fbpx

11 Of Our Favorite Characters On Sesame Street’s 45th Birthday

11 Of Our Favorite Characters On Sesame Street’s 45th Birthday

1 of 11

Can you tell me how to get, how to get to Sesame Street? It’s been too long. Nov. 11 marks 45 years of the most-watched children’s TV show in history. There’s this pressing need to just be a child again watching Jim Henson’s brilliant TV show about an urban street with lots of indelible characters teaching me about shapes, numbers, sign language, sarcasm, friendship, fighting, resolving, and so much more…and then nap time! Here’s 11 of our Muppet friends immortalized on our TV sets, following us through our lives. Here are 11 of our favorite characters remembered on Sesame Street’s 45th birthday.

Sources: phronthistory.info, muppet.wika.com, imdb.com, sesamestreet.org

 

youtube.com
youtube.com

Big Bird

Born during the peace era of the flower revolution and the Vietnam War was a six-foot, eight-inch canary yellow knock-kneed bundle of love named Big Bird. Ever since “Sesame Street’s” first episode aired Nov. 10, 1969, this roller-skating, poetry-spouting, unicycle-riding avian has lived in his giant nest next to Oscar the Grouch’s trashcan behind No. 123 Sesame Street. Always championing the process of discovery and learning through asking (“Asking questions is a good way of finding things out!”), Big Bird also showed us that adults are not so attuned to the magical world of kids through their inability to see his very blatant friend, the elephant-like Snuffleupagus. Trivia: Nobody knows Big Bird’s species; he’s been called a canary, a lark, a turkey, and the grandson of an emu.

youtube.com
youtube.com

Count von Count

Premiering on the first episode of the fourth season in 1972, this arithmomaniac vampire-of-sorts would rather kill his fellow Muppet friends with annoyance by counting all day than suck their blood. Tiny, purple and sharp-nosed with a voice meant to hearken Bela Lugosi’s “Dracula” incarnation, Count von Count will tally up every person, object, or imaginary jumping sheep, usually culminating in a flash of lightning and the total number counted dashed across the screen. He helped children count in a variety of ways, including counting backwards, aided by his romantic interest — girlfriend Countess von Backwards, who had a problem of counting backwards. Trivia: The “Sesame’s Workshop” website does not call him a vampire, but the Count could not see his reflection in mirrors…

youtube.com
youtube.com

Elmo

Living a very New York life, Elmo (eternally 3.5 years old) resides in a cramped apartment with his parents, his grandparents, his great grandparents (Great Grandpa Selmo, the namesake), his aunt and uncle, his cousins, and a fish named Dorothy. Almost always speaking in third person, the little red monster with the orange nose was an example of toddler enthusiasm, often inserting himself into activities he lacked the developmental or cognitive skills to accomplish, but was determined to be a part of. “Elmo wants to play” became a trademark of young kids his age and their patterns of speech. Elmo was so popular that he spawned his own segment, “Elmo’s World,” and of course the massively popular, I’ll-murder-you-to-get-it-for-my-child Tickle Me Elmo doll. Trivia: Multiple sources have confirmed that Elmo’s favorite food is wasabi.

youtube.com
youtube.com

Mr. Snuffleupagus

What exactly was he?! A mascara-wearing mastodon? An elephant with rampant hair growth? What we are certain of is that he’s Big Bird’s lifelong mate who seems to be invisible or not present any time an adult shows up. Showing up first in 1971, Aloysius Snuffy Snuffleupagus would enter a frame accompanied by a brass instrumental musical cue. Some bumps occurred along the way. At first, Snuffy spoke in a depressed tone, was afraid of fruit, and was overly insistent on moving in with Big Bird to the point of audiences questioning it. Trivia: Singer Judy Collins is the first adult to ever “see” Snuffy (in a dream sequence on the show).

 

en.wikipedia.org
en.wikipedia.org

Cookie Monster

He knows no bounds, this wonky-eyed, insatiably hungry pot-bellied maniac! He’s (my favorite) the azure one who doesn’t just stop with cookies, but will also OM-nom-nom-nom down hubcaps, dishware, and paper. While he often speaks in a crazed vocabulary (“Me want cookie!”), he will randomly break into a very sophisticated British English when he hosts “Monsterpiece Theater” as “Alistair Cookie.” Around Season 36, concerns arose that Cookie Monster taught poor eating habits to children, and Cookie began championing a more nutritious diet than car parts. He let kids know that he ate dessert after his fruits and vegetables. Trivia: British film director and actor Frank Oz (also Yoda from “Star Wars”!) has voiced Cookie Monster since 1969.

youtube.com
youtube.com

Linda

Linda Bove was the deaf librarian who appeared in a sea of Muppets to demonstrate overcoming a physical setback such as being hearing impaired. The first deaf actor ever to have a recurring role in a TV series, Linda appeared first on episode 326 in 1972, becoming a regular in 1975. Interacting with various puppet characters, she was accompanied always by her dog Barkley, her assistant Micki, and her interpreter Bob, whom she had an onscreen romance with.

 

youtube.com
youtube.com

Maria

The Puerto Rican teenager Maria Figueroa first worked at the Sesame Street Library in 1971, and soon became a fixture of the series. Known as “Skinny” by Oscar the Grouch, Maria became known as the friendly Latina girl who mediate fights among the characters. She also got a job at the Fix-It Shop with Luis, whom she later married. They had a daughter, Gabi. This storyline and her pregnancy became a feature of the show in the 1980s. In 1979, on Episode 11, Maria and her Sesame Street gang visited her family in Puerto Rico.

youtube.com
youtube.com

Oscar the Grouch

“I Love Trash” is the official anthem for anyone who has a place in their heart for rubbish. The sharper side of being a hermit — that’s what Oscar represents. Unfriendly, crabby, and desiring to be left alone in his trash bin, the soiled green monster will stave away all forms of human contact until he’s actually left alone, whereupon he desires someone to complain to! “No man is an island” might be his favorite quote. Oscar explained to Life Magazine in 2009 that he was once orange, but a vacation to Swamp Mushy Muddy made him green, and he hasn’t showered since. Trivia: Jim Henson once had a server at Oscar’s Tavern — a Manhattan restaurant — who was so grouchy that Henson began to find the situation hilarious, and timeless. He created the orange version of Oscar for season one, and the rest is history.

 

youtube.com
youtube.com

Bert and Ernie

Was there ever a bromance or a gay couple like Bert and Ernie? No matter what you read into their relationship, they are two friends who love each other because they’re so damned different. Ernie is loud, crashing, eager, slightly daft, and has a very childish zest for life, while Bert is studious, introverted, a bit of a weirdo, obsessive about collecting paper clips and observing birds, and the President of the National Association of W Lovers (yes, just the letter W). How much do Bert and Ernie actually love each other? Trivia: For Christmas, Bert traded in all his paper clips to buy Ernie a soap dish for Rubber Duckie. Ernie, meanwhile, bought a cigar box for Bert’s beloved paper clips. They ended up trading the gifts in.

youtube.com
youtube.com

Grover

First appearing as a character named “Gleep” on the Ed Sullivan Show in 1967, Grover became a fully-functioning cast member on 123 Sesame Street during the second season. His fur was blue instead of green. Enthusiastic with a drive to help all people with all sorts of problems, his hyper persona thwarts his attempts to actually solve problems. He also speaks without contractions: “There is a fly in your soup? I am looking in the soup, sir, and I do not see a fly!” (Youtube.com). He’s also quick to react to rational people questioning him, reacting in his gravely, high-pitched voice. Trivia: Grover has been through more careers than any character on “Sesame Street.”