PDF A child of the 60′s and 70′s, I was part of the first audience for Sesame Street and The Electric Company (Hey You Guuuyz!) and when my first child was born I was happy to welcome Sesame Street back into our lives. We got a big kick out of the movies; especially Don’t Eat The Pictures because we used to go to the Metropolitan Museum of Art every Wednesday with Grandpa and had actually been to the exhibits featured in the movie. If you’ve never seen it, it’s really worth checking out. Invite other people’s kids over if you don’t have children in this age group. (Although I, very often, force my children to watch things that they think they’re too old for just ’cause I want to see it.)
I’d sort of wondered what happened to Mr. Hooper, but never really tried to find out where he went. I assumed he’d retired or passed away. I didn’t realize that they had addressed it on Sesame Street. Until today.
Running around the “sphere” this morning I came across Patrick’s post about the episode of Sesame Street where they dealt with the death of Mr. Hooper. It’s so emotional, and I admit that it made me cry.
I looked Mr. Hooper up on IMDB and I found out some really interesting things about him. First of all, his name wasn’t Mr. Hooper. I’d always thought it was. I guess something from when I was four just sort of embedded itself into my consciousness. Anyway, his name was Will Lee and he was born in 1909 in New York City, but there’s some really interesting stuff here. From IMDB:
After Will Lee’s death in late 1982, the producers of “Sesame Street” decided to kill off Mr. Hooper, instead of hiring another actor to take over the part of the Street’s amiable storekeeper. In a special “Sesame Street” episode that aired in November 1983 (nearly a year after Lee’s death), Big Bird learned to cope with and grieve the death of his dear friend.
Was blacklisted in the early fifties, primarily for his involvement with the Federal Theatre Project, the West Coast Actor’s Lab, and other stage groups “identified” as Communist fronts. He worked through the fifties and sixties as an acting teacher, with James Earl Jones being one his students.
Wow, huh?
There’s a Wikipedia page too with a lot of information. Who knew that a beloved character on a children’s television program could be so influential and controversial.
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I feel like I could have written this. As a kid Mr Hooper was a big part of Sesame Street. By the time he passed away I was well beyond the show and had no idea what had happened. Like you, I started watching the show again after my daughter was born. I think Mr. Hooper’s death was part of the 35th Anniversary special and it brought tears to my eyes every time I saw it.
I think it’s good that they decided to help children deal with death through Big Bird.
And The Electric Company? I think you have to be a certain age to know it because it wasn’t on as long – as a kid I liked it a lot more than Sesame Street.
Kim Woodbridges last blog post..Lessons in Backing Up – The Journalspace Disaster
OMG do you even KNOW how many people have never heard of the Electric Company? Holy Crap! For YEARS whenever someone would knock on my door I’d do the “Who ISSSSSS it?” and I could not understand why no one gave the right answer. Hrmph!
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Sweetie, i am coming to get you. Now. take a valium and have a glass of wine. this clean living apparently does NOT agree with you!
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