This week saw the 40th Anniversary of Sesame Street, a classic that many generations have learned from and grown with. And I mean around the world, as Sesame Street has versions all over the planet. (I remember they once did a crossover with Israeli counterpart Rechov Sumsum) Like any right-thinking child, I loved Sesame Street, and since they’ve always thrown nods to adults as well (with spoofs of classic genres, shows, and even the occasional celebrity) so they wouldn’t mind watching with their kids, but still wholesome and fun (little if any “double entendre” style dirty humor) for anyone with a halfway decent sense of humor. Admit it. You’ve run around the channels and occasionally stopped when you saw the show, if only for one segment.
Everyone has their favorite Sesame Street Muppet, and I’m no exception. My favorite?
That’s right, Grover! And not just because of the “Super Grover” segments. Although I love those, too, being a superhero fan and all.
My favorite Grover series, however, has to be the one with Grover as a waiter. Here are a couple good ones.
This one is a bit more recent. And proof a slight change makes for a fresh twist.
It involves spaghetti. I had to by nature.
I could watch Grover in action all day long. However, for me to pay proper tribute, I sadly must stray from the Sesame Street YouTube page (you can find the same clips on Hulu without popping up ads but it’s harder to post from on WordPress), but to pay proper tribute to this series as well as my childhood, I have to discuss a rather important event in the show’s life. The death of Mr. Hooper.
Will "Mr. Hooper" Lee (August 6, 1908 - December 7, 1982)
Played by the late Will Lee (<–click this–it’s a fascinating history), Mr. Hooper ran the small store on Sesame Street, and was on the show from the beginning in 1969 until his death in 1982. The question was what to do with the character. How do you teach kids about death? Why not use Big Bird? Not only was he the same age (Muppets age about as much as most cartoon and comic characters) as the target audience, but he may well have been the closest to Mr. Hooper, even if he couldn’t get the man’s name right. And so, Mr. Hooper didn’t move to Florida. As a blow to my inner child, Mr. Hooper…died.
Caroll Spinney, the man who plays Big Bird, actually drew those. I first learned about this (having “outgrown” Sesame Street by then) on a series retrospective hosted by Bill Cosby some years later. Even now I can’t watch this segment without getting teary-eyed every time, and I watched it quite a few times getting this post ready. Yet, the same episode reminds us that where there’s death, there is also life.
There is no way to go through the whole show (Bert and Ernie would be a post in and of themselves) in one article, and I won’t even try. But I can’t think of a better way to end this article than everyone’s favorite not-Grover Muppet, Kermit, in my favorite not-Rainbow Connection song of his. Back the official page.
Here’s to another 40 years, Sesame Street. Maybe someday someone will finally tell us how to get there.
Other sites of note:
Sesame Street’s official website
Sesame Workshop, formerly the Children’s Television Workshop, creators of the PBS series.
Sprout’s Sesame Street page “Sprout” is PBS’s pre-school targeted network
Muppet Wiki, which I linked the daylights out of as my main info and picture source.
BW Media Spotlight 