Sesame Workshop Partners with van Gogh Museum to Celebrate Sesamstraat Anniversary

From left to right: Ernie, Bert, Ienie Menie, Tommie, Elmo, Pino and Purk

On this date in 1853, Vincent Van Gogh was born in Zundert, Netherlands. In October 1888, Van Gogh painted his first version of Bedroom in Arles, an iconic work of post-impressionist art. In December, 2011, Bert, Ernie and Elmo made a couple of… “improvements” to Van Gogh’s masterpiece.

To celebrate the 35th anniversary of Sesamstraat, the Dutch version of Sesame Street, Sesame Workshop partnered with the Amsterdam-based Vincent van Gogh Museum, where Bedroom in Arles hangs, to recreate a version of the famous painting featuring Elmo, Bert, Ernie and the beloved Sesamstraat Muppets^TM  Ienie Mienie, Tommie, Purk and Pino. The special painting, which was unveiled by Sesamstraat actor Frank Groothof, was on display at the museum in December 2011.

To keep your good ear to the ground and learn more about Sesamstraat and all of our international co-productions, visit Sesame Workshop’s “around the world” page.

Happy Birthday Big Bird: An Interview with Sesame Street’s Caroll Spinney

Big Bird in 1969, Sesame Street's inaugural year

It’s the first day of Spring. You know what that means? It’s Big Bird’s birthday! In order to celebrate Big Bird’s special day, we spoke with Caroll Spinney, who has played Big Bird, as well as Oscar the Grouch, on the show for 42 years.  During his time on Sesame Street, Mr. Spinney has touched the lives of millions of children. We want to thank him for taking the time to tell us about how he first got started on Sesame Street, how the character of Big Bird evolved and what his favorite memories from the show are.

Sesame Workshop: Tell me how you first got involved with Sesame Street.

Caroll Spinney: Jim Henson saw me doing my own puppet show and came backstage afterwards and asked if I wanted to join the Muppets. As a puppeteer I felt the Muppets were the Beatles of the puppet world. Jim said he wanted to build a goofy bird and also Oscar the Grouch, which was going to be a goofy purple thing that lived in a pile of trash.

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This Week in Sesame Street: Happy Anniversary Jalan Sesama

In this week’s edition of “This Week in Sesame Street,” we’re celebrating the 4 year anniversary of the debut episode of Jalan Sesama, Sesame Workshop’s co-production in Indonesia. On February 18, 2008 Tantan, Momon, Putrik and Jabrik – the Jalan Sesama Muppets^TM – began bringing the children of Indonesia laughter and encouraging them to love to learn.

Like every international co-production Sesame Workshop helps produce, Jalan Sesama takes into account the specific educational needs of children in Indonesia. That means not only teaching the building blocks of literacy and numeracy like we do in every international co-production. An appreciation of cultural diversity – Indonesia has over 300 native ethnicities spread across its more than 17,000 islands – and environmental awareness – Indonesia has the world’s second highest level of biodiversity – are also major parts of the Jalan Sesama curriculum.

Congratulations to all the hardworking people in Indonesia who help make Jalan Sesama a reality, especially our local partner Creative Indigo Production, and thanks to the American people and the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), whose generous support makes the show possible.

For more information on Jalan Sesama and the work Sesame Workshop is going in Indonesia, click here.

This Week in Sesame Street: Our Furry Friends Visit the White House

On Tuesday, February 7, beloved Sesame Street monster Grover stopped by the White House to help White House Chef Sam Kass and the children of chefs who currently work in the White House learn about the ways kids can help their parents prepare a tasty and healthy meal. The Sesame Street Muppets^TM have a long history of visiting the White House, so in today’s edition of, “This Week in Sesame Street,” we’re talking about some of the times our furry friends have had a chance to hang out with the President.

The Sesame Street Muppets^TM made their first appearance at the White House on December 20, 1970, when Big Bird, Mr. Hooper and the rest of the gang joined First Lady Pat Nixon, wife of Richard Nixon, to perform a Christmas show for an audience of excited children.

The cast of Sesame Street at Richard Nixon's White House.

That would hardly be the last time our friends from Sesame Street would stop by the president’s home. Big Bird made Christmas time appearances during both Gerald Ford and Jimmy Carter’s administrations, the latter of which included a performance with Kermit the Frog and Joe Raposo, composer of the Sesame Street theme song, in the East Room of the White House. In fact, Sesame Street Muppets^TM would go on to visit the White House of every subsequent president: Ronald Reagan, George H.W. Bush, Bill Clinton, George W. Bush and Barack Obama have all invited Big Bird, Elmo, Cookie Monster and other Sesame Street Muppets^TM back to the White House for various reasons.

Big Bird appears with Betty Ford, wife of President Gerald Ford, at the White House.

Whether it be for Christmas celebrations, Easter egg hunts, to encourage literacy at the National Book Festival, or in order to teach kids lessons about healthy eating like their most recent visit, the Sesame Street Muppets^TM have been welcomed guests at the home of the president for over 40 years.

This Week in Sesame Street: Ernie’s Birthday

One of our favorite things here at Sesame Workshop is celebrating the birthdays of our beloved Sesame Street Muppets^TM. That’s why we’re so excited for this Saturday, January 28: It’s Ernie’s birthday!

Ernie and his best pal Bert are some of our oldest friends on Sesame Street. They’ve been living in the basement apartment of 123 Sesame Street since the show’s premiere in 1969.

Aside from providing us with some of the show’s funniest moments – who could forget the classic “banana” sketches – Ernie teaches us all a very important lesson: it’s possible for two people who don’t have much in common to be great friends. Ernie and Bert don’t have many similar interests: the excitable and mischievous Ernie enjoys playing tricks on Bert and taking baths with Rubber Duckie, while Bert, always the lovable curmudgeon, loves his pigeon Bernice and collecting paper clips and bottle caps. But despite those differences, they’re still best friends.

Given that Ernie’s been a part of the show for over 30 years, he’s been played by more than one performer. Originally Jim Henson did both the voice and puppeteering for Ernie. He last played Ernie in the 1989 episode, “Don’t Throw That Trash on the Ground.” Nowadays Ernie is performed by Steve Whitmire.

This Week in Sesame Street: Big Bird’s First Visit to Hollywood Squares

Welcome to This Week in Sesame Street, a new feature in which we’ll revisit all the funny, touching and memorable moments Sesame Street has produced since it was first aired in 1969. This week we’re taking a look back at the first time Big Bird appeared on the classic game show Hollywood Squares.

Hollywood Squares has had countless famous guests over the years, but none quite like Big Bird. On January 19, 1976, Big Bird was a guest on the show for the first time. Plopped down next to Broadway star Carol Channing, best known for her work in Hello Dolly! and Gentlemen Prefer Blondes, Big Bird answered questions on birds (an expertise of his), Broadway musicals and even chimed in to help out Channing a time or two.

It would hardly be the last time Big Bird appeared on the now-defunct show: Between 1979 and 2001, Big Bird would appear on the show 14 times, most coming during the years in which Peter Marshall (whom Big Bird lovingly referred to as “Mr. Marshmallow”) was host. He also wasn’t the only Sesame Street character to appear on the show: Oscar the Grouch and Elmo have both been guests as well.

For video of Big Bird’s appearance, click here.