Somebody Come And Play: Musings on the Art of Sesame Street

If you grew up in the early 1970's you no doubt were raised on what was a new and innovative show at the time, Sesame Street. 

At the time, most moms were staying home with their children, and while preschool was an option, the majority of three and four year olds stayed home until their first day of kindergarten at five or six.  For children in poorer, urban areas, preschool was even less of an option.  But that didn't mean they didn't learn!  For these children, in fact, for all of us kids and our moms, Sesame Street was a lifeline; broadcasting on public television daily.

The original cast of Sesame Street; November 1969

The project was conceived in the late 1960's in an attempt to use the "addictive" nature of television to enhance the learning of young children; especially those in urbanized, low income areas.  The show was ground breaking, in that it zeroed in on this previously overlooked-by-television population of youngsters; helping to bolster the grasp of the English language for Hispanic kids and yet broad enough to be appealing and educational for children of all backgrounds and cultures in the US. 

Originally the concept was to write the show for young children, but also appealing to a broader audience.  Guest stars added a touch of sophistication (somewhat of a wink over the heads of the kids to the viewing parents )  and "artsy" animated  clips held the attention of older children and even adults; encouraging families to watch it together (since older kids and adults tended to control the TV!)  

Popular adult comedienne Lily Tomlin and her famous "Edith Ann" character

Some of the most lovely songs of the 1970's were composed for the show by Joe Raposo, a Portuguese-American composer (also known for composing the theme song to Three's Company and working on the music for the off-Broadway show You're a Good Man, Charlie Brown).   Several of his songs from the show crossed over to adult audiences and were recorded by popular artists.  When The Carpenters recorded his "Sing", it hit #3 on the Billboard charts for a single in 1973.  

The first album of songs from the show was launched and was hugely popular.   Today, many of us remember this album as a staple in their LP collection growing up!

 Raposo's sweetly simple and often poignant and thoughtful lyrics touched the souls of children,  whose daily viewing numbers reached into the millions by the mid 1970's.  

Even melancholy songs like "Bein' Green" let children know that it was okay to be different, without getting preachy, but by simply by letting them surmise it from the song's lyrics.  The early years of Sesame Street seemed to be held together by the golden thread of "present the material in an artistic and interesting way, and kids can figure out a lot more than we've given them credit for".

When the character who played Mr Hooper, Will Lee, died suddenly of a heart attack in 1982, the producers of the show decided to tackle this fact of life head-on for kids.  Rather than recasting the role (something children certainly would notice), they addressed the death head on, right on the show, without mincing words or emotions.  It was one more example that the show,  as originally conceived, made the assumption that children were thinking human beings, able to comprehend much more than previous children's television shows had been willing to give.   (Come on, are you not moved to tears seeing Bob's grief here??)  

The show also featured something new to television; Jim Henson's "Muppets".  Puppets were nothing new to television (think Howdy Doody) but the Muppets, originally called the "Anything People", were different because they were not racially distinct - in fact, they usually weren't even species-distinct.   (Hence the name "Anything People" - "they can be anything").   Friendly monsters let children know that not all monsters are scary.  In fact, they can even be lovable and afraid.  Who remembers this awesome book?  Children delightfully turned pages as Grover broke the "fourth wall" and talked (and yelled) directly at children, instructing them not to reach the end of the book because of his fear.  Of course when we arrive at the end of the book, the monster he has feared is only himself.

Muppets with orange, blue, red and yellow faces gave children the message that people of all colors, shapes and sizes are equal and that people are not to be feared if they look different.  Characters like Oscar the Grouch helped children know that we can treat someone well even if they are unpleasant.  Characters with clashing personalities like Bert and Ernie subtly taught kids, without slapping them in the head with it, that not everyone thinks alike but we can get along.  

Of course, the characters didn't always look like the ones we are familiar with today.  Oscar was originally orange...as seen in this first version of "I Love Trash" from 1969.

And consider what Big Bird originally looked like.  Admittedly, there is at least one thing that has improved over the decades; the size of Big Bird's head.   

Several toy companies launched lines of products for eager children.  One of the best, highly sought after today, is Fisher Price's Sesame Street "Apartments".  This early set featured classic Sesame Street graphics, a chalk board between the buildings and specially made little people in the shape of the classic characters.  

Toy lines of character puppets were very popular with young kids.

I remember my brother having an amazingly simple Cookie Monster puppet that could actually eat cookies (by a slit in the back of the mouth, into the open hand of the child!)  No need for a "talking Elmo", just a simple hand puppet and a kid was happy!  

So I mentioned it to him, and he says my nephew still plays with Cookie and he sent me this picture.  Looks like Cookie's appetite is still going strong nearly 40 years later!   

And "back in the day" we had no VCR's or Ipads, so, our parents got us these -  a small handheld movie camera that you looked into and turned the handle and you could watch small, silent clips of your favorite Sesame Street episodes!  Lasting only seconds long each, I can still recall playing the film of the guy with the birthday cake falling down the stairs - backwards and in slow motion over and over .  (Thanks Fisher Price! Whoever thought of putting a "reverse" on the crank was ingenious!)  

The show continued to soar in the decades to follow, and when many of us had children in the 1990's we tuned back in, hoping to see the classic shorts such as this one, featuring Jim Henson's daughter featuring a dollhouse he built himself for her.  The segment was shot in her bedroom and the cats were the pets of the Henson family.    (Don't you just love everything about that??)  

Upon tuning in for our children,  we found that the show now consisted mainly of the hugely popular "Elmo",a baby-talking red monster with a sing-song shrill voice and no grasp of how to use personal pronouns, and even worse, characters like "Baby Bear"whose speech impediment left parents wondering if this was a show to help their toddlers and preschools grasp language and vocabulary or an adult's version of what was "cutesy" and commercialized.  Clips such as the one above were considered "dated" looking. 

By the 2000's many parents were disgusted with Sesame Street's dumbed down characters, watered down content and lack of the early artistic flair that distinguished the show from previous children's programming.

Enter the internet.  It wasn't long before classic clips began to surface on Youtube.  Classic clips like the one below from 1972.

 I know it looks like a 70's acid trip and the ending is kinda creepy, but as a child, this one fascinated me with its colorful Monty Python type animation!  Approaching 450,000 views on Youtube, it's proof that grown up kids remember it so well  from their early childhoods and went searching for it again!

Whole Youtube channels launched classic Sesame Street episodes and memorable clips.  In the "early days" we'd sit, with tots on our laps, in front of desktop monitors, singing along with our favorites!

(The "Queen of Six" -1970 stop action animation.  Background is painted cardboard; the puppet's skirt was created with a lampshade)  

These days, tots with Ipads and kiddie tablets now have at their fingertips, tons of early Sesame Street episodes and music clips, sharing with parents and now even grandparents, what we all grew up with!

Below are a few of my favorite early Sesame Street clips with some little known and fun facts about each.  Enjoy!
-------------------------------------------------------- Original Season One Intro, featuring the classic "Can You Tell Me How To Get To Sesame Street?"  

One of my all time favorites "It's Springtime".  I was never clear if this was a kid or a pig in clothes. 

The falling baker!  

"The One-Two-Three Ball".  In this version, is Jim Henson's daughter Heather, again.   This was Frank Oz's directorial debut - it took him four days to build this ball raceway.

A little know fact though, is that this was originally shot with the ending shown below.  Apparently it was too distressing to children that the ball gets ground up in the end, (by Frank Oz's son) so they reshot the ending as shown above, with Heather and the ice cream! 

   One of the catchiest songs ever on the show, the Alligator King!  Recorded by jazz musician Turk Murphy, the song originally had the ending of "I got it on sale at Monkey Ward's (apparently a slang term for Montgomery Ward).  The lyric was changed to "discount store" possibly for legal reasons.

   "Somebody Come And Play".  A poignant song that most certainly struck a cord in every child at one time or another.  "I want somebody to play with".  For adults, the sweetly sad lyric "Somebody come before it's too late to begin" reminded them of the brevity of their children's and their own, childhoods.  (The song was reused many times on the show, but this is the original version, showing a lonely orangutan in a really pathetic zoo.)

These are just a few of the many classic Sesame Street clips available on Youtube.   It's  a great place to seek out your favorites! 

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Kelly Wenarsky is the owner of Suburban Treasure, an online shop with an ever-changing stock of all things nostalgic, retro toys and related fun!  Come and play with us!   https://www.etsy.com/shop/suburbantreasure?