for 'sesame street,' the direct approach ('sesame street' set visit)

7/28/2019 For 'Sesame Street,' the Direct Approach ('Sesame Street' set visit)

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For(SesameTheDfuect&proachStreet:Bv FnANK LovEcE


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SESAI'IE STREETBert & Ernie category. Aside fromsweet li'l Prairie Dawn, essentiallyasemal baby Alice, and a femaleGrouch (and that's no role mo.lgl),there are no significant recurringblue, green or orange females."'We've been working very hardto develop female Muppet charac-ters over the years," Iresser sayswith a sigh. "But for some reasion,it's very hard to develop distinctivefemale Muppets. We'll try one out,and then with the writers and thepuppeteers, it just kind of liesthere." The best analory may bewith old cartoon characters, wherefor no discernible reason writersand animators burst with greatBugs Bunny ideas, but just didn'tget into the dl-but-forgotten GabbyGoat.

So, they'll try, try again. Newyoung hopefuls this year are Ro-sita, a Hispanic monster-Muppet;Roxy Marie, from Canarsie; andtiny Merry Monster. But as if topoint out the problem, the most

istics of a jungle lion. Only in-stead of stalking and bouncing onwildebeests, he stal.ks andbounces on cabbages." The pup-pet had appeared briefly as a ge-neric lion without a name, "butlMuppeteer] David Rudman de-veloped the character very guick-ly, and the writers leapt on it."Conversely, sadly, if Muppefscan be born, Muppets can dig orat least retire. Muppeteer KevinClash, who also voices Baby onABC's "Dinosaurs," is trying torevive one, the long-gone Roose-velt Franklin, a streetwise Afri-can-American Muppet. No one,however, has any plans to touchKermit, Ernie or Bert, the frrsttwo of which were done by thelate Muppet all-father, Jim Hen-son.All their segments we'Ye seen'since last season are recycledfrom the countless shows sinceNov. 10, 1969, when "SesameStreet" premiened. "For the time


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lllrector Usa Slnon on the set with Lillias White, who plays lillian

APartBelongsToDaddy,Tootl N THE '.SESAIVIE STREET" set at Uni-

H,s required, Sodoes keeping up with the times.in the early days," notes produber Lisa Simon, thedireetor of today's edition. "Kids now are used tohrghly sophistidted vizuals. That keeps it interest-ing for directors,and everybody."ft's ertainly interesting to a gaggle of visitors,mostty guests !f Ute cast aia creoi. ffie brought *ysoil, 3-year-old'Vineent Thomas [.ovece, \irith me,this Monday aftefnoon, to gauge his reactions anflget a handle on'what -"SeJannE Street" meanr tokids. It was a brand-new, definitely very '60s kindof innovation to my peer group and younger. Nowit?s the offrcial show of childhood, an institution. Isit the same to hirn as it was to me?I almost didn't find out - the minimum age forkiddie visitors is 4 years old. But they graciouslymake an ex@ption for Vincent, and and true to mypromise that he's an old 3, he sunreys the set with abemused curiosity, staying quiet when Sirnon callsfor rehearsal or a take._ From my vantage point next to him in the pro-duction area, where three television cameras nego-tiate a maze of cables on the floor, the apartment-house stoop of L23 Sesame Street liei straightahead. Off to the left is Hooper's Store, in a futtenclosure with doors and a roof, half of it a"esr"a asV*i" and Luis' fixit shop. Stretching out behreenthe apartment house and Hooper's is the farriliar(paintq) bilck-covered yard bordered by big greengarage double-d@rs. ,

Seeing that "Sesame Street" is only a set doesn'tlity" any discernible effect on the seven visitingkids, aged 3 to about 8. Conventional wisdom sayskids will be disillusioned if they see the puppeteerbehind the puppet. But the tias aren'f fdiea tyggeing Marty Robinson on the floor doing TellyMonster, or a limp Snuflleupagus hangiqg Fom theceiling lihe a trophy skin.

But here comes the real test: Veteran MuppeteerCarroll Spinney, human from the waist up, zoom-ing by on rollerskates on Big Bird's feet and legs; hekeeps the rest of the hot, heavy costume removeduntil an actual take. An assistant wheels it by us ona rolling orange post."So **y feathers," Vincent says, unamazedlopking at the costurne. So rnuch for the boulevardof broken'dreams.Spinney keeps the costume on after this take, andposes with sorne of the kids. Later he dons Oscar,slipping into character and ad-libbing for a gpest.The rest of the crew and cast members a.s iftakingtheir cue from the one person /character thatcould be considered the show's star - are all equal-ly gracious and lmse.Yet as happy and interested as Vincent and theothers are, the biggest smiles, oddly, are on thefaces of adults. One thirtysomething guy with lit-tle hair and an dccountant's mien has a facelighted up like the sun. Truth to tell, I'rn sure['m getting a bigger kick out of being here thanthe kids.And why not? "sesame Street" was ours beforeit was theirs. Kermit the Frog went on to becomea Muppet zuperstar, but we had him first, backwhen "Sesame Street" was born. I and my peersmay have been older than the 2- to 5-year-old tar-get audience, but the show was fun. Even in theyears before Vincent was born, ['d channel-zap toit occasionally to revisit the old gang and occa-sionally see a parody of Ingmar Bergman's "TheSeventh Seal."Nowad&ys, of course, I see it as much a,s mostother new parents my generation, watching onTV and tape with Vincent. No offense to theNinja Turtles, but we've neuer sat and watchedthat show. After all these years '"Sesame Street"still goes to all the right places.The weird part is, I always keep watchingwhenever Vincent gets bored and leaves the room.And I'll bet I'm not the only first-generation"Sesame Street" daddy f,s do so.

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Fnnk lorece and;is $-icar-old son, WOscar fie GrouGh, played by Garoll $pinney.

-;'IrOveee

for 'sesame street,' the direct approach ('sesame street' set visit)

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