Classic Sesame Street

This past Thanksgiving, I was watching Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade on TV. As the Sesame Street Float made its way down 34th & 7th, I noticed one thing: all the human regulars on Sesame Street are still there, but THEY HAVE GOTTEN OLD.

Nearly 40 years after its inception, Sesame Street still delights young children. These days, Elmo (who actually has a part of the show devoted to him) and Abby Cadabby rule the block:

Video: Elmo with Abby Cadabby

Things were different when I was little. We had Bert and Ernie, Cookie Monster, Betty Lou, Prarie Dawn, Grover, Forgetful Jones, Big Bird, Mr. Snuffleupagus, The Count, Guy Smiley, Oscar, Telly Monster, The Yip Yips...the list goes on. I would like to direct the spotlight to some old Sesame Street Regulars. Some still around, others have gone by.

Roosevelt Franklin was a very popular character in the early days of Sesame Street. He was gone by the time I was watching the show, but I do remember this song being on a cassette compilation of Sesame Street songs that I had:

Word has it that Roosevelt Franklin was taken off the air because he wasn't considered to be politically correct. Ironically, this video is devoted to addressing stereotypes about Africa:

Nonetheless, he served as a major inspiration for Franklin Delano, the puppet of Gob Bluth on Arrested Development:

Here's another one I found surfing YouTube. This video stresses the importance of "Raising Your Hand". Catchy song, too:

For many years, I thought the next video stereotyped people who lived in cities as greasers. In fact, Sesame Street was paying homage to Bruce Springsteen, and in particular, his song "Born To Run":