Page 31 - AT

A31
PEOPLE & ARTS Wednesday 6 november 2019
'Goodness and humor' celebrated as 'Sesame Street' turns 50

By MARK KENNEDY chief operating officer of better prepared. Down syndrome. It's had tized by a fire at Hooper's
Associated Press Sesame Workshop. "If they So, it wasn't an accident puppets with HIV and in store but was soothingly
NEW YORK (AP) — Fifty years could harness that power that the show was set on foster care, invited children told that firefighters were
ago, beloved entertainer to teach them the alpha- an urban street with a mul- in wheelchairs, dealt with there to help.
Carol Burnett appeared on bet and their numbers as ticultural cast. Diversity and topics like jailed parents, "We see a need and we
the very first broadcast of a opposed to the words to inclusion were baked into homelessness, women's meet that need because
quirky TV program that fea- beer commercials, you the show. Monsters, hu- rights, military families and I feel like we have a voice
tured a bunch of furry pup- may be able to make a re- mans and animals all lived even girls singing about lov- that's loud enough that
pets. ally big difference." together peacefully. ing their hair. can do that — that can
Blink and you might miss it, No one else was doing it. Bert, Ernie and the gang It introduced the bilingual reach people and make
but Burnett followed a car- Children's programing at made an instant impression Rosita — the first Latina a difference," Vogel said.
toon about a witch called the time was made up of on actress Sonia Manzano. Muppet — in 1991. Julia, "Our mission is to make kids
Wanda, which was loaded smarter, stronger and kind-
with words beginning with er and that those lessons
the letter w. that we impart to them stay
"Wow, Wanda the Witch is with them."
weird," Burnett comment- Therapist Jerry Moe, the
ed. And then — poof — she national director of the Ha-
was gone. zelden Betty Ford Children's
That show was "Sesame Program , applauds the
Street" and Burnett, like show for helping children
a lot of kids, was instantly handle trauma — addic-
hooked. She would return tion, PTSD, death.
to the show multiple times, "While the numbers and the
including visits to demon- colors and the sizes and
strate to pre-school viewers the shapes are all incred-
where her nose was and to ibly important, so is that
smooch a rubber duckie. social-emotional develop-
"I was a big fan. I would ment that children need,"
have done anything they he said.
wanted me to do," she said. "'Sesame Street' deals with
"I loved being exposed to the reality of what's going
all that goodness and hu- on with the kids today. And
mor." 'Sesame Street' does it in
This first episode of "Sesame such a child-friendly, age-
Street" — sponsored by the appropriate, developmen-
letters W, S and E and the tally-appropriate way that
numbers 2 and 3 — aired not only grabs kids' atten-
in the fall of 1969. It was a tion, but also all the provid-
turbulent time in America, ers," Moe said.
rocked by the Vietnam War This image released by HBO shows the cast of "Sesame Street" during a celebration of their 50th Celebrity appearances
and raw from the assassi- season of the popular children's TV show. This first episode of “Sesame Street” aired in the fall of — starting with Burnett
nation of Dr. Martin Luther 1969. and now numbering 650
King the year before. The Associated Press — aren't just a fun compo-
media, like today, was go- nent of the show, they're
ing through disruption. shows like "Captain Kanga- She saw a neighborhood a 4-year-old Muppet with part of the lesson. From
Newt Minow, who was the roo," ''Romper Room" and that looked like hers. She autism came in 2017 and Janelle Monae to Sarah
Federal Communications the violent skirmishes be- saw people who looked this year has offered help Jessica Parker, from Ander-
Commission chairman at tween "Tom & Jerry." ''Mr. like her. She would become for kids whose parents are son Cooper to Danny De-
the time, famously said Rogers' Neighborhood" a cast member, Maria, on dealing with addiction and Vito — they're all part of an
TV was becoming "a vast was lovely, but it was mostly the show, starring and writ- recovery. So important is attempt to lure parents to
wasteland." Like today, teaching social skills. ing for it from 1971-2015, the show that PETA recently watch as well.
there was lots of content, "There was nothing even re- including getting married asked for the creation of a "When parents watch the
but it wasn't necessarily motely that contained any on air. "I was raised without vegan Muppet. show with their kids, the
quality. educational component at seeing people of color on "We are a mirror to society learning is deeper because
Enter "Sesame Street" cre- all for children," said Phillip television. So, when I was here even though we're you have a conversation
ators Joan Ganz Cooney Levine, a professor of eco- given the opportunity to be dealing with birds and about what you watched
and Lloyd Morrisett, who nomics at Wellesley Col- a person of color on tele- chickens and monsters," together. You talk about
worked with Harvard Uni- lege who has studied the vision, I jumped at it," said said Matt Vogel, the pup- it," said Benjamin Lehmann,
versity developmental psy- show. "'Sesame Street' was Manzano, who is of Latino peteer who portrays Big executive producer. "The
chologist Gerald Lesser to 100% about education." descent. "And I think I was Bird and the Count and parents are there to scaf-
build the show's unique ap- The show was designed successful as Maria be- who grew up watching fold on the lessons."
proach to teaching that by education profession- cause I never forgot that "Sesame Street." In the adults' honor are
now reaches 120 million als and child psychologists there could be a little kid When actor Will Lee, who characters who go over
children. Legendary pup- with one goal: to help low- like me watching television played the grocer Mr. the heads of young view-
peteer Jim Henson sup- income and minority stu- and forming ideas about Hooper, died in 1982, the ers — Ethel Mermaid, Baa
plied the critters. dents aged 2-5 overcome the world." show explained death to Baa Walters and Alistair
"It wasn't about if kids were some of the deficiencies Over the years, "Sesame children. When Big Bird Cookie — not to mention
learning from TV, it was they had when entering Street" has welcomed lost his nest to a hurricane, spoofs like "Orange Is the
about what they were school. Social scientists had many more. It became the community rebuilt his New Snack," ''Grouch Eye
learning from TV," said long noted white and high- the first children's program home. To help kids after for the Nice Guy" and "Up-
Steve Youngwood, the er income kids were often to feature someone with 9/11, Elmo was left trauma- side Downton Abbey."q