THOSE MAGICAL MUPPETS

STREET GANG: THE COMPLETE HISTORY
OF SESAME STREET
by Michael Davis
New 791.4372 Dav

This book is a comprehensive history of the vastly influential children's program, Sesame Street. The author, Michael Davis, is a resident of the Philadelphia suburb of Yardley; his father actually donated the copy of this title in the Main Library's collection. As a Gen-Xr (how I once loathed that label--until Generation Y was given its own identity, riddled with more issues and negative traits than Generation X--ha, ha!), I was constantly visiting Sesame Street throughout my childhood. I was completely enthralled with The Count (ironic, considering I developed a raging math-phobia around age nine that I've yet to shake), and wanted to live with Big Bird. I was not, however, a fan of Bert, what with his puzzling penchant for pigeons and his preposterous paper clip collection. Sesame Street will celebrate its 40th birthday this year on November 10th.

As a neat tie-in to this fun new title (I haven't gotten to read it yet but it's on my list), I read a Mental Floss article today on the back stories of many Muppet characters (please check out http://www.mentalfloss.com/ for the full article written by Stacy Conradt).

Kermit the Frog's initial incarnation took place in 1955. He was made out of Elizabeth Henson's coat (mother of Jim) and ping-pong balls.

Oscar the Grouch's raspy, angry signature voice was inspired by an irate New York City cab driver. Miss Piggy is a native of Iowa. And Telly Monster was originally supposed to fall into seizure-like paroxysms of euphoria every time he sat down in front of a television set, but his behavior was considered too scary for the young target audience. He was then transmogrified into the perpetual worry-wart best known to Sesame Street aficionados.

I always thought the two balcony-bound hecklers on the Muppet Show were simply fabulous...particularly since I've never liked Fozzie Bear and adored the excoriations the pernicious pair heaped upon the hopelessly untalented ursine comedian. I'd long believed them to be named Astor and Waldorf, having heard they were named for two famous New York City hotels. They're actually named Statler and Waldorf--Statler has gray hair and Waldorf has white hair (plus the mustache). Apparently Waldorf has a wife--appropriately named Astoria (wocka, wocka!). I've also heard that Astoria is actually Waldorf's sister (they're the exact same puppet; the female simply has more hair and no mustache) and Statler's wife, which would make them brothers-in-law.



Finally, according to Ms. Conradt's report, the long-held belief that Bert and Ernie were named after characters in the film It's A Wonderful Life is a total myth. I always thought it was a lovely idea, having the police officer (Bert) and the cab driver (Ernie) from my favorite Christmas movie immortalized in Muppet form on Sesame Street. Sometimes the truth hurts...

My nieces and nephews are now happily entranced with Sesame Street as well as the sadly-defunct Muppet Show (on DVD) and I find it heartwarming to bond with them over their favorite characters (unless someone likes Fozzie Bear...or Animal...)

NOTE: On February 11, CNN ran an article titled How Do You Get To 'Sesame Street'? by Todd Leopold detailing Street Gang, etc. by Michael Davis. It's well worth a read!