As a child, I had three pillars of TV: 'Sesame Street', 'Play School' and 'Here’s Humphrey'. My parents kept a tight rein on our TV watching so I didn’t see too much. Two of these shows are still going, fortyish years on, which is a testament to both their popularity and commitment to excellence. Poor old Humphrey has just been sold and is languishing in someone’s cupboard. Still, you never hear him complain.
So Sesame Street, which started a year after I did, has been a big influence on my life. I spoke of this earlier in my discussion of Sesame Street: A Celebration, 40 Years on the Street. A friend of mine, who understands these things, more recently sent me Street Gang: The Complete History of Sesame Street, by Michael Davis. I thought it might be a retread over travelled land, but it was not. They are good companion books. Whereas the first is a colourful, glossy survey of the show from concept to now, the second is a more scholarly book. Which does not make it dry. Quite the opposite, it’s a vibrant and heartfelt history of the show, but is, as the title suggests, a history. More than half of the book is taken up with the creation of the show, from its conception at a dinner party, through the gathering of television executives, writers, researchers, educators, producers, musicians, puppeteers, government support and actors, to the first broadcast.
The heart of the book, and Sesame Street, is Joan Ganz Cooney. Cooney had a BA in Education, had worked as journalist, and had some television and government experience when she began the journey to Sesame Street. She had to overcome resistance to her idea as a woman, as a person with limited experience in education and children’s television, in order to bring her idea to reality. And she has managed to keep that show going over personality clashes, financial and political issues, and all the other challenges you would expect, as well as some you wouldn’t, in running a successful organisation. She is truly a remarkable and inspirational person.
The book gives due tribute to Sesame Streets (American) precursors, those children’s shows trying to give children a quality experience in front of the tube. Many of the talents that ended up on Sesame Street came through 'Captain Kangaroo,' a long-running morning show whose creator, Bob Keeshnan was inspired through the negative example of Buffalo Bob on 'The Howdy Doody Show'. There were other shows as well that were trying to help children, with varying quality and success. But Sesame Street became the apotheosis, and the standard. If we ever meet, ask me about the monkey and raccoon story.
In later years, Sesame Street’s ratings were threatened by the egregious Barney. (One critic, quoted in the book, described the saccharine dinosaur as making Sandy Duncan look like a flesh-eating succubus.) The unexpected challenge made an enormous impact on Sesame Street, leading to changes of the show and personnel, some of which worked, some of which did not. However, Sesame Street still survives, while Barney seems to have joined his relatives.
Street Gang documents the creative, political and personal tensions behind the scenes. Many of the original creatives, including Jim Henson, Joe Raposo and Northern Calloway, died relatively young. Funding bodies tried to have more power, changes were made in response to politics, instead of research and creativity. But due to people like Ganz and her successors, Sesame Street has managed to do what it set out to do, educate, entertain and let children know that life has its challenges and its wonders.
I had a teacher at school who didn’t like Sesame Street he said because it brought children to school saying ‘zee’ instead of ‘zed’. Seemed then, and now, a minor point, but I do wonder about all the versions of Sesame Street that have been made and tailored to different markets, whereas we just get the unaltered US version. Mind you, ABC was one of the first to buy the show, which was lucky for me and others my age. Later though, I saw one episode with Mel Gibson and a map of Australia, with no Tasmania. He didn’t pick it up, nor did any researcher or writer or anyone else with the show. I wonder if they had any feedback from Australia, or Tasmania, subsequently. That was years ago. Perhaps they don’t even use the segment anymore. Actually with Gibson’s current reputation, they probably don’t, but for other than cartographic reasons.
If you are a Sesame Street fan, then by all means read this book. You’ll be surprised, informed, delighted and sometimes a little sad.
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