It’s a wonderful day, and not just cause the sun is shining on Sesame Street. It’s a wonderful day because this morning we learned a new friend was moving in to the neighborhood. Armando, or “Mando” as the gang on Sesame Street has nicknamed him, is join the cast on the upcoming 44th season.

Played by actor Ismael Cruz Córdova, Mando is part of Sesame’s increased focus on engaging with and educating children in the Hispanic community in the United States. The show is constantly evolving and has a long-standing history of modeling a diverse community.  As producers were identifying the realities of the changing American population, it was important to represent that diversity in the new addition to the cast. “Armando,” a writer from Puerto Rico, will join Maria (played by Sonia Manzano), Luis (Emilio Delgado) and Muppets™ Rosita and Ovejita (Carmen Osbahr) as part of Sesame Street’s bilingual community.

To learn more about Mando and his new home on Sesame Street, check out the video above.

The Sesame Workshop Blog

Susan Tofte is Sesame Worskhop’s archivist.

There is a scene in the promo film for Sesame Street where ad-men type Muppets in business suits meet around a large conference table debating potential names for the show. Ridiculous titles are suggested like the Two and Two Ain’t Five Show and the Itty-Bitty, Farm-and-City, Witty-Ditty, Nitty-Gritty, Dog-and-Kitty, Pretty-Little-Kiddie Show. Rowlf the Dog fires the entire group of Muppets and Kermit the Frog eventually comes up with the name Sesame Street. “You know, like ‘Open Sesame.’ It kind of gives the idea of a street where neat stuff happens,” he suggests.

The name Sesame Street was not dreamed up by Muppets in a boardroom but the promo sketch does reference the dilemma the Workshop had in finding a name for the show. As producer Jon Stone remembers, “the name was set at the 11^th hour and fifty ninth minute.” Early promotional materials simply referred to the show as a “preschool educational television show.” In early spring of 1969, the press conference announcing the show neared and producers had still not made a decision. “We were just frantic for a title,” said Joan Ganz Cooney. “Our press and publicity people were going nuts. How were they going to promote a show that had no name?”

Pressure was put on the production staff and Workshop employees to come up ideas for names and hundreds of titles were suggested. Potential names included The Video Classroom and 1-2-3 Avenue B. “Everything from the mundane Fun Street,” Joan would later recall. 1-2-3 Avenue B was seriously considered and worked well with the show’s set design, which resembled an urban, inner city neighborhood complete with a corner store, subway station and brownstone stoop. It also made reference to the show’s educational goals. However, the name was eventually rejected for fear that the show’s title would not appeal to viewers outside of New York City.

The name Sesame Street is credited to Virginia Schone, a writer for the show. Almost everyone on the staff disliked the name. There was concern that young children would have trouble pronouncing it. But time was running out and the show needed a name. Finally, Executive Producer Dave Connell put out a memo to the staff saying “if nobody came up with a better idea, as of Monday we were going to call it Sesame Street.” As Joan put it, “We went with it because it was the least bad title.”

As it turned out, all of the stress and worry over the title were for nothing. The first episode of Sesame Street opens with a view of the now iconic green and yellow street sign hanging on a lamppost. The camera pans down to Gordon telling a little girl named Sally “you’ve never seen a street like Sesame Street. Everything happens here. You’re gonna love it!” 

The Sesame Workshop Blog

Susan Tofte is Sesame Workshop’s Archivist.

“A life is not important except in the impact it has on other lives.” – Jackie Robinson

Of the hundreds of celebrities who have appeared on Sesame Street, Jackie Robinson is one of the most notable. Workshop co-founder Joan Ganz Cooney met with Robinson in 1969 when she was working to build awareness and outreach prior to the show’s November premiere. Reaching out to Robinson and his connections made sense.

Since retiring from baseball in 1956, Robinson was active in the civil rights movement, working on campaigns for the N.A.A.C.P and developing affordable housing for low-income families. At the meeting, Joan screened the pitch reel for Sesame Street, distributed promotional materials, and talked about the Workshop’s early outreach efforts in poor communities. Robinson must have seen promise in the show. He appeared in the first season, becoming the first athlete to swing by Sesame Street.

In his segment, Robinson recites the alphabet while animated letters appear on the screen next to his head. His speech does not have the cadence or dramatic pauses of James Earl Jones, or the comedic timing of Bill Cosby or Richard Pryor. Unlike the professional athletes that appear on the show today, Robinson did not wear his team’s uniform, or hold a baseball bat or glove to indicate to preschoolers he was a baseball player. He does not banter with Muppets, wear zany costumes, or use catchy songs to help entertain.  But Robinson’s appearance on Sesame Street is worth watching with each new generation of Sesame Street viewers, because it gives parents an opportunity to introduce their children to a remarkable person. Jackie Robinson overcame great adversity to become the first black man to play major league baseball. His remarkable accomplishments on and off the field were a monumental contribution in the civil rights movement.

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

The theme this year was “Be Healthy, Be Active, Be You!” The day was focused on ways families could eat healthy and stay physically active, a cause to which both the first lady Michelle Obama and Sesame Workshop are dedicated.

To learn more about the White House’s Easter Egg Roll, click here. To learn more about Sesame Workshop’s commitment to encourage healthy living habits in our children, click here.

The Sesame Workshop Blog

Since November 2011, Baghch-E-Simsim, the Afghan version of Sesame Street, has brought laughter and important lessons about literacy, numeracy and cultural awareness to the children of Afghanistan. We’re excited to share with you this behind-the-scenes look at how one of our newest international co-productions gets made. To learn more about how Baghch-E-Simsim gets made, click here. To learn more about our work in Afghanistan, click here.

The Sesame Workshop Blog

Many low-income families did not own a television set and were barely even aware of public television in 1969. Before Sesame Street could be introduced to these families, there needed to be televisions. The Workshop distributed donated televisions to daycare centers, housing projects, libraries and churches throughout New York City. Mobile viewing units brought the show to inner city neighborhoods, to Appalachia, the Choctaw and other Native American communities and to the children of migrant workers. The mobile classrooms offered facilities for fifteen children at a time to watch the show and participate in playful learning activities directed by volunteer teachers from the community.

Soon after Sesame Street aired, there was an overwhelming demand from parents and teachers for information on the show. To meet this demand, the Workshop partnered with local public television stations to produce and distribute promotional materials. Time, Inc. produced a set of parent-teacher guides to help identify the show’s curriculum goals and provide lesson plan guides for the classroom. By the second season, the Workshop created an outreach division called Community Education Services (CES) and set up 10 small satellite offices. The offices were staffed with 2-3 dedicated workers to work with populations in need in New York, Boston, Chicago, Detroit, New Orleans, San Francisco, Oakland, L.A., Dallas, and Biloxi.

Even the Sesame Street Muppets and cast got involved in the outreach efforts. A touring cast including Gordon, Susan, Bob, Mr. Hooper, and Big Bird went on a seventeen city cross-country tour performing free shows for children. The tour included a stop at the Nixon White House to perform for the children of ambassadors from around the world. Jessie Jackson and his PUSH coalition in Chicago organized four shows in two days and reached over 10,000 kids in the Chicago area in 1970. In three years, the touring show was estimated to have attracted half a million children.

Bringing televisions to communities through television drives and mobile units, touring Muppets with the cast of Sesame Street, and operating field offices around the country were original, creative ways to bring Sesame Street into communities. Today, in Bangladesh, our outreach means that kids in rural areas can watch the show delivered by rickshaw in the country. In the United States, recent educational initiatives such as science education and military deployment, economic uncertainty and oral health are available for free download on the web. Each outreach effort is a simple extension of our mission to reach and teach children.

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

It is hard to imagine Sesame Street without the delightful animations that teach things like letters, numbers, emotions and problem solving. Animations have been a part of the show since the pilot episodes. But back in 1969, the idea of using a series of short animations to act like “commercials” for letters and numbers was a true innovation.

When Joan Ganz Cooney created her proposal for an educational television show, she envisioned borrowing the techniques used in making TV commercials to help teach counting and literacy. Joan and the producers knew that kids were attracted to commercials on TV. What they didn’t know was whether they could successfully create short commercial-like segments for the show that would actually teach to the curriculum.

The search for animators began in August of 1968. During the next 14 months, producers commissioned artists to produce storyboards for short cartoons that taught letters, numbers, counting and words. It was necessary for the artists to create work that met the educational goals of the show but the Workshop placed little restriction on style or length for the pieces. With curriculum in mind, producers poured over storyboards and scripts and selected animations they thought could teach 4-year-olds about letters and numbers.

“The Story of J” was the first animation commissioned by Sesame Street in early 1969. It was designed to familiarize children with a single letter. When the cartoon arrived at the Workshop, the producers were relieved. As producer Dave Connell recalled, “All of a sudden, it worked. We could see somebody understood how to do this.” The cartoon runs just over a minute and shows two round-faced youngsters contemplating the fish hook configuration of an object lowered from the sky. The animation is narrated with a rhymed story involving Joe, a Junebug, a Jar, a Justice, a Jury and a Jail. It even includes the familiar tagline “Here Comes the Judge!” from Laugh-In, a show that was a direct influence on Sesame Street.

Producers then inserted the animation into an hour-long program of randomly chosen children’s television material as if the animation was a spot commercial interruption in the program.  The film was brought to a day care center a few blocks from the Workshop’s offices to be shown to children and was subject to an audience reaction test. The test results suggested that the producers were on the right track. “The Story of J” is such an important part of the history of Sesame Street because it proved that when done right, short animations could get the attention of 4-year-olds and familiarize children with the sound and sight of letters and numbers.

By the end of the first season, the Workshop had commissioned work from 32 animators and film producers. In the first ten years, the Workshop commissioned more than 1,000 live action and animation films for Sesame Street and The Electric Company. The Whitney Museum of Art curated a selection of the films as part of their New American Film Series in 1979. The animation on Sesame Street was groundbreaking in the way it borrowed techniques from TV commercials to teach and for the support the Workshop gave to independent animators and filmmakers. For forty-three years these artists’ creativity and talent have contributed to the success of Sesame Street. Check out some of the show’s iconic animations on SesameStreet.com.

The Sesame Workshop Blog

Teaching children about science, technology, engineering and mathematics, known as the STEM subjects, is an imperative we here at Sesame Street take seriously.  STEM is not just a major part of the television show’s curriculum; Sesame Workshop makes print books, e-books, and mobile apps aimed at teaching young children about STEM.

Teaching STEM is a passion of ours, which is why we approached Ridgefield Academy in Connecticut to see if any of their teachers wanted to use our book Simple Science Experiments with Elmo and Friends, published by Dover Publications, in the classroom. That’s when we were introduced to Jerry Nash, a science teacher a Ridgefield who saw a way to take this teaching opportunity a step further.

He had his eighth grade students at Ridgefield Academy film the first graders who conducted the experiments. Then he had a group of third and fifth graders do a voice-over for an instructional science video he made. We were blown away by the time and effort Mr. Nash put into bringing Simple Science Experiments with Elmo and Friends to life. We wanted to feature a few clips from the video (see above) in the hopes that teachers and parents might be inspired to think about new ways they can make science fun and relevant for young children.

If you would like to learn more about Ridgefield Academy and the great educational work they do, click here. If you want to get a copy of Simple Science Experiments with Elmo and Friends, click here. And Mr. Nash wanted to let you know if you have any questions about his approach to teaching science, you can reach him here.

The Sesame Workshop Blog