Sesame Street turned forty today, and my younger brother Jamie will turn the same age at the end of this year. These two things are connected in memory because anytime I watched Sesame Street, it was usually while babysitting Jamie, or watching him briefly while the adults did other things. I approved of Sesame Street, and The Electric Company, though I (at the time) mocked poor harmless Fred Rogers and Mister Rodgers' Neighborhood, which seemed infantile by comparison. (When I'd been Jamie's age, I sometimes watched Batman, The Twilight Zone, Captain Kangaroo, Dark Shadows, Milton Berle, Star Trek -- a real eclectic grab bag).Anyway, Big Bird always freaked me out, his gangly size and weird voice. The Count, Cookie Monster and Oscar were the ones I liked best. The people seemed cool, the great urban mix that even now seems ahead of its time. A big hit for PBS and a legacy of good things put in motion by The Great Society, even during the Vietnam War.
The Electric Company (1971+) was stranger than Sesame Street, a little more on the surreal side; among its early regulars were Bill Cosby (who earlier had done I Spy; afterwards, Fat Albert & the Cosby Kids) and Morgan Freeman. In the tradition of older sibling taking younger to see scary movies, where Vickie, my oldest sister, took me to see The Omega Man and Deliverance, I later took Jamie to see Apocalypse Now! and Wise Blood. By that time, we'd run far far away from Big Bird.
Today's Rune: Defense.
8 comments:
I was way to old for sesame street. But we did have The Three Stooges, The Little Rascals, Soupy Sales none of which taught us much but were life forming in their own way.
I grew up w/Sesame Street. Who didn't love the Count? I really enjoyed the Electric Company, too. They're making new ones now, but I haven't seen them.
I never watched Sesame street or the electric company until my son was little. Then I did a little sesame street with him. It's 40 and I'm 51. Thus the miss.
DOES ANY ONE REMEMBER CAPTAIN KANGAROO, MR. GREEN JEANS, BARON BARRACUDA, GENE LONDON, THE PIXIE FROM A PHILLY STATION, HOWDY DOODY, BUFFALO BILL?
Nothing beat the usual banter from Burt and Ernie. As for those dueling banjos -- I know a few prisoners that can recite some of the movie lines.
This river don't go to Aintree.
Erik, when I was expecting Dane, I took some friends children th "Sesame Street Live" at the Joe. When the characters all came out, I burst into stupid, hormonal tears! Oh, and my friend Burt went to college only to discover his roomies name was-U guessed it-Ernie. They put those B's and E's on their beds like the S.S. dudes!
Thought about Sesame Street this morning cos the "style" on my hair would cover my whole face. I saw it in the mirror today and thought back to the song..."and I haven't seen my body since nineteen seventy two...then I saw my arms and I said: arms! how big you've grown..."etc etc. The character was getting a haircut. Which puppet was it?
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