Sesame Street premiered on November 10, 1969, making a mark that would forever change the face of children’s television programming.
While kids’ TV was hardly a new concept in the late ‘60s, it ushered in an era of edutainment that seamlessly melded early childhood education with television entertainment for the tiniest viewers. While legendary puppeteer Jim Henson is widely viewed as the driving force behind Sesame Street, it was documentary producer Joan Ganz Cooney who originally created the show.
How did ‘Sesame Street’ start?
In 2009, Cooney discussed the origins of the Children’s Television Workshop and Sesame Street in an interview for the Television Academy Foundation’s archive. “I gave a little dinner party in ‘66 with my then-husband Tim Cooney, and Lloyd Morrisett. And his wife Mary Lloyd was the vice president of Carnegie Corporation, the big foundation, and Lewis Friedman, of course, I worked for. And they came to dinner, and Lewis started talking that night about the great educational potential of television.”
She continued, “Well, something clicked in Lloyd’s mind because Carnegie was financing research in the educational development of children, how they learn. And he and his wife, after 10 years of marriage, had two little kids. And he had noticed that there was nothing really on for them.”
That kicked off a three-month research project dedicated to understanding if and how children could build cognitive skills through television viewing. Cooney eventually created a report titled “The Potential Uses of Television in Preschool Education,” and things went from there. While she did say, “No one knew if you could do it,” she was quick to admit that, “I knew.”
Her report and the first few pre-Sesame Street ideas garnered attention from several sources. The Carnegie Corporation, Ford Foundation, U.S. Office of Education, and Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CPB) gave Cooney and her upstart show $8 million to start production on what would become one of the most famous children’s television shows of all time.
Jim Henson and the Muppets
Of course, the iconic Muppets creator Jim Henson came on board to design Bert and Ernie, Big Bird, Grover, Oscar the Grouch, Cookie Monster, and other classic characters.
Jim Henson. Photo: Bettmann / Getty ImagesBettmann / Getty Images
Cooney revealed, “Oscar had been invented because one of the academics had said that children should be permitted to be grumpy and to know it’s okay. “
And what about one of the show’s most famous characters? She said, “And Big Bird was invented because we needed him, but all these characters were sort of based on curriculum ideas and one of the advisers during the seminars had said there ought to be someone who represents a child. Who’s sort of clumsy, who doesn’t know very much, who sort of defers to the adults.”
How did ‘Sesame Street’ get its name?
As it turns out, no one wanted Sesame Street at first. Cooney shared that a group of writers had submitted names and that “Somehow we decided Sesame Street was the least bad. We didn’t like it. Nobody was enthusiastic…It turns out if you’ve got a hit, the name doesn’t matter at all.”
She added, “We went with it, and it turned out to be a great title because Sesame came from ‘Alibaba and the 40 Thieves,’ open sesame, which we felt education opened the world to children. And it was set on a street.”
Carol Burnett on the first episode of ‘Sesame Street’
While the show is now a global phenomenon and attracts some of the top celebs, actress Carol Burnett was the first guest star back in 1969. But her Sesame Street stint wasn’t a major role. Burnett’s performance followed an animated bit about “Wanda the Witch,” saying, “Wow, Wanda the Witch is weird.” That was it!
The actress would later guest star in several more episodes, visiting Sesame Street in 1969, 1970, and 1971. She later told the AP, “I was a big fan. I would have done anything they wanted me to do. I loved being exposed to all that goodness and humor.”
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