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Speaker 1: This Day in History Class is a production of I

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Speaker 1: Heart Radio. Hello, and welcome to This Day in History Class,

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Speaker 1: a show that explores the past one day at a time.

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Speaker 1: I'm Gay Bluesier, and today we're taking a behind the

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Speaker 1: scenes look at how we got to Sesame Street. We'll

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Speaker 1: get a sense for how the landmark show impacted children's television,

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Speaker 1: and along the way, we'll also learn a little more

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Speaker 1: about the humans and muppets who called the street home.

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Speaker 1: The day was November nineteen sixty nine, the pioneering children's

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Speaker 1: education series Sesame Street aired its first episode. The show

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Speaker 1: debuted on National Educational Television, the network that would become

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Speaker 1: the Public Broadcasting Service, or PBS the following year. The

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Speaker 1: now beloved show was specially designed to engage children's minds

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Speaker 1: and foster learning, self esteem, social skills, and problem solving.

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Speaker 1: It accomplished that rather lofty goal by adapting the tools

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Speaker 1: of commercial television, including live action skits, puppets, animation, and

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Speaker 1: musical numbers. The approach was so successful that Sesame Street

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Speaker 1: has been continually broadcast since its debut, later expanding to

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Speaker 1: a hundred and twenty countries in its fifty plus years

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Speaker 1: on the air. The show has taught basic academic concepts

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Speaker 1: to generations of young children and has won more than

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Speaker 1: one hundred Daytime Emmy Awards, the most of any program

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Speaker 1: to date. Before we get to what was included in

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Speaker 1: that debut episode, let's talk about how the show came

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Speaker 1: to be in the first place. The initial idea was

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Speaker 1: hatched at, of all places, a posh Manhattan dinner party.

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Speaker 1: It was at one such gathering in nineteen sixty six

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Speaker 1: that an executive from the Carnegie Foundation named Lloyd Morrissette

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Speaker 1: struck up a conversation with a friend and public television

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Speaker 1: producer named Joan Ganz Cooney. Morrissette told her that his

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Speaker 1: daughter loved TV so much that she had memorized all

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Speaker 1: her favorite commercial jingles and even woke up early just

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Speaker 1: to watch the test patterns before the broadcasting day began

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Speaker 1: for that child's sake. Let's hope he was exaggerating, as

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Speaker 1: that sounds like Poltergeist's behavior to me, or at the

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Speaker 1: very least a concussion still creepy factor aside. That anecdote

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Speaker 1: kicked off a lengthy conversation between Morrissette and Cooney about

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Speaker 1: whether or not television could be made both entertaining and

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Speaker 1: educational for young children. They wondered if the same flashy

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Speaker 1: techniques that got kids to memorize ads for serial and

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Speaker 1: toys could also be put to use in educational ways,

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Speaker 1: like teaching the alphabet or how to count. The pair

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Speaker 1: kept their conversation going for the next three years, and

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Speaker 1: at the heart of it was one guiding question, what

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Speaker 1: if educational content went down more like ice cream than spinach.

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Speaker 1: To help answer that, Cooney wrote a paper for the

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Speaker 1: Carnegie Foundation in nineteen sixty seven titled the Potential Uses

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Speaker 1: of Television in Preschool Education. The paper outlined the small

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Speaker 1: amount of research that had been done on the subject

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Speaker 1: up until then, and also included Cooney's own interviews with

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Speaker 1: educators and child psychologists about what an educational program for

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Speaker 1: young kids should look like. So what kind of stuff

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Speaker 1: did the experts recommend? Well? As Cooney wrote in her paper, quote,

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Speaker 1: nearly everyone I met like the idea of a daily,

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Speaker 1: hour long program. Almost all of them wanted the letters

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Speaker 1: of the alphabet and their sounds, as well as numbers,

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Speaker 1: to be included. That feedback, coupled with a warm response

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Speaker 1: from Carnegie, spurred Cooney and morrisset To co found the

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Speaker 1: Children's Television Workshop in ninth seen sixty eight, which was

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Speaker 1: later renamed the Sesame Workshop. But one thing Cooney's research

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Speaker 1: hadn't helped with was how to convey the traditionally dry

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Speaker 1: subject matter in an exciting and engaging way. For help

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Speaker 1: with that, she hired a children's researcher at the University

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Speaker 1: of Michigan named Edward Palmer. His insights helped give shape

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Speaker 1: to the show's eventual structure. For instance, his findings showed

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Speaker 1: that kids loved music, slapstick comedy, and observing animals and

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Speaker 1: other children. On the flip side, they disliked unkind characters

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Speaker 1: and were board stiff by adult conversations. And while some

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Speaker 1: of that might sound fairly obvious in hindsight, in the

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Speaker 1: nineteen sixties, few people had given much thought to what

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Speaker 1: kids would or wouldn't respond to on television, and no

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Speaker 1: one had spelled it all out. So succinctly, Sesame Street

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Speaker 1: was a true pioneer in that regard, and it's clear

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Speaker 1: how those findings would ultimately push the producers to incorporate

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Speaker 1: puppets into the show. Long time listeners may remember from

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Speaker 1: our episode on The Muppet Show that Jim Henson wasn't

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Speaker 1: too keen on the idea of doing children's television. A

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Speaker 1: producer and writer named John Stone had recommended Henson for

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Speaker 1: the project, having worked with him a few years earlier

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Speaker 1: on a Cinderella adaptation that never made it to air,

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Speaker 1: But at first Henson wasn't interested. He had already found

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Speaker 1: success using his puppets and everything from national commercials to

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Speaker 1: The Ed Sullivan Show and even a stint on SNL,

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Speaker 1: so making the switch to children's programming felt like a

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Speaker 1: step down to him. Of course, he eventually changed his

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Speaker 1: mind thanks to a lot of pressure in pleading from

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Speaker 1: Cooney and the rest of the ct w T. And

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Speaker 1: it's a good thing too, because really, what would Sesame

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Speaker 1: Street be without its colorful cast of muppets like Big Bird, Cookie, Monster, Oscar,

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Speaker 1: the Grouch, and Burton Ernie, all of whom were present

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Speaker 1: and accounted for in the show's debut episode. It's worth noting, though,

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Speaker 1: that some of those characters did look a bit different

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Speaker 1: than we're used to. Big Bird, for instance, had a

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Speaker 1: much thinner face, an Oscar sported bright orange for instead

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Speaker 1: of his now familiar green. Speaking of iconic aspects of

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Speaker 1: the show. Let's talk a little about the name itself.

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Speaker 1: Sesame Street refers, of course, to the fictional New York

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Speaker 1: street where many of the characters live and interact, but

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Speaker 1: the team actually went through quite a few names before

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Speaker 1: settling on the right one. Early contenders included one to

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Speaker 1: three Avenue B, as well as the incredibly generic Fund Street.

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Speaker 1: The former was in the running for a while, but

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Speaker 1: was ultimately nixed because it was a real address in

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Speaker 1: New York City and producers worried that might limit the

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Speaker 1: show's appeal. Not to mention some kids would probably make

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Speaker 1: pilgrimages to the address to find big Bird and then

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Speaker 1: be severely disappointed when they found nothing but a laundromat instead.

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Speaker 1: It's lucky for everyone then, that Virginia shown was on

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Speaker 1: staff at the time to suggest the word sesame. She

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Speaker 1: had heard it in the phrase open sesame, which appears

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Speaker 1: in a sin Bad story in The Arabian Nights, and

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Speaker 1: the words stuck with her as being evocative of adventures

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Speaker 1: in general. That idea, joined with the show's urban setting,

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Speaker 1: resulted in the title Sesame Street, which the team decided

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Speaker 1: on at the last possible minute. The official premiere of

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Speaker 1: Sesame Street aired on Monday, November tenth, sixty nine. However,

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Speaker 1: the show had a soft launch two days earlier with

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Speaker 1: a special preview episode called This Way to Sesame Street.

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Speaker 1: It aired at five pm on NBC and was meant

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Speaker 1: to introduce the concept of the show to parents so

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Speaker 1: they would know when to tune in for the regular episodes.

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Speaker 1: To help with that endeavor, the producers tapped an unexpected guest,

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Speaker 1: the United States Commissioner of Education, James E. Allen Jr.

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Speaker 1: At the end of the preview episode, he told the

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Speaker 1: audience quote, Sesame Street represents both a historic step forward

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Speaker 1: by the medium of TV and an equally significant innovation

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Speaker 1: in mass education. In plain words, there never has been

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Speaker 1: before a nationwide TV program designed especially to prepare young

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Speaker 1: children for school next week there will be. So that

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Speaker 1: was parents introduction to Sesame Street. But when the show

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Speaker 1: had its proper debut two days later, the first thing

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Speaker 1: kids heard was this have to get Can you tell

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Speaker 1: me how to get? To? Sesame Street was and still

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Speaker 1: is one of the best loved aspects of the show.

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Speaker 1: The upbeat yet wistful theme song was co written by

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Speaker 1: producer John Stone own songwriter Bruce Hart and longtime Sesame

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Speaker 1: Street composer Joe Raposo. Stone had wanted the song to

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Speaker 1: capture a feeling he described as quote running, happily, tumbling,

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Speaker 1: playing along the way, but always intent on getting to

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Speaker 1: Sesame Street. And by that criteria, I'd say the song

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Speaker 1: was a huge success. Looking back years later, though, john

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Speaker 1: Stone wasn't very happy with the lyrics he and his

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Speaker 1: collaborators came up with. He felt they had included too

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Speaker 1: many quote happy little cliches and that some of the

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Speaker 1: references would eventually feel dated. For example, he scoffed at

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Speaker 1: the phrase everything's a okay because he considered it astronauts

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Speaker 1: slang after exposing kids to the corrupting influence of astronauts.

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Speaker 1: The rest of the Sesame Street episode plays out more

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Speaker 1: or less as you'd expect. We're given a tour of

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Speaker 1: the titular street and introduced to its various denizens, both

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Speaker 1: human and muppet alike. In contrast to most to other

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Speaker 1: kids shows of the era, Sesame Street didn't feature a

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Speaker 1: single host and instead relied on a group of ethnically

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Speaker 1: diverse presenters to keep things moving. The original human cast

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Speaker 1: consisted of four actors, Matt Robinson who played Gordon, Loretta

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Speaker 1: Long who played Gordon's wife, Susan will Lee who played

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Speaker 1: the elderly storekeeper Mr Hooper, and Bob McGrath who played

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Speaker 1: Well Bob. The characters they created continued to appear on

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Speaker 1: the show for decades, and some of the original actors

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Speaker 1: have even returned for guest appearances in recent years. The

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Speaker 1: first episode's plot, such as it is, revolves around Gordon

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Speaker 1: showing a young girl named Sally a stand in for

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Speaker 1: the audience around Sesame Street. Interspersed with these live action

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Speaker 1: segments are various hand drawn animations depicting concepts like how

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Speaker 1: to count to ten or which words begin with W.

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Speaker 1: One of the episodes most bizarre inclusions is an extended

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Speaker 1: six and a half minute sequence of live action footage

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Speaker 1: of dairy cows. The short documentary serves to illustrate how

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Speaker 1: milk is produced, packaged, and brought to market, and is

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Speaker 1: accompanied by a Simon and Garfunkel inspired tune called Hey Cow.

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Speaker 1: The Somewhat Sleepy Ballad was written by the singer William

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Speaker 1: Brown and by Hugh and Suzanne Johnston, the couple who

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Speaker 1: made the film. It's definitely a product of its experimental time,

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Speaker 1: but it's so earnest and gentle that you can't help

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Speaker 1: but be charmed by it. The footage supplies some context

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Speaker 1: and a few laughs, but you can get the gist

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Speaker 1: from the song alone. Take a listen. Milk, Do you

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Speaker 1: ever wonder where it comes from? Before the carton milk

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Speaker 1: is made in the body of the cow, most of

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Speaker 1: the milk we drink is made by cows. I see

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Speaker 1: you know. Don't let that loving ode to dairy cow's

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Speaker 1: fool you. The Sesame Street premiere had plenty of comedy

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Speaker 1: as well. One standout sequence involves Kermit the Frog, who

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Speaker 1: was a recurring character for the first season, listing examples

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Speaker 1: of words that start with W. He does this while

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Speaker 1: sitting beside a phone cut out of the letter, but

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Speaker 1: as he goes along, the W is gradually munched away

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Speaker 1: into the shape of different letters by the ever hungry

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Speaker 1: Cookie Monster. Much like Kermit, the furry Blue Monster was

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Speaker 1: actually recycled from earlier Henson projects, including a commercial for

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Speaker 1: a wheel shaped snack made by General Foods, in which

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Speaker 1: he was known only as the wheel Steeler. His love

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Speaker 1: of cookies and the name that reflected it all came later,

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Speaker 1: but his ravenous appetite was his defining trade from the start,

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Speaker 1: much to Kermit's chagrin. While I could happily recap the

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Speaker 1: rest of the episode for you, ali of some surprises. Intact,

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Speaker 1: you can find the full episode easily enough online. Before

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Speaker 1: we go, though, I do want to spend some time

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Speaker 1: on the educational impact of Sesame Street, because, after all,

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Speaker 1: the show's original mission statement was to quote promote the

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Speaker 1: intellectual and social growth of preschoolers, particularly disadvantaged ones. So

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Speaker 1: with the show fast approaching its sixtieth birthday, it's worth

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Speaker 1: considering whether the show has hit its own stated goal.

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Speaker 1: As I mentioned earlier, Joan Cooney started conducting research on

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Speaker 1: Sesame Street before the show even aired, and since her

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Speaker 1: initial paper, more than one thousand studies have sought to

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Speaker 1: test the show's efficacy. The verdict, according to Sesame Workshop,

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Speaker 1: is that quote preschoolers who watched Sesame Street do significantly

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Speaker 1: better on a whole range of cognitive outcomes than those

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Speaker 1: who don't, and most independent research really does bear that out.

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Speaker 1: For example, the National Bureau of Economic Research put out

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Speaker 1: a study in the last decade that focused on the

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Speaker 1: very first generation of kids to grow up with the

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Speaker 1: show in the nineteen seventies, and amazingly, they found that

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Speaker 1: kids who had access to the show performed better in

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Speaker 1: elementary school than those who lived in areas where it

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Speaker 1: wasn't broadcast. The preschoolers who were able to watch Sesame

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Speaker 1: Street were more likely to start school on time and

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Speaker 1: to progress through grade levels at what was considered the

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Speaker 1: appropriate speed. Best of all, children who were raised in

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Speaker 1: economically disadvantaged homes seemed to get the biggest boost from

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Speaker 1: the show, and that accounted for a large percentage of

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Speaker 1: the show's audience, because when Sesame Street debuted, it actually

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Speaker 1: had a wider reach than formal preschool services. In fact,

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Speaker 1: only nineteen percent of four year olds in the United

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Speaker 1: States attended preschool in nineteen seventy, but that same year

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Speaker 1: as many as thirty six percent watched Sesame Street. Those

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Speaker 1: findings led the Bureau to conclude the Sesame Street was

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Speaker 1: quote the largest and least costly early childhood intervention that's

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Speaker 1: ever been implemented. In other words, Sesame Street has been

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Speaker 1: showing kids the way to sunnier days for half a century,

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Speaker 1: and if we're lucky, it'll be doing the same in

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Speaker 1: half a century to come. Well. Look, while he's gone

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Speaker 1: off about the LETTERY, I think we've got to go

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Speaker 1: off to This is Sesame Street. We have a great

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Speaker 1: time here. You come back and join us anytime you

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Speaker 1: want to. We're gonna be here, right Sali's gonna be here,

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Speaker 1: everybody's gonna be here to come back and join us.

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Speaker 1: See you later. I'm Gay Bluesier and hopefully you now

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Speaker 1: know a little more about history today than you did yesterday.

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Speaker 1: You can learn even more about history by following us

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Speaker 1: on Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram at t d I h

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Speaker 1: C Show, and if you have any comments or suggestions,

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Speaker 1: you can always send them my way at this day

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Speaker 1: at I heart media dot com. Thanks to Chandler Mays

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Speaker 1: for producer in the show, and thank you for listening.

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Speaker 1: I'll see you back here again tomorrow for another day

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Speaker 1: in History Class. Sesame Street is a production of the

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Speaker 1: children's television workshop H