was to Big Bird.
And,
one thing that I liked about Sesame Street was the ingenious way that
the show educated kids. They didn't try dumbing themselves down for
us to understand the difference between a J and an L...they talked to
us in a way that made children feel smarter, and when we got the
lesson that they were trying to teach us, we all felt good about it!
I still remember being proud of the fact that I could count to ten in
Spanish!
(Mind
you, that's about the only Spanish that I actually ended up learning,
but hey. We all have to start somewhere!)
Now,
everyone remembers the Muppets that would appear on each episode of
Sesame Street. You ask anyone on the street about their favourite
human characters, they may tell you that they liked Maria and Luis,
or Gordon and Susan, or even Mr. Hooper.
(My
personal favourite was Gina, just in case you were wondering.)
But,
if you were to ask people who their favourite Muppets were in Sesame
Street, the answers might be a little more varied. There have been
hundreds of Muppets that have appeared on Sesame Street over the
years, and each one has made an impact on several people.
There's
Telly, the triangle-loving red muppet who is best friends with Baby
Bear. There's Forgetful Jones, the muppet who forgets everything
from his shopping list to the songs that he sings with his beloved
Clementine. There's Roosevelt Franklin, Prairie Dawn, Betty Lou, and
Hoots the Owl...all characters that I grew up watching (and all
characters that current Sesame Street watchers probably don't
remember).
And,
of course, there's the Yip Yip aliens!
I
love those guys.
But,
which Sesame Street characters are my all-time favourites? I've made
up a list of some of mine, as well as information about when they
debuted, a few trivia facts, and some clips of them in action.
Let's
start with a character that has been entertaining children since the
very beginning of the series.
BIG
BIRD
First
Appearance: Episode 1 (November 10, 1969)
Voiced
by: Carroll Spinney (understudy: Matt Vogel)
What
can you say about Big Bird? He's lived on Sesame Street for over 40
years! He's also larger than the average sized ostrich, and very
easy to spot with his bright yellow feathers. He also has a wide
array of talents. He can sing, he can roller-skate, he can ice
skate, he can dance, and he can even ride a unicycle.
But
he's also a bit naïve, and sometimes misunderstands the most basic
of concepts. Like with his own interpretation of the alphabet song.
TRIVIA:
Carroll Spinney wasn't the original choice for Big Bird's voice.
The full-body costume was designed for Muppet creator Jim Henson to
fit into, but when costume designer Kermit Love remarked that Henson
wasn't moving the way that a bird was supposed to move, Henson
decided to forego voicing Big Bird in favour of other characters such
as Ernie, and Kermit the Frog. Frank Oz was briefly considered for
the role of Big Bird, but since Oz hated working in full-body
costumes, he declined. Spinney was eventually hired, but almost left
the show in 1970 after reportedly having pay issues! But, in the
end, Spinney still remains on the show. Good thing too, because had
it not been for Spinney, our next Muppet would cease to exist.
OSCAR
THE GROUCH
First
Appearance: Episode 1 (November 10, 1969)
Voiced
by: Carroll Spinney
It
must have been a bit difficult for Spinney to perform both the roles
of Oscar and Big Bird, especially in scenes in which both appear
together! Fortunately, the sound department arranged for Spinney to
pre-record Oscar's voice onto a tape, and from there Jim Martin took
over the puppet duties for Oscar when Spinney was performing as Big
Bird.
TRIVIA:
Oscar may not find it easy being green like Kermit the Frog.
There's a reason for that. He was originally ORANGE! Don't believe
me? Have a look!
I'm
not exactly sure why Oscar changed from orange to green, but one
explanation that I heard was that the lighting for Sesame Street
changed in season two, and this made Oscar's fur appear as a day-glo
orange shade which was way too bright for the television screen. So,
he was changed to green to combat that. Again, I don't know how much
truth there was to that explanation, but to me, it made sense.
By
the way, Oscar the Grouch could very well be Sesame Street's original
hoarder. Sure, his trash can may seem incredibly tiny, but he has so
much junk inside of his can that not even Dr. Robin Zasio could clear
it all out in one episode of “Hoarders”. I mean, he has a pet
worm named Slimey, an elephant named Fluffy, and he still manages to
have space to entertain his girlfriend, Grungetta! I mean, how does
he do it!
MR.
SNUFFLEUPAGUS
First
Appearance: Episode 276 (November 8, 1971)
Voiced
by: Jerry Nelson, Michael Earl, Martin Robinson
Okay,
so there was a huge running gag involving Mr. Snuffleupagus. For
fourteen years, Big Bird was the only one who ever saw him. Snuffy
popped up out of the blue in Big Bird's nest one autumn day, and made
friends with the young bird. I actually found Snuffy's first
appearance, so have a look.
Thankfully,
Snuffy's eyes became a lot less scary as the show progressed.
But
it was really frustrating for Big Bird because every time he would
try to introduce Snuffy to his friends Gordon, Susan, and Bob, Snuffy
would disappear, making Big Bird look like the biggest fool of them
all.
It
wasn't until 1985 that Snuffy was finally brought onto Sesame Street
as more than Big Bird's big secret. With help from Elmo (who was a
fairly new character at that time), Big Bird successfully introduced
the group to Snuffy, and welcomed him to the neighbourhood with open
arms. But the reason why may surprise you.
It
was later explained that by kids seeing Big Bird trying to tell the
adults of Sesame Street that Snuffy was real and the adults not
believing them, it may have sent out the wrong message, citing the
example of a story from the news about staff at a daycare center
sexually abusing children. So, the decision was made to incorporate
Snuffy into the fold so that adults would be more apt to believe
children when they had something important to say.
BERT
AND ERNIE
First
Appearances: Episode 1 (November 10, 1969)
Voiced
by: Jim Henson, Steve Whitmire (Ernie) – Frank Oz, Eric Jacobsen
(Bert)
Ernie
and Bert have been the subject of some unintended controversy, mainly
due to their living situation. They've lived in the same apartment
for 44 years and sleep in the same room (albeit in twin beds). This
has seemingly been enough proof for some people to believe that Ernie
and Bert are a gay couple. Believe it or not, there was even a
petition online that demanded that Bert and Ernie get married on
Sesame Street! The things people come up with, huh?
I
mean, yes, if Ernie and Bert did get married, so be it. More power
to them. But, I don't believe that they are this ambiguously gay
couple at all. If anything, Ernie is the “Oscar” to Bert's
“Felix”. Bert's pigeons clash with Ernie's rubber duckie, and
that's what makes their segments fun to watch.
Of
course, I liked Ernie slightly better than Bert...mainly because he
had better songs.
GROVER
First
Appearance: December 24, 1967
Voiced
by: Frank Oz, Eric Jacobsen
You're
not reading this incorrectly. Grover is one of two Muppet characters
(the other one being Cookie Monster) that pre-date Sesame Street. He
actually started on the Christmas Eve, 1967 episode of The Ed
Sullivan Show. The only difference was that Grover was instead named
“Gleep”, and his fur was a greenish-brown instead of his
signature indigo.
I
just included Grover in this mix because he was my all time favourite
Sesame Street Muppet growing up. I had a soft spot for Super Grover.
COUNT
VON COUNT
First
Appearance: November 21, 1972
Voiced
by Jerry Nelson, Matt Vogel
The
passing of Jerry Nelson in 2012 was a sad one, as it meant that the
original voice of the Count was silenced forever. But I must admit,
the Count had some very interesting ways in teaching everyone how to
count. Whether it be from his bat belfry...
...or
his many songs...
...or
even the thunder, lightning, and infectious laugh, you could always
count on the Count. And now that Matt Vogel has taken over the voice
of the Count, we still are able to count on him.
TRIVIA:
According to a BBC interview, the Count's favourite number of all
time is reportedly 34,969.
ELMO
First
Appearance: 1972
Voiced
by: Carroll Spinney, Brian Muehl, Richard Hunt, Kevin Clash*
The
star is beside Kevin's name because as of right now, we don't know
who will take over ever since that scandal broke out a couple of
months ago. I won't bother posting it here...you can just Google it.
Elmo
is an interesting case. He first appeared on the show in 1972, but
he was just known as “Baby Monster”, back then. He made sporadic
appearances between 1972 and 1984 before being made a regular
character on the same day that Snuffy was revealed to the Sesame
Street humans. Since then, his popularity has exploded. He was
given his own “Elmo's World” segment in 1998, and his likeness
ended up on one of the biggest selling toys of 1996.
Tickle-Me-Elmo,
anyone?
It's
hard to say what the future will hold for Elmo. Though, I think that
his popularity will still endure. Much to the frustration of Sesame
Street traditionalists, Elmo will still be around...even if he may
sound like he's going through puberty as a new voice artist takes the
reins.
That's
all that I have to say about Sesame Street's muppet population. Now,
it's your turn. Who are some of your favourite Sesame Street
characters? I look forward to hearing from you!
For
now, let's end this blog off with a song from Cookie Monster!
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