The 4^th of May has become an unofficial holiday for fans of the Star Wars films.  While the date seems arbitrary, it’s a day when we can all break out the pun, “May the Fourth be with you”.  A play on words like that absolutely deserves its own holiday.

But why, you may be asking, is the Sesame Workshop blog writing about Star Wars? That’s a perfectly good question, and much easier to answer than “What’s a Midichlorian?”  You might be surprised to learn that R2-D2 and C-3PO traveled from their galaxy far, far away to visit the most famous street in the world (or perhaps the universe??).

In 1980, just a few months before the release of The Empire Strikes Back, the Star Wars Droids made two appearances on Sesame Street.  And they are just as amazing and bizarre as anything you might see at The Mos Eisley Cantina.

In the first episode (#1364, aired on January 31, 1980), Big Bird spots a flying saucer, but just like his stories about the elusive Mr. Snuffleupagus, the adults think it’s just a product of his imagination.  C-3PO and R2-D2 are on a secret mission to deliver an important mission to Oscar the Grouch.  Much like Princess Leia’s message to Obi-Wan Kenobi, the message comes in the form of a hologram from Oscar’s alien Grouch friend Lothar.  But rather than declare that Oscar is his only hope, Lothar’s message is “Oscar the Grouch: Get lost!”

Later, Big Bird asks the Droids if robots have feelings.  As they discuss different emotions, C-3PO remembers a time when he and R2-D2 became separated in the desert, which you may remember from the first Star Wars film.  Does this mean that their appearances on Sesame Street are in Star Wars continuity??  In a universe of Wookies, Ewoks, and whatever Admiral Ackbar is, why could there not be giant birds, Grouches and monsters?

Having successfully delivered Lothar’s message, C-3PO and R2-D2 head back to their home galaxy, only to return a few months later (in episode #1396, aired on March 17, 1980), this time not by any sort of space craft, but by bus.  Their mission is much less clear here, as the Droids spend their time on Sesame Street singing the alphabet song with Bob, saying hello to Linda, and considering going to the park while it’s raining.

In the very best segment of the episode, and what may be the best segment of the entirety of Sesame Street, R2-D2 falls in love.  She’s quiet, short, has a pointed head, and lives on Sesame Street.  Oh, and she’s a fire hydrant.  Love knows no bounds…  or species or mechanics, it would seem.

R2-D2 and C-3PO made a few more appearances on Sesame Street, taking advantage of R2’s unique way of speaking.  They teach Big Bird how to count to four by counting the beeps, and Big Bird sings a song about how he says “banana” while R2-D2 says *bleep blop boop* (or something close to that).

Although that was the end of the Droids’ time on Sesame Street, it wasn’t the end of Sesame Street’s connection with the Star Wars universe.  In 2009, Oscar the Grouch appeared alongside Darth Vader in the feature film Night at the Museum: Battle of the Smithsonian, both of whom can be seen at the real Smithsonian Museum in Washington, DC.  In 2012, Elmo and Cookie Monster appeared on the Australian radio show “Fifi and Jules” where they reenacted a pivotal scene from The Empire Strikes Back.  And most recently, a certain “Darth Chicken” appeared in the “Pizza the Musical” episode of Elmo the Musical.

Both Star Wars and Sesame Street have been engrained in the public consciousness for decades, so it’s only natural that their paths should cross every so often, whether it’s in sunny days on Dagobah or a Rubber Duckie frozen in Carbonite.

Happy Star Wars Day, and May the Force Be With You!

The Sesame Workshop Blog

Folk singer-songwriter Richie Havens passed away this week at the age of 72. In 1969, he brought his unique voice and rhythmic guitar style to Woodstock, where he performed as the festival’s opening act. And in 1975, Havens brought the same raw talent and enthusiasm to Sesame Street.

Richie Havens was brought into the studio to record four songs for the sixth season of Sesame Street, all of which were captured in one day of filming. His best known contribution was “Wonder Child”, a beautiful tune celebrating imagination and the innocence of youth.

Another song Havens performed that day was the original tune, “It’s Pouring”, a take on the nursery rhyme, “It’s Raining, It’s Pouring”. The upbeat song teaches the kids listening at home about the beauty of rain, the hope of a sunny day, and the ways rain can bring us all together.

In 1971, Havens recorded a cover of George Harrison’s “Here Comes the Sun”, which was his only single to hit the Billboard Top 100. He brought his folk version of the song to Sesame Street for another, undoubtedly memorable weather-related segment, with the underlying theme of optimism he conveyed so well.

Richie Havens also got to put his own spin on Sesame Street’s classic “celebrities count to 20” formula by adding guitar riffs between every few numbers, turning a simple number count into a quasi-song. And he seemed to have a great time doing it too.

Finally, in the 1990s, Richie Havens recorded an updated version of “Imagination Rain”, an animation from way back in 1972. The cartoon stayed the same, but Havens’ music brought new life into it.

Although Richie Havens only made a handful of appearances on the show, he has become a part of Sesame Street history, and we’ll always remember him for it.

The Sesame Workshop Blog

Joe Hennes works at Sesame Workshop and is the co-proprietor of Tough Pigs.

Over the course of Sesame Street’s 43-year history, characters come and go.  Not everyone can be a Grover or Cookie Monster, lasting decades while still staying fresh and entertaining.  For every Big Bird, there’s a Roosevelt Franklin.  For every Bert and Ernie, there’s a Biff and Sully.  Despite the fact that these characters aren’t around anymore, we still hold a lot of love for them and the joy they gave us over the years.

One of our favorite examples is the great Don Music, the absent-minded composer who fought through his frustration to pen such classics as “Mary Had a Bicycle” and “Drive, Drive, Drive your Car”.  He showed us that creating art isn’t easy, and the final result isn’t always what you expected it to be.

You may not have known that Don Music is responsible for some of your favorite songs.  Before Mary had a little lamb, Don put her on a bicycle. Before Yankee Doodle put a feather in his cap, he cooked some fat spaghetti and called it macaroni. He even wrote a song about how to get to Yellowstone Park, which might sound strangely familiar to fans of the show.

Don Music’s talents weren’t relegated to just his musical career, as he was also the mastermind behind one of our country’s most important documents: The Declaration of Independence.  Don, playing Thomas Jefferson, plays his part in the American Revolution with the help of Grover, who attempts to bring him a new quill.  Just imagine, without Don Music, we might still be under the rule of the British government!

Don Music was performed by the infinitely talented Richard Hunt from his debut in 1974 until Hunt’s passing in 1992.  Several years later, the remaining Don Music sketches were pulled from Sesame Street after several children imitated Don’s unfortunate tendency to bang his head against his piano in frustration.

While Don Music may have hung up his baton and retired, he lives on in classic DVDs like Old School v.2, on YouTube, and in our memories, especially when we get a song stuck in our heads and we just can’t seem to remember how that last line goes…

The Sesame Workshop Blog

Over 43 seasons, Sesame Street has featured hundreds and hundreds of famous actors.  Due to the law of averages, a certain percent of those actors will have gone on to receive a coveted Academy Award statuette.  And it seems that those averages are correct, because a lot of Sesame’s famous friends have an Oscar on their mantle.

Just last night, at the 85th annual Academy Awards, Anne Hathaway won an Oscar for Best Supporting Actress for her performance of Fantine in Les Miserables. Hathaway stopped by Sesame Street a few years ago to sing “I Want a Snuffy for Christmas” with her pal Big Bird. Now you can add her to the long list of Oscar winners who count Big Bird and the rest of the Sesame Streetgang among their friends.

The earliest Oscar winner to have appeared on Sesame Street may not be a familiar one. Anne Revere, who won the Best Supporting Actress award for National Velvet in 1946, spent a brief time behind the counter at Hooper’s Store in 1977. She wasn’t the only Hooper’s Store employee to win an Academy Award: Natalie Portman, who won Best Actress for Black Swan, took over for Alan for a day in 2004.

Did you know that when Maria and Luis got married on the roof of 123 Sesame Street, they had an Oscar winner in attendance?  Luis’s uncle was played by veteran actor José Ferrer, who won an Academy Award for his role as Cyrano de Bergerac in 1950. Talent runs in the family!

In 1961, Shirley Jones (best known as Shirley Partridge on The Partridge Family) won a Best Supporting Actress Oscar for Elmer Gantry. 44 years later, she made her Sesame Street debut as Mrs. Goose, the head of Storybook Community School where Baby Bear and Abby attend school. So, she has one more Academy Award than Miss Sparklenose.

Two-time Oscar winner Robert De Niro obviously knows a thing or two about acting, so he gave Elmo a free lesson back in 2001.  In fact, he’s so good, he makes a better Elmo than Elmo.

Meryl Streep holds the record for the most nominations in Academy Award history, but surprisingly, she’s never appeared on Sesame Street. However, that hasn’t stopped us from paying homage to the actress with “Meryl Sheep,” who appeared with Oscar winner Susan Sarandon.

Singer Buffy Sainte-Marie lived on Sesame Street as a regular cast member from 1975-1981, and just a few years later, she won an Academy Award for Best Original Song for “Up Where We Belong” from An Officer and a Gentleman. It just goes to show, being on Sesame Street can lead to greater things!

Just one year after Marlee Matlin won her Academy Award for Best Actress in Children of a Lesser God, she appeared on Sesame Street to sign the words to “Just the Way You Are”, while Billy Joel sang a modified tongue-in-cheek  version of the song to a particularly cranky Oscar the Grouch.

Not all of Sesame Street’s Academy Award winners are actors.  Composer Alan Menken, who won Oscars for his work on The Little Mermaid, Beauty and the Beast, Aladdin, and Pocahontas also contributed a few songs for Sesame Street, including “What Is Friend?,” “Martian Family,” and “It’s Gonna Get Dirty Again”.

Marisa Tomei surprised everyone when she won the Oscar for Best Supporting  Actress for My Cousin Vinny, but it wasn’t nearly as big a surprise as when she dressed like a diner waitress in the story of the Monkey King.  Yep, that’s a thing that happened.

If you’ve got to learn about how to act afraid or surprised, it might help to have award-winning actors to teach you how.  Both Julia Roberts and Tim Robbins have appeared on Sesame Street with Elmo, and ended up giggling at Elmo’s antics rather than show their intended emotions.  Maybe they’re not as talented as presumed . . .

After a big Oscar win, Academy Award winners like Halle Berry and Nicole Kidman have put aside their statuettes to present the Word on the Street.  Halle Berry appeared with Elmo and a slightly less adorable tiger to talk about “Nibble”, while Nicole Kidman got “Stubborn” with Oscar the Grouch.

After proving his musical talents in Ray, Best Actor winner Jamie Foxx brought his pipes along to Elmo’s Christmas Countdown, where he performed in a Nutcracker medley.  Meanwhile, we already knew that Best Supporting Actress winner Jennifer Hudson could sing, which she proved with “Carol of the Bells” in the same Christmas special.

More than just Oscar winners have appeared on Sesame Street. Many of the hosts of the Academy Awards ceremony have found their way to the most famous street in the world.  Carol Burnett and Richard Pryor appeared in the early days of Sesame Street. Jon Stewart and Chris Rock were both featured in the classic Elmopalooza. The triple-threat of Robin Williams, Billy Crystal, and Whoopi Goldberg all had memorable moments on Sesame Street. Ellen Degeneres and Alec Baldwin both presented Words on the Street, and Chevy Chase made a brief cameo in the Sesame Street film Follow That Bird.

To see videos of all the Oscar winners who have appeared on Sesame Street, click here.

The Sesame Workshop Blog