DISCLAIMER: This post contains an affiliate link from the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program. As an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases.
FINALLY, I’m giving you my very first full book review. This is a book that happened to be the starting point of my cherished, growing library of non-fiction books based on my interests. Today, one of my interests being covered is the #1 best show for kids, Sesame Street.
Brief backstory: SESAME STREET IS MY CHILDHOOD!! As a kid, there was no series that I gave more enthusiasm, and respect for (not even SpongeBob SquarePants) than this ever-so-immortal master of children’s edutainment. Big Bird, Elmo, Bert and Ernie, Cookie Monster, Grover, Oscar, Herry, the Count, Telly, Snuffy, Zoe, Abby, and pretty much every other character residing around “the world’s longest street” (although the members of the Monster Clubhouse, and that loud-mouthed Elizabeth, are possible exceptions) all have an immunity for me to totally dislike them. Sesame Street is loaded with charm through almost everything about it, but in my opinion, it’s especially through the Muppets (thank you, Jim Henson), the friendly human neighbors, the diverse library of animated segments, and all those hundreds and hundreds of catchy songs. Even today, as a 17 year old, I still respect it for how it broke ground in educating kids through the boob tube for the 46 years of existence. However, I lost track with the show since season 41. Sesame Street today doesn’t look like Sesame Street from when I was young (I grew up with the show from as early as season 32), but I am such a respectful fan that I usually maintain a mature understanding whenever Sesame Workshop makes whatever changes they deem necessary, in order to continue successfully educating its very young target audience for years to come. How people live life can change naturally, and so does this show. Then again, I am little upset about the move to HBO, which permanently subtracted 30 minutes of Sesame Street‘s duration, reduced the amount of Muppets appearing, let go of a few veteran cast members (although they are in their senior years at this point – Bob in particular has been around since the unaired pilot episodes), and pretty much stopped airing any segments made earlier than ten years ago or whenever. Well, I ain’t sending any hate mail to Sesame Workshop!
Now, with my core thoughts on this fantastic show out of the way, the review of Sesame Street: A Celebration – 40 Years of Life on the Street can begin. As you might have easily predicted, this heavy, 300-page-long, commemorative page turner was worth purchasing on Amazon, and is an addictive way for a Sesame Street aficionado to pass time. I remember borrowing this book frequently from my local library, because, despite many factual errors (more on them later), author Louise Gikow and the team at Black Dog and Leventhal Publishing showed amazing dedication in making this entrance of rare treasures, in-depth interviews, little-known facts, and thought-provoking explanations on how the world of this one street orbits the media an engaging escape for Sesame fans of all ages!
What’s Inside?
So, 40 Years of Life on the Street is divided into 15 chapters, with each of them (except for the last two) opening with a very explanatory behind-the-scenes article on then-recent episodes and sketches of the show. This recurring element of the book easily make it ever so meatier than its otherwise more stylish predecessor, 1998’s Sesame Street Unpaved, which I’ll review as well. Whereas that book is focused more on pleasing the fans’ nostalgia by recalling classic moments, this one is a lot more detailed on teaching us the show’s history, cast, crew, curriculum, international co-productions, merchandising, and outreach initiatives. Thus, 40 Years of Life on the Street, while it does have its moments of being cute and playful (the introductions by Big Bird and Oscar, for example), is a relatively more serious read than its 1998 relative.
Chapter 1 (“How to Get to Sesame Street”) delves into Joan Ganz Cooney starting up her goal of producing educational television for kids, with the help of Lloyd Morrisett, Dave Connell, Sam Gibbon, and Jon Stone. My favorite part of the chapter is the page “How Sesame Street Got Its Name”, which describes the Muppets’ hilariously dramatized brainstorming process of coming up with the show’s name during the pitch reel in early 1969. Chapter 2 (“It’s Not Easy Being Green”) reveals how Jim Henson, Frank Oz, Carroll Spinney, Jerry Nelson, Fran Brill, and Richard Hunt were all brought in to not only give the Muppets their voices, but also to develop their lovable personalities. Chapter 3 (“The People in Your Neighborhood”) reintroduces us to our friendly human cast of mentors, from the late and great Mr. Hooper, to the more recent addition Leela. Chapter 4 (“Somebody Come and Play”) lets us learn that Brian Muehl (Barkley), Marty Robinson (Telly and Snuffy), Kevin Clash (Elmo), David Rudman (Baby Bear and currently Cookie Monster), and Pam Arciero (Grundgetta), were all hired because Jim and his fellow veterans were too busy on The Muppet Show in the U.K. to play all those new Muppets the writers were coming up with. Chapter 5 (“Stick Out Your Hand and Say Hello”) talks about the celebrities and kids (including recurring cast members like Miles and Gabi ) who stopped by the street, with the chapter transition page featuring an image of none other than current laughing stock, Bill Cosby!
In Chapter 6 (“Happy to Meet You”), we learn about the Muppeteers added to the cast from the 1990s onward to either perform newer Muppets (like Rosita, Murray Monster, and Abby Cadabby), or let the classic characters live on after their original performers either die (at least in Jim Henson’s case, since this book was three years before Jerry Nelson died) or slowly retire (in the cases of Carroll Spinney and Frank Oz). Chapter 7 (“C is For Cookie (and Curriculum)”) offers us the science behind Sesame Street‘s constantly-evolving methods of educating, plus a look into Elmo’s World. In Chapter 8 (“Imagine That”), Jon Stone, Emily Perl Kingsley, Norman Stiles, and all the other important writers, producers, and directors are saluted for how they made the show’s writing funny, creative, heartwarming, and relatable. Chapter 9 (“Over, Under, Around, and Through”) delves into the art of making and performing the Muppets, and the evolution of the titular street itself. In Chapter 10 (“What’s the Name of That Song?”), it talks about how Joe Raposo, Jeff Moss, Chris Cerf, Danny Epstein, and Dick Maitland gave Sesame Street its catchy jingles, and recognizable sound style. Chapter 11 (“I Believe in Little Things”) allows us to reunite with our cartoon and live-action short favorites, from the Typewriter, to the Mad Painter. We also get to look at behind-the-scenes coverage of Muppets getting the cartoon treatment, as in the claymation “Bert and Ernie’s Great Adventures”, and the CGI “Abby’s Flying Fairy School”.
In Chapter 12 (“We Are All Earthlings”), we travel the globe to meet over 34 of Sesame Street‘s foreign cousins, with special coverage on Indonesia in particular. You should also read an amazing speech about Sesame Workshop’s goal to help kids in need overseas, as told by Alicia Keys. Now, we get even more interesting in Chapter 13 (“Because We’re Friends”). It talks about how Sesame Workshop milks the udder of Gladys the Cow (in other words, treating Sesame Street as a cash-cow franchise) for a good cause, being a non-profit organization to educate children. The highlight of the chapter is a nifty timeline which lists real-life historical events on the top half, and Sesame Street milestones on the bottom half, while oodles of old merchandise surround the entire timeline. And speaking of helping their young target audience cope with stressful subjects, that’s exactly what Chapter 14 (“We’ll Do It Together”) is all about. From kids with asthma, to those with deployed parents, Elmo and the gang has everyone’s back when it comes to outreach projects! Finally, the two-page Chapter 15 (“See You Tomorrow”) predicts the most agreeable future of the show, that no matter what, it will always be there to help kids become kinder, stronger, and smarter. Plus, there’s a nice speech from soon-to-be-former U.S. President Obama to conclude the book.
Any Extra Goodies?
Depending on how used your copy of the book is, you will also get a bonus DVD containing the very first episode. But, the catch is that its the 2006 Old School: Vol. 1 print, so the episode has a couple of scenes removed, and opens with a cartoon guy named Bob warning ignorant viewers of the awkwardness (such as dopey Big Bird, and orange Oscar), mundane moments (i.e. that milk lecture), and overall outdated teaching strategies. You know, even though I used to get angry with people saying these old episodes aren’t suitable for modern kids when I was younger, I’ve become WAY more understanding as to why. Yeah, that little girl in the first episode should be lucky that Gordon and Susan are really angelic people for her to go over to their apartment for cookies and milk without parental supervision. Otherwise…we need a Sesame Street “stranger danger” PSA, ASAP! Plus, I was watching a season one episode on Netflix last year, and I was shocked to see one of those “Jazz Number” cartoons (one for the number three to be exact) included freaking SATAN at the end! SATAN! ON A PRESCHOOLER SHOW! My God! So, like I said, I understand why the DVDs said the Sesame Street of the ’70s was a product of its time.
Also on the DVD is a montage with a clip from each of the show’s first 40 seasons. It’s basically an extended version of the timeline at the conclusion of the 35th anniversary special, The Street We Live On. However, when the timeline reaches to 2004, instead of the scene where the Sesame cast waves goodbye at the end of the aforementioned special, we get Norah Jones singing a cute parody of her own song, “Don’t Know Why”. Of course, it’s about the letter Y.
Errors to Be Wary Of!
I am so blessed that I am a Sesame Street expert. Otherwise, I would have believed some of the errors written here were true. I understand this massive book must have been using up a lot of Louise Gikow’s time and energy. However, that doesn’t totally excuse her and her teammates letting these factual and continuity mistakes avoid corrections:
- TWICE in this book, Gikow has mistaken Marshall Grover’s horse, Fred the Wonder Horse, for Forgetful Jones’ horse, Buster. Listen here, people! Buster is a lighter shade of brown than Fred is, and Fred has a red mane of hair, while Buster has brown hair. Interestingly enough, even Sesame Workshop gets the two horse puppets mixed up occasionally. In one sketch, they used the Fred puppet for Buster, and vice versa.
- Gikow says the late David Smyrl was the first man to play Mr. Handford (who ran Hooper’s Store after David and before Alan), when it was actually Leonard Jackson. And guess what? The same bloody page corrects itself by mentioning Jackson as the first Mr. Handford, not Smyrl. See what I mean about the inconsistencies in this book?
- It seems to me that Gikow doesn’t even know what Jim Henson’s Oscar-nominated short Time Piece looks like! Apparently, she thought it involved an early version of Cookie Monster eating clocks! First of all, even though I haven’t seen Time Piece as I’m writing this, I know for damn sure that there are no Muppets present in it. On top of that, she referred to the proto-Cookie as Beautiful Day Monster, who, appearance-wise, is different from Cookie.
- More mix-ups! This time, when talking about the first time Steve Whitmire performed Ernie, she mistook the 1993 sketch where Ernie and Bert go fishing against a sky blue background for the more memorable 1981 sketch (when Jim still played Ernie) where Ernie catches fish with his voice (“HEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEERE FISHY FISHY FISHY!!”).
- A relatively minor mistake where Gikow says Abby was created for season 38 (2007) instead of season 37 (2006)…with the same page mentioning that Abby has been on the show for two years, by the time she had her own balloon in the Macy’s 2008 parade. Yeah, more inconsistency.
- Maria and Luis’ daughter, Gabi, was born AFTER Gordon and Susan’s son, Miles, was adopted, not the other way around!
- Regarding the picture of Amy Carter in Oscar’s can. So, Oscar had a trash can on The Electric Company, eh, Louise? I know the Sesame Street Muppets made occasional guest appearances on their sister show, but…you know what? I’ll let you off the hook for that one, Ms. Gikow.
- Joey Mazzarino joined the Muppeteer family in 1989, not 1987.
- Hey, guys! Did you know that Nimnim, that green monster from Egypt’s Alam Simsim, is apparently an immigrant from South Africa? My mind is blown! So, the American Sesame Street isn’t the only one with immigrants. Sarcasm, of course. Say, I wonder if Rosita is a legal immigrant or not.
- On a less severe note, Gikow said the “Around the Corner” set debuted in 1994, instead of 1993. But it gets worse. She says that the Fix-It Shop (which, for some reason, had a four-season stint as a post office from 2002-2005) went back to its original state in 2004. No! It was in the season 37 premiere (2006) when the Fix-It Shop returned. For the love of God, in season 35 (2004), the Mail-It Shop played a big role in a two-part episode where Snuffy becomes invisible by playing a weird ukulele (it makes sense in context…I think).
- Basil, the polar bear from Canada’s Sesame Park (which I find to be the most underrated foreign Sesame Street ever) , is a regular ol’ hand puppet, NOT a full-bodied costume like Samson from Germany!
- Last time I checked, Lefty the Salesman mostly tried to get Ernie’s money, not Kermit’s! Or maybe there IS a lost sketch with Kermit and Lefty somewhere. I’ll check.
- Apparently, Louise can’t tell the bloody difference between Sesamstrasse (German) and Sesamstraat (Dutch), because a picture of the latter was used when the former was being described.
UPDATE (July 22, 2021): Originally it was thought that crediting Sam the Robot as one of Brian Muehl’s characters was a factual error. However, many years after this book publication, the great folks at Muppet Wiki rediscovered some season 10 episodes in which Muehl DOES play Sam. In general, a LOT of obscure Sesame Street episodes and trivia bits have been brought up by the dedicated historians in the Muppet fan community, and the show’s inclusion on HBO Max as of 2020 certainly helps, too.
That’s only a hefty sample of errors the book has stored. For more I missed, visit Muppet Wiki. But don’t worry! The errors don’t totally ruin the book for me. All the great things it has to offer are enough to warrant a high score. But, if you’re not an expert on Sesame Street, then I feel sorry for you. But, hey! At least you have me to warn you about the errors, if you never read the book yet. So, hakuna matata!
Interesting Observations:
- The chapter index includes screenshots of everyone’s favorite animated pinball game, the “Pinball Number Count”, to number the book’s 15 chapters. However, there were never any shorts produced for numbers 1, 13, 14, and 15. So, they must have done some basic Photoshopping to create believable “Pinball Number Count” icons.
- I don’t care if this book is aimed more at adults; swearing and Sesame Street do NOT go hand in hand! It’s just plain jarring. We got Frank Oz saying that his job is “just to f**k around with” puppets! Kevin Clash recalls the time Richard Hunt got fed up with playing Elmo in 1984 and told Kevin, “You do this f***ing thing!” Finally, sound effects man (and voice of Slimey the Worm) Dick Maitland reminisced about how the other guys in the control room were “laughing their asses off” at him throwing himself onto a pile of stuff when doing some foley work.
- On a two-page spread at the start of Chapter 8, there are pages of a script for the two-part season 36 episode where the Amazing Mumford accidentally shrinks Big Bird down to ant size. They specifically show pages on the part where Snuffy arrives, but doesn’t notice Little Big Bird at all. What’s the issue? Included is a low-quality screenshot (as in someone took their little camera to take it) of Snuffy from Little Big Bird’s POV, which the editors took right off of Muppet Wiki, before the site included a master tape screenshot of the scene. How lazy, you guys! You couldn’t have just asked Sesame Workshop to help provide a high-quality screenshot of Snuffy, instead of just surfing on a site that isn’t even affiliated with any of the Muppet-owning companies?
Conclusion
It may be seven years old, but I still say Sesame Street: A Celebration – 40 Years of Life on the Street is the most elaborate book on the show’s history and production you could ask for…that is, until the show turns 50. Despite its many errors, the boatloads of rare treasures, little-known tidbits, interesting anecdotes, and engaging behind-the-scenes access, easily makes up for all of them (even the more seemingly unforgivable errors, like Brian Meehl credited as Sam the Robot). If you’re a teenager or adult, and you still have a soft spot for this unmatchable preschool masterpiece, then this book should definitely be worth your time and money. If Sesame Street Unpaved didn’t satisfy you in providing all detailed behind-the-scenes info you wanted to know, then 40 Years of Life on the Street should hopefully do the trick for you. But, if you already own Unpaved, I recommend keeping it, for pictures and info not included in 40 Years.
D.J. Berry 
