Sesame Street

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Television series
German title Sesame Street
Original title Sesame Street
Sesame Street Logo.svg
Country of production USA , Germany
original language English
Year (s) since 1969
length 25 minutes
Episodes 2853 + 4 specials
genre Children's program
idea Joan Ganz Cooney
Lloyd Morrisett
music Toots Thielemans et al. a.
First broadcast November 10, 1969 on National Education Television (now: Public Broadcasting Service )
German-language
first broadcast		 January 8, 1973 on ARD

Sesame Street is one of the most successful television series for preschoolers . The half-hour episodes consist of six to ten smaller, mostly thematically independent individual contributions that interrupt a contextual plot. In addition to sketch-like or instructive puppet dialogs (“A circle is round.”, “So I'm close, now I'm far”), cartoons and children's songs, there are often real film contributions about simple situations from everyday life for children or about the manufacture of a product.

historical development

Origin in the USA

Sesame Street , as it was originally called, started on US televisionon November 10, 1969. The framework action took place in Sesame Street , a fictional, in a film studio recreated metropolitan residential street, in which there is agrocery store runby a Mr. Hooper (in the German dubbing "Herr Huber", played by Will Lee ) . In addition to other human inhabitants such as Bob ( Bob McGrath ), Gordon ( Matt Robinson ) and Susan ( Loretta Long ), Big Bird (Bibo) and other characterslived here. Oscar the Grouch lives in one of the garbage cans in the courtyard. In addition to Bibo and Oscar , other Muppets by Jim Henson were usedin the show from the beginning, including Kermit , whofirst appearedin the 1955 show Sam and Friends and later also appeared in the Muppet Show .

Production sites were and are:

  • 1969–1992: Reeves Teletape Studios, Manhattan , New York City
  • 1987–1993: Unitel Video (several episodes), Manhattan, New York City
  • since 1993: Kaufman Astoria Studios, Astoria , Queens, New York City.

Some of the original US episodes were shown from April 5 to 9, 1971 in the third program of NDR and in 1973 in those of WDR and HR .

The British-US offshoot Das Furchester Hotel has been broadcast in Great Britain since September 2014 .

Unsynchronized US episodes in Germany

60-minute episodes in the original language were broadcast as a test program before Sesame Street was broadcast as a preschool program on German television. The NDR showed in April and the WDR in May 1971 five of the original versions of Sesame Street realized by Children's Television Workshop (CTW) .

The test program included the following:

  • Episode 103, WDR, first broadcast on May 2, 1971
  • Episode 107, WDR, first broadcast May 9, 1971
  • Episode 109, WDR, first broadcast on May 16, 1971
  • Episode 113, WDR, first broadcast on May 23, 1971
  • Episode 116, WDR, first broadcast May 30, 1971

The ARD and the ZDF negotiated the rights of the broadcast, and finally the NDR in Hamburg won the contract. In August 1972, the first Sesame Street programs were aired in the original version on a trial basis and the response was positive.

Dubbed US episodes in Germany

The German adaptation of Sesame Street should run nationwide in the first program, but because Bayerischer Rundfunk did not see the social situation in Germany correctly presented in the program, the program was only broadcast in the first program in the broadcasting area of ​​NDR, RB, SFB, WDR and HR as well as in all third programs with the exception of Bayerischer Rundfunk. It was first broadcast on January 8, 1973. What was completely new was that a children's program was broadcast several times a week and also twice a day. Sesame Street was broadcast from Monday to Thursday at around 9:30 a.m. and repeated in the evening at 6:00 p.m. or 6:30 p.m. The channels from SWF, SDR and SR were added later in the year and only showed the episodes on Saturday and Sunday at 6 p.m. exclusively in their third program. At times, an episode was broadcast in French on Fridays. According to internal ARD regulations, the BR had to replace the Sesame Street that it had rejected with its own production; This was the reason that BR developed its children's program “ Spielschule ” (from 1969) and launched the children's television series “ Das feuerrote Spielmobil ” (first broadcast: April 21, 1972).

The NDR took over the German processing (at that time in cooperation with the WDR and the HR). From 1973 to the end of 1975, 250 episodes were broadcast (several times). These were dubbed versions of the original American broadcast that were post-processed for the German audience . Only a few individual contributions came from German production, for example showing the alphabet with letters from lettering in the cityscape. The title melody comes from Ingfried Hoffmann . The best-known muppets of the individual contributions were Ernie and Bert, Kermit the Frog , Grover (Grobi), Cookie Monster (the cookie monster ), Oscar and Big Bird (Bibo). Under the motto “A reunion with Bibo & Oscar”, the third programs of NDR, WDR (1984 only) and HR repeated some of these dubbed US episodes several times in the joint summer program in response to numerous audience requests. The last repetition ran in 1990 in NDR and partly in HR. In contrast to the first broadcast, these episodes (apart from the opening and closing credits) did not show any German feature films.

Episodes with a German framework

From 1976 the original framework story was no longer shown, as the character of Oscar in particular provoked vehement protests on the part of parents. Instead, there was a story told on film that did not take place in any street, so that the series title Sesame Street was no longer understandable. The main characters were a little boy named Bumfidel and his mother.

On January 2, 1978, a "German Sesame Street" started as a framework, produced by NDR's Studio Hamburg in Wandsbek . With this German setting, however, it was less a residential street than a kind of open house. The focus was the kitchen with a counter and stools in front of it. From now on, the main actors were two people and two puppets: the people were actors, a woman and a man, who usually appeared with their real first names. In the first season Henning Venske and Liselotte Pulver (Lilo) took over this part. Followed later by Ilse Biberti , Gernot end man (Schorsch), Manfred Krug , Uwe Friedrichsen , Hildegard Krekel (Bettina), Ute Willing and Horst Janson . For the two dolls, a Henson employee traveled through Germany for several weeks in order to be inspired by the creation of figures that corresponded to the German character. This is how Samson and Tiffy came about - played and shaped by Peter Röders and Kerstin Siebmann-Röders until 1983 . Samson as the big bear takes on the role of Bibo in the original Sesame Street . Other people, such as a postman, only appeared in exceptional cases; there were initially no other dolls. Later came: Herr von Bödefeld, the snail Finchen and Samson's cousin Simson. One component of the broadcast concept was to look behind the scenes of the television, i.e. to show the direction and camera work as well as the (then) possibilities of visual trick processes and to integrate them into the action. The “residents” could walk to the South Sea island with dry feet at any time and then ask the director to fade in the water. Julia Stoess was the costume designer for the actors and the fictional characters for ten years .

The highlight of this phase was the big circus gala on the occasion of the 1000th episode, at which original dolls from the USA such as Bibo also performed.

Regardless of the now German framework, Sesame Street was still not shown regularly on Bavarian television. You could only see an episode in the Saturday afternoon program on Das Erste .

After the major fire

After a major fire in the Wandsbek production studios in 1988 and the death of the previous Samson actor Herbert Langemann in 1987, the German concept of the series, including opening and closing credits, was conspicuously revised in terms of content and technology for the first time. The previous backdrops were replaced by new ones - consisting of a front garden, forest and cave. In addition, new dolls were introduced, including an eagle owl and rumble from the rain barrel, which replaced the previous Oscar. The first prominent players alongside the dolls in this new concept were Gernot Endemann and Hildegard Krekel . Since then, new, current actors and celebrities have appeared in the framework activities, including Dirk Bach and Miriam Krause .

On December 30, 1993, the US aired the New Year's program Sesame Street Stays Up Late (known as Sesame Street Celebrating Around The World ), which showed how New Year's Eve is celebrated in other countries such as Israel, Mexico, Germany, Norway, Japan and Portugal, with some characters from the national Sesame Street editions appearing. In the article about Germany, which was filmed in Buxtehude, Tiffy appeared as a reporter, Samson and Finchen, along with some children.

In 2003, the show's 30th birthday was celebrated lavishly with special programs and stage shows in German train stations. Almost at the same time, ARD changed the broadcast times: the traditional appointment on the previous evening (6:00 p.m. or 6:30 p.m.) was omitted and was replaced by appointments in the early program or at lunchtime. This led to protests, especially among parents and friends of Sesame Street. In total, over 2000 episodes were broadcast.

Since 2010, an offshoot of Sesame Street has been presented and the program One Carrot for Two is broadcast. The main characters in the series are the characters wool and horse known from Sesame Street.

In 2011 the NDR produced another offshoot with 15 music films of 5 minutes each, Sesame Street presented: Ernie & Bert Songs . There are nine fairy tale songs and six songs with guests Lena Meyer-Landrut , Xavier Naidoo , Herbert Grönemeyer , Jan Delay , Juli and Max Raabe . The series was broadcast from December 5 to December 23, 2011 on KiKA and in 2012 on NDR.

In 2012 a new season was produced after a four-year break. This could be seen from October 1, 2012 in KiKA. The concept was completely renewed. The focus of the program is now Elmo, who is played by puppeteer Martin Reinl . In addition, the well-known “German” characters Finchen, Pferd and Wolle, the “Germanized”, originally American characters Ernie and Bert as well as the Cookie Monster and Grobi can be seen in the program.

Figures of Sesame Street

This article or paragraph presents the situation in Germany . Help us to describe the situation in other countries.

American characters

Bibo and Little Bibo

Bibo at the National Museum of Play in Rochester NY

Bibo (birthday March 20th) is a big figure. He is a yellow bird who is called Big Bird in the American version . Bibo measures 8 feet and 2 inches (249 cm). He was played by Caroll Spinney from 1969 to 2018 . Since 1997 he has been increasingly played by Matt Vogel . The counterpart to Bibo is Klein Bibo ( Little Bird ), which only appears rarely. He is played by Fran Brill .

In the United States , a stamp was issued in 1999 honoring Sesame Street; Bibo's portrait was chosen as the motif.

The German voice of Bibo is Wolfgang Draeger , that of Klein Bibo Inken Sommer .

bob

Music teacher, played by Bob McGrath , spoken by Lutz Mackensy

Elmo

Elmo (birthday February 3rd) is a monster with red fur, an orange potato-shaped nose and white eyes. In modern terms, he is also one of the popular characters. From 1985 to 2012 Elmo was played by Kevin Clash , since 2013 by Ryan Dillon . Elmo's German dubbing voice was originally from Sabine Falkenberg (until 2012), now it is played and spoken by Martin Reinl . In the German episodes he used to be a female monster and was called Elma.

Ernie and Bert

Ernie and Bert (in the original: Bert and Ernie ) have been part of Sesame Street from the start and are among the most popular characters on the show. They live together, but couldn't be more different. The names of the two characters are said to come from two characters from the film “ Isn't Life Beautiful? ". However, Jim Henson officially denied a connection, as he did not know the film at the time the two characters were created.

Ernie (birthday January 28th) represents the mischievous part, full of childlike naivety and impartiality. He has a carefree disposition and often makes life difficult for Bert with his sometimes anarchic ideas and ideas. Ernie is known for his rubber duck and his throaty giggles; he also likes to do annoying things and loud things like playing drums or the piano. Like many American children, he likes to play bat and balloons. Ernie has a cousin named Ernestine.

Ernie was invented for the pilot episode Sesame Street . He was embodied by a so-called living hand puppet: a puppeteer plays Ernie's head and mouth with his right hand and his left arm with his left hand, while another puppeteer plays Ernie's right arm with his right hand. Originally the doll was made of foam, felt, fabric and plastic. From 1969 to 1990 Jim Henson played Ernie, from 1993 to 2014 Steve Whitmire took over the role. Billy Barkhurst played Ernie from 2014 to 2017 and Peter Linz since 2017 . Since 2006, Ernie has been played and spoken by Martin Paas for Sesame Street in Germany.

In contrast to this, Bert (birthday July 26th), who already looks strict in terms of appearance (long yellow head with a drawn-out eyebrow and always dressed in a green-orange-blue striped sweater ), embodies the always correct, boring and adult type. He has a soft spot for pigeons , especially his favorite pigeon Betty (in the original Bernice), and collects things that seem boring, such as bottle caps , paper clips and scraps of paper; He also likes to read pigeon joke books and likes to listen to brass music and polka . Bert has a twin brother, Bart (Bernd in the German version), and a nephew Brad (Gerd in the German version).

As a hand-and-stick puppet, Bert was played by only one person. This makes him more immobile than Ernie. Bert's original doll is made of foam, felt, plastic and fabric. Frank Oz has played Bert since 1969, and Eric Jacobson since 1997 .

The interrelation of the two opposite characters forms the starting point from which the actions of the individual episodes develop. Children can learn from this to deal with their environment.

In Germany, Ernie was dubbed by Gerd Duwner (1973–1996), in 1997–2001 by Peter Kirchberger and finally from 2001 by Michael Habeck . Bert's German dubbing voice was Wolfgang Kieling (1973–1985). From 1986 after Kieling's death Horst Schön took over the dubbing; Rolf Jülich and Christian Rode followed as speakers . The first German puppeteers were Bodo Schulte (Bert) and Andreas Förster (Ernie) in 2003 . Since 2007 the two have been played, spoken and dubbed by Martin Paas (Ernie) and Carsten Morar-Haffke (Bert).

Ernie and Bert inspired Attik Kargar to write the unsuitable parody Bernie and Ert . The Berlin comic artist OL parodied Ernie and Bert as (Polish) construction workers in a few strips. Jack Hunter processed the two in the graphic Moment of Joy , which appeared on the cover of the New Yorker in 2013 .

Gordon

Teacher, played by Matt Robinson from 1969 to 1972 , spoken by Volker Lechtenbrink . From 1974 to 2016 the role of Roscoe Orman was played.

Count number

Graf Zahl (birthday October 9th) (in the English-language original: Count von Count or, for short and ambiguous, The Count ) teaches preschoolers how to count things. He often counts things in his castle and is constantly fluttered around by the bats that live with him in the walls. When he has reached the number that the episode is about while counting, he laughs out loud, with lightning and thunder in the background. The castle shown in the exterior shots is Belvedere Castle in New York's Central Park .

In the English original and in the French translation, the original pun can be understood: the verb to count (French compter ) means count , while the noun count (French le comte ) means count .

The figure of "Count Number" is based on the portrayal of Count Dracula by the actor Bela Lugosi .

Graf Zahl's doll is a living hand doll. This means that it is played by two puppeteers, one with the head and left arm and the other puppeteer with the right arm. Jerry Nelson played the puppet from 1972 to 2012 . In 2013 Matt Vogel took over the role. The German dubbing voice of Graf Zahl was Alf Marholm , later he was voiced by Harald Halgardt .

Coarse

Grobi (birthday October 14th) (in the English-language original: Grover ) is an adorable, blue and bumbling monster.

Grobi plays changing roles. He often appears as a waiter . In these scenes, either the guest is driven to despair by Grobi or Grobi by the exaggerated or changing demands of the guest. In a few sketches he explains the context of everyday life with Kermit the frog, where Kermit lectures and Grobi takes over the practical illustration with full physical effort - or at least tries to do so. Based on Superman , the alter ego Supergrobi sometimes appears instead of Grobi . Here he wears a knight's helmet and a fluttering cloak and can fly. However, he only manages crash landings at the beginning of his mission. As a supergrobi, he tries to rescue little girls and rabbits as well. He regularly gets himself into trouble. Grobi's mother also appears occasionally to give her son advice.

Since September 2010 in the USA and since January 2013 in Germany adventures with Supergrobi 2.0 (English: Super Grover 2.0 ) can be seen. The focus is on the application of "science, technology, engineering and mathematics".

The first Grobi doll from 1967 was greenish-brown with a noticeably red nose. The puppet was a hand and stick puppet in which the puppeteer's right hand moves the head and mouth while the left hand controls the hands via sticks. It was made of faux fur, foam and plastic.

Since 1970 Grobi has been played by Frank Oz , and since 1998 by Eric Jacobson . Grobis German dubbing voice originally came from Karl-Ulrich Meves , then from Robert Missler . In the meantime he is spoken by Martin Reinl .

Mr. Huber

Shopkeeper, played by Will Lee , voiced by Manfred Steffen (in the original: Mr. Hooper )

A cosplayer at the Dragon Con 2013 event as Jim Henson with Kermit the Frog

Kermit

Kermit the Frog (in the English-language original: Kermit the Frog ) is a green frog who also hosts the Muppet Show . This gives him a special position: Kermit does not appear in the merchandising products, especially in the magazines on Sesame Street.

Kermit's star on the Walk of Fame in Hollywood

In Sesame Street he appears in a wide variety of feature films, including the “Sesame Street News”, which he moderates as a reporter: Among other things, he is present at significant moments in fairy tales - where mostly things went differently than in the original. So lets z. B. the hard of hearing Rapunzel not only down her hair, but also the whole wig fall. Little Red Riding Hood and the three little pigs are also guests in individual episodes, as is a certain Udo Rumpelstiltskin . The Sesame Street News also gets to the bottom of the texts of children's songs in a humorous way. Kermit also explains shapes and colors to the children, often being disturbed by his over-motivated assistant Grobi or the cookie-looking cookie monster.

Kermit was played by Jim Henson from 1955 to 1990 and by Steve Whitmire from 1990 to 2016 . Matt Vogel has played the role since 2017 . Kermit's German dubbing voice lent him Andreas von der Meden for Sesame Street; in the Muppet Show it was initially Horst Gentzen . After his death, the voice of Andreas von der Meden was heard here too.

Kermit received a star on the Walk of Fame in Hollywood .

Cookie Monster

Cookie Monster (birthday November 2) (in the original English: Cookie Monster ) is a big monster with blue fur and rolling eyes. His little known name is Sid, which is not used as a nickname. Cookies are his favorite food, he eats them hastily and in a flurry of crumbs, which explains his German name. In the original he speaks grammatically wrong ("Cookies! Me eat!"), But in the German translation he speaks except for the habit of speaking of himself in the third person and omitting articles ("Krümel would like to have biscuit!"), largely normal.

He is almost always hungry and then asks, regardless of the current topic of conversation, “Keeekseee!”. His hunger also often drives him to eat the decorations on the sets in which he moves. This is often used as a funny effect, for example when he has to explain a letter but then eats it up. Although he often appears rabid when hungry, he is good-natured and not terrifying. He always only hurts his friends for a short time - until they calm him down with food, preferably with biscuits. The mother also appears rarely. She looks very similar to her son, but has more hair on her head and, in contrast to the cookie monster, who is always naked, wears knitted clothes.

Krümelmonster was dubbed one after the other in Germany by Gerlach Fiedler , Alexander Welbat , Edgar Ott and Douglas Welbat .

Sesame Street songs in which the Cookie Monster plays an important role are:

  • I would have expected you today (sung by Ernie)
  • Cookies
  • Oh, my biscuit is crumbled (Edgar Ott, with the biscuit symphony orchestra)
  • Because biscuit tastes delicious, delicious, delicious (Edgar Ott, with the biscuit symphony orchestra)
  • I lost my cookies in the discotheque, lost them to the disco music ...
  • In the USA, C is for Cookie ("C stands for cookies") is one of the most famous Sesame Street songs

Henson invented Cookie Monster in 1966 for a sketch on the Ed Sullivan Show . The doll made of faux fur, foam and plastic has been played by Frank Oz since 1969 and by David Rudman since 2001 .

1978 saw Alistair Cookie , an alter ego of the cookie monster, for the first time on Sesame Street. He hosted the Monsterpiece Theater series , a parody of the Masterpiece Theater hosted by Alistair Cooke . Numerous novels, plays and films were parodied in the sketches of the Monsterpiece Theater . B. The 39 steps , When the postman rings twice and Much Ado About Nothing .

In 2013 the series Cookie's Crumby Pictures started . With the Cookie Monster in the lead role, numerous films are parodied here, for example Pirates of the Caribbean , The Lord of the Rings or Twilight - Bite at Dawn . In 2016, the series Smart Cookies started , in which the cookie monster fights crime together with cookies.

Lulatsch

Today's Lulatsch - a big, strong monster with light blue fur, a large purple nose and a continuous eyebrow - is the original Herry Monster , which also appeared in Germany under the name Harry . The original Lulatsch (when he was still called Herry) was a doll that better suited the name: a tall, narrow-shouldered monster with a very broad nose. Sometimes, however, the Beautiful Day Monster is also called Lulatsch in the German version.

Lulatsch's puppeteer was Jerry Nelson from 1970 to 2003 . He has been played by Peter Linz since 2015 . Lulatsch was dubbed in Germany by Jochen Sehrndt .

Nonsense

Mumpitz is a magician who always introduces himself as “The Big Mumpitz” (in the American original The Amazing Mumford ) and then demonstrates his skills with a magic wand, top hat and the magic spell “Rubbeldiwupp, Rubbeldidupp, Schnipp-Schnapp!” Or something similar. The result is always not what Mumpitz wanted and is never satisfactorily achieved in subsequent attempts at magic. Occasionally, Grobi comes across as an uninvited assistant, whereupon he becomes imperceptibly the victim of the magic of the "Big Mumpitz".

Mumpitz was played by Jerry Nelson and dubbed in Germany by Helmo Kindermann .

Oscar

Oscar the Grouch (birthday June 1st) (curmudgeon) is a rag doll with a broad head and shaggy green (originally orange) fur. He lives on Sesame Street in a garbage can in front of the house, from which he emerges occasionally, mostly to spread his bad mood. With his inverted perception of beautiful — ugly, pleasant — uncomfortable, he questions what is taken for granted by young viewers (for example, he enjoys his own bad mood). The garbage-loving Oscar was suspected by some parents of having a bad influence on the young audience (see the song: "I like garbage. Everything that is dirty, stinky and dirty. Yes, I like garbage!"). In the first US episodes, Oscar still wore an orange coat, but in the German adaptation he was green from the start. It was played by Caroll Spinney from 1969 to 2018 , and by Eric Jacobson since 2015 . Oscar was dubbed in Germany by Gottfried Kramer . After Kramer's death Michael Lott took over the dubbing part for Oscar.

Robert

Robert (in the English-language original: Guy Smiley ) was the always smiling (English to smile = to smile), persistent moderator of various game shows in the series, in which different characters appeared as candidates. Robert was conceived as a parody of the US-Canadian quizmaster Jim Perry . The name in the German Sesame Street is derived from Robert Lembke , his shows often resemble the concept of Lembke's guessing show Was ich? .

Robert was originally spoken by Jim Henson from 1969 to 1990 . After his death in 1990 the figure appeared only sporadically. Robert has been played by Eric Jacobson since 2005 .

Schlemihl

Schlemihl (in the original: Lefty, the Salesman; see also Schlemihl for the name ), a trader on Sesame Street, wears a long coat and tries to cheat his partners with business practices that are always somewhat dubious. His appearance is very reminiscent of a black market trader who goes about his business illegally. His attempts to sell letters, numbers and even air are legendary, whereby he regularly uses "Psssst" to refer to the exclusivity of the offer (attached to the inside of his coat). Usually it is Ernie whom he meets as a business partner; Typical start of dialogue: "Hey, you!" - "Who, me?" - "Psssst!" - (quieter) "Who, me?" - "Genaaaaau ..." and then following the pattern "... Would you like to buy an A?" (opens one side of the jacket).

Schlemihl was played by Frank Oz and dubbed in Germany first by Reiner Brönneke , later by Horst Stark .

Susanne

Nurse and Gordon's wife, played by Loretta Long , voiced by Christa Berndl (original: Susan )

Susanne click clacker

Susanne Klickerklacker (in the original: Alice Braithwaite Goodyshoes) is a sweet, arrogant little girl who tries to explain the differences between through and around , wet and dry , above and below . Her lectures begin with: “My name is Susanne Klickerklacker, as you may know. And I'm the smartest girl in the world! ”Often times a monster appears, and her performance ends in mishap after 30 seconds.

The cartoon character Susanne Klickerklacker was only produced during the first season of American Sesame Street (1969–1970) and was repeated frequently in the years that followed.

Susanne Klickerklacker was spoken by Gisela Trowe in the German edition .

More American characters

  • Abby Cadabby (birthday October 21st), a fairy-like monster girl with pink skin, two standing lilac braids and wings. Played by Leslie Carrara-Rudolph (since 2006).
  • Betty Lou , a little blond girl with pink skin who often performs with the Beautiful Day Monster. Resembles Mariechen.
  • Blaffido Flamingo , an opera-singing flamingo . ( Plácido Flamingo , named after Plácido Domingo .) Played by Richard Hunt .
  • Mailbox grandma ( Granny Fanny Nesselrode ), played by Caroll Spinney (since 1970).
  • The sound man ( the soundman to understand), a blue-skinned man who is for some words noises, the omitted word accordingly, making it difficult for his interlocutors him immediately.
  • Remember Jost ( Forgetful Jones ), the forgetful cowboy . Played by Michael Earl (1979–1981) and Richard Hunt (1981–1992).
  • Don Schnulze ( Don Music ), played by Richard Hunt (German voice: Peter Kirchberger ).
  • Eberhard Freitag ( Roosevelt Franklin ), a young boy with purple skin and black hair, played by Matt Robinson . Occasionally his similar looking mother also makes an appearance.
  • Owl Huh ( Hoots the Owl ), an owl who plays the saxophone and has a penchant for jazz. Played by Kevin Clash (since 1985) (German voice: Frank Zander ).
  • Julia is a four year old girl with red hair and green eyes. The first appearance was in the episode "Meet Julia", which aired in the United States on April 10, 2017. Julia is autistic . She is played by Stacey Gordon .
  • Clementine ( Clementine ), girlfriend of Denkedran Jost. Played by Brian Muehl (1979–1984), Kevin Clash (1985–1987) and Camille Bonora (1987–1992).
  • The Monster , sometimes Lulatsch ( Beautiful Day Monster )
  • Mariechen ( Prairie Dawn ), one of the few noseless human-like figures. Played by Fran Brill (1971–2015) and Stephanie D'Abruzzo (since 2016).
  • Murray Monster , played by Joey Mazzarino (since 2005).
  • The Snuffleupagus family , mammoths without tusks , live in a cave at 456 Snuffle Circle. First appearance in episode 0276 (1971).
  • Georg , often called Baby Bear ( George ). played by David Rudman (since 1991) (German voice: Till Demtrøder ).
  • Grobis regular in the restaurant ( Mr. Johnson ), played by Jerry Nelson (1971–2012) and Matt Vogel (since 2014).
  • Herbert Leichtfuß ( Herbert Birdsfoot ), played by Jerry Nelson .
  • Hänschen Chickpea ( Harvey Kneeslapper ), a clumsy prankster who usually fails to trick his counterpart. Played by Frank Oz (since 1971).
  • Miami Mice , a parody of the US series Miami Vice . Since the Sesame Street and Miami Vice clips were both dubbed in Studio Hamburg , the two mice also have the German voices of Don Johnson ( Reent Reins ) and Philip Michael Thomas ( Lutz Mackensy ).
  • Plonsters , three clay figures (orange, blue and green) that are never shown synchronously with other figures.
  • Professor Hastig ( Professor Hastings ), an absent-minded professor who often falls asleep. Played by Frank Oz (since 1969) (German voice: Günther Jerschke ).
  • Rosita (birthday December 7th), a bilingual 7.5 year old monster girl (English and Spanish) with turquoise fur, orange eyelashes, a small orange nose and a yellow bow in her hair. The reason that, unlike Sina, she wears not two but only one bow in her hair is that she is simply not that small anymore. Originally, her appearance was adapted to a flying fox and she had wings under her arms. When it had to be rebuilt in 2004, its wings were removed. It is played by Carmen Osbahr (since 1991).
  • Sherlock Humbug ( Sherlock Hemlock ), "the greatest detective in the world", named after Sherlock Holmes . Played by Jerry Nelson (German voice: Horst Stark ).
  • Sina ( Zoe ) (birthday March 10th), a 3.5 year old monster girl with orange fur, purple eyelashes, a small purple nose and two pink bows in her hair. Played by Fran Brill (1993–2015) and Jennifer Barnhart (since 2016) (German voice: Tanja Dohse ).
  • Telly (birthday October 16th), a pink monster with an orange nose. Played by Brian Muehl (1979–1984) and Martin P. Robinson (since 1984) (German voice: Franz-Josef Steffens ).
  • Yip-Yips ( The Martians ), extraterrestrials who, in addition to the constant sound “Yip-Yip”, now and then utter a few chunks of “chewed” English.
  • Zagg

Figures in German-language production

Samson

Samson is the naive partner of precocious Tiffy. Samson's cousin is called Samson, like (allegedly) his grandfather.

Samson is a large character with shaggy brown fur who represents a bear. It is a swinging hanging doll in which the body hangs freely swinging on a frame according to the suspender principle, while the head is carried by a shoulder frame. The puppeteer can see where he is moving through a monitor installed inside his head.

Samson also has a penchant for sausages, roasted almonds and his cuddle cloth. His cousin Simson (played by Lutz Wiggert ) first appeared on Sesame Street in 1986. He was hardly different from Samson, but he wore green and white shoes, a cap and a bow tie, and later a peaked cap. Simson had his last appearance in 1998.

Samson was originally played by Peter Röders (1978–1983), from 1986 to 1987 by Herbert Langemann and after his death from 1989 by Matthias Bullach . The studied opera singer Klaus Esch (including Theater Lübeck ) has played the character of Samson since 1991 . In the fall of 2013, Samson appeared in two new episodes. These were Samson's last appearances on the series so far.

Tiffy

Tiffy , a bird-like pink snap-mouth doll with hairstyle-like feathers, was one of the female protagonists of the series. One of her hobbies was fixing alarm clocks. As with Mr. von Bödefeld, only the upper half of the doll was visible with Tiffy. Since 1978 Tiffy has been part of the ensemble on Sesame Street in Germany. Tiffy was played by Martina Klose (hands) and Kerstin Siebmann-Röders (head).

After the big fire in the Wandsbek production studios of the NDR in 1988, in which all the dolls burned, the program was continued to be produced with new dolls. The new Tiffy looked more like the child's scheme and was played from 1986 to 2000 by Marita Stolze (head, voice) and Karime Vakilzadeh and Karin Kaiser (hands). From 2001 to 2004 she was played by Sabine Falkenberg and henceforth referred to as a monster child.

In 2005 Tiffy left the Sesame Street ensemble after 27 years and was replaced by the monster characters Moni, a single mother, and her daughter Lena.

Mr. von Bödefeld

Uli von Bödefeld (called: Herr von Bödefeld) was originally supposed to be called von Blödefeld , as he was designed as a clearly negative character. He first appeared on Sesame Street in 1978. According to his own statements, he is a guinea pig.

Mr. von Bödefeld always made a point of gesiezt and of being addressed ( "so long because!"). Often he was responsible for the specific problems of the other characters. Affected speaking and behavior such as constant brushing back of hair, vain laying head-back-neck resulted in a deliberately negative connotation . The doll had a pale pink color, a kind of coati snout, an orange rasta hairstyle and skinny little arms to the corpulent body. Similar to Tiffy, only the upper part of the doll was visible.

Mr. von Bödefeld left the Sesame Street ensemble in 1988 because the license for the doll was not renewed. From 1989 he was replaced by curmudgeon Rumpel , a German relative of Oscar from the garbage can.

Mr. von Bödefeld was played by Benita Steinmann .

Finchen

Finchen is a snail who first appeared on Sesame Street in 1979. It was played by Lothar Klose until 1983 and by Wilhelm Helmrich until 1991 . Until then, Finchen was male. When Uta Delbridge took over the role in 1992, Finchen became a female snail. Finchen has been played by Andrea Bongers since 1999 .

Rumble

Rumpel is a green curmudgeon and joined Sesame Street in 1989. When the studio setting was rebuilt after the fire, Rumpel moved into Sesame Street with the rain barrel he lives in.

Rumpel has been played by Achim Hall since the beginning and, as with Tiffy, can always be seen behind a facade, but mostly in his barrel, since you can only see the upper part of the figure.

In 2009 Rumpel had his last appearance on Sesame Street.

Other figures in German-language production

International

In the version of Sesame Street broadcast in South Africa ( Takalani Sesame there ), the HIV positive character Kami has existed since 2002 , with whom the prevailing discrimination against AIDS sufferers is to be fought .

Actors in the German Sesame Street

1973-1984

1986-2007

2008–

music

  • Title song: Der, die, das (who, how, what - why, why, why - who doesn't ask, stays stupid!) (Music: Ingfried Hoffmann , Text: Volker Ludwig ), 1st version sung by the Hamburg children's choir Vineta under the Directed by Dietrich Czirniok . The song has been interpreted by Lena Meyer-Landrut since October 2012 .
  • Mah Nà Mah Nà (Original by Piero Umiliani , 1968)
  • Rubber duck with Ernie (Original: "Rubber Duckie" by Jeff Moss 1970 for American Sesame Street)
  • If I had expected you today, I would have had cake - Ernie und Krümelmonster ( If I Knew You Were Comin 'I'd've Baked a Cake , Eileen Barton from 1950, written by Bob Merrill, Al Hoffman and Clem Watts, for the German dubbed version newly set to music by Ingfried Hoffmann)
  • In the green and yellow submarine we live ( Yellow Submarine , The Beatles )
  • I want to be down in the sea, yes I want to be in the garden of an octopus (Octopus's Garden, The Beatles , from the album Abbey Road )
  • Do you want to fly with me, in a red balloon - Kermit (Up, up and away 5th Dimension )
  • I like trash with curmudgeon Oscar (original "I Love Trash")
  • Lulu is back with Tony and Beautiful Day Monster (Original: " Lulu's Back in Town " soundtrack from "Broadway Gondolier", 1935 - music: Harry Warren , text: Al Dubin , interpreter: Dick Powell)
  • Wendy with Tony and Beautiful Day Monster (Original: "Windy" from 1967 - Text: Ruthann Friedman, Performers: The Association)
  • Telephone Rock with Little Jerry and the Monotones (Original "Telephone Rock" by Christopher Cerf and Norman Stiles 1975 for the American Sesame Street)
  • abcdefghi jkl mnopqr stuvw xy z with Bibo and Susanne (German music: Ingfried Hoffmann / US original music: Joe Raposo, text: Jon Stone and Joe Raposo, 1970)
  • It's not easy to be so alone by Kermit [later on the Muppet Show It's Not Easy to Be Green ] (Original: Bein 'Green , music and lyrics: Joe Raposo for Sesame Street 1970)
  • I whistle a happy song ("When fear creeps up on me")
  • We belong together (go, together, now; refrain: All Together Now , The Beatles )
  • A, You're Adorable (various artists; also known as "The Alphabet Love Song")

Many more songs were composed and also published on CDs and MCs. Numerous songs by well-known performers, v. a. of the Beatles, were used for skits that have become classic (Yellow Submarine - the green-yellow submarine; Octopus's Garden - in the garden of an octopus)

  • Baby count to nine for me (Count number)
  • In a short film with Oliver Rohrbeck as a boy on a carpet rod / tapping rod, the music played is “Greasy Legs” by George Harrison (from the LP Wonderwall Music).

Awards

Sesame Street received one of the first awards in 1970 with the Prix ​​Jeunesse International in the category “up to 7 years”. In 1999 Wolfgang Buresch was nominated for the Adolf Grimme Prize for his personal commitment in Sesame Street . In 2009, the US Television Academy awarded the children's show an Emmy for the world's most highly rated and most watched educational television show for children. The most important television award in the USA in 2009 also went to the puppeteer Kevin Clash, who gives life to the red monster Elmo. With over 100 Emmys, which are next to some Primetime Emmy Awards mainly Daytime Emmy Awards is, is Sesame Street one of the most awarded with Emmys programs.

In 2019, part of West 63rd Street at the southwest end of Central Park was renamed Sesame Street .

marketing

With the Tickle Me Elmo doll , the toy manufacturer Mattel created one of the best-selling toys on the US market in 1996 , based on the Elmo character . It was and still is one of the group's most successful products. Both the first-generation Tickle Me Elmo and its successor, the TMX, were so popular with customers that there were fights in the shops when sales began.

Ernie and Bert's sexual orientation

While the characterization of Ernie and Bert was originally based on comedy duos such as A Strange Couple or Abbott and Costello , many people now see the two as a gay couple, since they both live together, share a bedroom and bathe together. Ernie and Bert are popular costumes on gay Pride parades , and after the Supreme Court ruled the Defense of Marriage Act illegal, the New Yorker headlined Ernie and Bert. An online petition demands that the two marry. The makers of "Sesame Street" deny that the two are gay. Gary Well said in 2007, “They are not gay, they are not straight, they are dolls. They don't exist below the waist. ”In the meantime, author Mark Saltzman has denied an interview that confirmed homosexuality as misleading. The characters were "based on his own relationship with Glassman," but he did not want the dolls to have a sexual orientation. The production company also made a similar statement and had repeatedly positioned itself against sexual orientation in recent years.

Postage stamps

With the initial issue date March 2, 2020 was the German Post AG , a nassklebendes postage stamps in the denomination of 80 Euro cents and a tag set out with 10 self-adhesive stamps with images of characters on Sesame Street. The design comes from the graphic designer Jennifer Dengler from Bonn.

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Exhibitions 2013: 40 years of SESAMSTRASSE. Visiting the Museum for Film and Television. Deutsche Kinemathek , archived from the original on April 27, 2014 .;
  2. ↑ Cf. Elke Baur: When Ernie rattles the mouse in the box. Preschool education on television. Edited by the children's television project group, Fischer-Taschenbuch-Verlag, Frankfurt (am Main) 1975, ISBN 3-436-02053-2 , p. 86
  3. ↑ "Sesame Street". A classic of children's television. (PDF) Federal Agency for Civic Education , archived from the original on April 26, 2014 (background information on the subject of “children's programs”).;
  4. ↑ Dirk Ulf Stötzel .: The magazine "Die Sendung mit der Maus": Analysis of an editorial and program concept. O. Harrassowitz, Wiesbaden 1990, ISBN 978-3-447-02991-9 .
  5. ↑ Jan Ulrich Welke: Aren't we all a little bit Bert? . In: Stuttgarter Zeitung of November 7, 2009
  6. ^ NDR: Sesame Street presents: Ernie & Bert Songs . ( Memento from December 7, 2011 in the Internet Archive )
  7. ↑ a b c Sesame Street Fan Club. (No longer available online.) Formerly in the original ; Retrieved February 5, 2013 .  ( Page no longer available , search in web archives )@1@ 2Template: Toter Link / www.sesamstrassen-fanclub.de
  8. ↑ Sesame Street and a carrot for two | www.sesamstrasse.de - program information. Retrieved February 3, 2019 .
  9. ↑ a b c d e f g h Alice: 20 Jim Henson Puppets Make Their Big Museum Debut , My Modern Metropolis, September 27, 2013
  10. ↑ Sebastian Leber , Yvonn Barth: Ernie against Bert and 99 other duels . Goldmann, Munich 2013, p. 131, ISBN 3-442-15770-6
  11. ↑ Fernsehserien.de: Sesamstraße 2013 - episode guide ( Memento from March 10, 2013 in the Internet Archive )
  12. ↑ 'Super Grover 2.0,' to be featured each day on Sesame Street the week of February 21st February 2011, archived from the original on 3rd March 2011 (English, information about Super Grobi 2.0).;
  13. ↑ Did you know that the cookie monster from Sesame Street is called Sid? In: Wusstest-Du.de
  14. ↑ Herry Monster. In: muppet.wikia.com. (English).
  15. ↑ The Amazong Mumford. In: muppet.wikia.com. (English).
  16. ^ Sesame Street Awards. In: Internet Movie Database.
  17. ↑ New York now has Sesame Street. In: WORLD. Axel Springer SE, May 2, 2019, accessed on August 19, 2020 .
  18. ↑ n-tv news: Yes, Ernie and Bert are gay . In: n-tv.de . ( n-tv.de [accessed on September 18, 2018]).
  19. ↑ Max Mosher: Miss Piggy Turned Me Gay. 5th November 2013 .;
  20. ^ Lair Scott: Let Bert & Ernie Get Married On Sesame Street. In: change.org. 2011 .;
  21. ↑ Ernie and Bert from Sesame Street - Wild marriage should end. In: sueddeutsche.de. August 12, 2011 .;
  22. ^ Author of Ernie and Bert: Outing was a misunderstanding. FAZ, September 19, 2018 .;

literature

Web links

Commons : Sesame Street  - collection of images, videos and audio files