40 Years of Sesame Street

For 40 years kids have grown up with Sesame Street. You could say that the show was a baby sitter to many of us. The show grew up with us and we graduated to the Muppet Show with it. Jim Henson’s creations took a life of their own, the talented puppeteer and his entourage gave us new worlds to explore. The show has lost the original shine it once had, Elmo rescued the show but at the same time brought to show to a much younger audience. The universality of the show enjoyed by many ages is now relegated to the younger set of kids. Classic Sesame Street is still in reruns or on DVD, this body of work is a true testament of caring for the future of our children. Sesame Street paved the way for many youngsters who dared to dream. Sesame Street was a symbol of a world that worked together from many backgrounds as the street was populated by many diverse ethnic backgrounds. We never realized how weaving a needle and thread would leave us laughing in stitches. Let’s hope for something new from our old friends.

Just before Jim Henson died, there was a wild rumor that Ernie would be “killed off” in the show. With the epidemic of AIDS  spreading around the time, people actually thought that Ernie was going to die from AIDS. A public announcement had to be made to disclaim this nasty rumor.

“Oh no, not again,” groaned Ellen Morgenstern, spokeswoman for Children’s Television Workshop in New York, when asked about Ernie’s health. “Ernie is not dying of AIDS; he’s not dying of leukemia. Ernie is a puppet.” The Ernie stories have circulated for the past year, Morgenstern says. But the furor is sort of flattering.

101 Muppets of Sesame Street