SS cast

mikebennidict

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with this year marking the 35 aniversary of this legendary show, i'd thought i'd type up some interesting stuff about the cast that i've thought about. 1st. i wonder why Susan & Gordon for many years were the only ones married? was that just the way it was or was there a reason for this? i'm pretty sure Mr. Hooper was a married man though they never at lease durring the years i wached had anyone on who played any immediate family memeber though he had a brother who came on a couple of times. i rememeber reading that 1971 book the Hooperfan page 1st Gordon Matt Robinson or if not him it mentioned about that over the years in many black households have not always had a strong male role model and the book stressed the importance of a black male role model and maybe the CTW thought it was good to at the ame time have a married black couple who also live well and have good jobs. Gordon a teacher, and Susan though a house wife the 1st season became a nurse the following year. i hope i don't sound bigotted by saying this. certainly poverty, and broken homes certainly doesn't effect 1 group of people but i've often heard such stuff has been common with many black families over the years and i think the CTW realized this. also with the strong black male rolmodel issue i mentioned, that's probably 1 of the reasons why they hired others to play Gordon after Robinson left and since the show was relitivly new, they probably didn't feel comfortible at that point killing off the Gordon Character like they did with Mr. Hooper years later. more to come.
 

Ryan

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Well, Maria and Luis are married.
 

ssetta

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Actually, I think Susan was a nurse from the very first season. Also in the very first season, Bob was a shop teacher. I have a 45 rpm record with the Sesame Street Theme on one side, and "Hello" on the other side, and all of the cast members introduce themselves.
 

mikebennidict

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to Ryan and Ssetta: i said S&G were the only ones married for many years not the only ones married. Luis & Maria didn't merry till 1988 and i know for sure susan didn't have a job the 1st year. i read on the Hooperfan page and the SSU book it wasn't till the 2nd year she becane a nurse. continuing, now i i figured the reason why Northern Calloway wasn't mentioned when he died was becuase he left a year before his passing. and i think that might of been the same case with the man who played Bob's uncle wally. but what about Chet O'Brian who was Mr. Mackintosh the fruit man. or Kermit Love who was willy the hot dog man? i assume both are now dead. i don't think i ever fiund any info on them other then they were part of the SS cast. i did see both names in the credits as they did some kind of producing for the show as well. i don't know when they 1st came on or left or even if they died while still on the show. i think Mackintosh was on more times than willie or at least that's how i rememeber. it. 1 thing the both of them along with Mr. Hooper had in common is they were elderly and what's so interesting is today there's no one on the show that is that old as they were. though Bob McGrath is over 70 now and Lorretta Long is probably past 60 considering Matt Robinson, originaly Gordon was 65 when he died 2 years ago. they both appear to play younger people. now i don't know if it really matters that they don't have elderly people on though i'm sure there was some uniqueness to it. i remember Hooper once sang a song called when i was little as you are and showed old pictures of N.Y.C. when he was young and sang about how thing were different then. is it just a coninncidence or has the Sesame workshop developed a predjudice against anyone who is or looks older? i hope not. what's so interesting about the cast is so many whether still on or not haved remained on the show for so long. there are not many shows in tv history that have lasted as long as SS has but to see so many of the cast to remain on for years and years is great and obviously feel that starring on a kids show satifies them to the point that they don't wish to go and starr on something bigger or better. besides Bob, the other longtime cast memeber look young. Roscoe orman will be 60 this year Maria, i don't know her exact bith date other than the imdb page says she was born in 1950 iwtch make her 54. hard to believe isn't it?
 

mikebennidict

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forgotten SS cast member.

here's one that no one has mention here or at YL. remember a lady by the name of Timmy? she was a friend of Linda's and often i saw her inturpetting for her. she probably came on the scene in the late 70s and left sometime in the 80s either in the middle or towards the end of the decade. anyone recall the actresses real name?
 

Daffyfan4ever

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I don't remember her, but I guess I could see why she didn't last very long. I remember Bob interpreting for Linda most of the time, so that might have had something to do with it.
 

Cheebo

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Kermit Love is still alive. Though when he does die I doubt they will mention it because it has been so long since he has been on and wasnt a major character in the first place. Mr. Noodle died recently but since he is a character that is part of Elmo's imagination it wouldnt work explaining his death. If someone big like Bob, Gordon, Susan...etc died I am sure they would do a episode about it.
 

Dantecat

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Why didn't they do an episode aboyt David's Death??
 

Censored

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mikebennidict said:
to Ryan and Ssetta: i said S&G were the only ones married for many years not the only ones married. Luis & Maria didn't merry till 1988 and i know for sure susan didn't have a job the 1st year. i read on the Hooperfan page and the SSU book it wasn't till the 2nd year she becane a nurse.

I believe that Susan became a nurse in the MIDDLE of the first season. She was certainly a housewife during the early episodes, but I do believe that the "Hello" record was produced at some point during Season one when they gave her a career. I'm not sure exactly what it says on Hooperfan's page, but it was Hooperfan himself who told me this information.
 

Censored

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Dantecat said:
Why didn't they do an episode aboyt David's Death??

They are many theories as to why they didn't. Northern Calloway quit the show before he died and I've heard that the episode about David moving to his grandmother's farm was made before his actual death. It's also been said that another death so soon after Mr. Hooper would have been difficult.

I'm really not sure how they'd handle the death of a character today. Remember that there were many other ideas about how to explain Mr. Hooper's absence; they simply decided that an episode about his death would be the best road to take and they made a point of originally showing it on Thanksgiving so children would be with their families to watch it together. The episode worked very well and it is quite memorable and emotional, but I'm not sure if it's something that can be done on a regular basis for every death.

BTW, the other possibilities for handling Will Lee's death was to say that he retried and went to live with his family; get someone else to play the part; or simply ignore his absence (I don't see how the last one would have worked unless they changed the name of the store).
 
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