The first two Gordon's

[Daffyfan4ever]

Does anyone have any information on Matt Robinson or Hal Miller who played Gordon in the earlier Sesame Street episodes? I was born in 1980, so the only one I'm familiar with is Roscoe Orman. I was wondering if I can find anything on the other two guys like maybe photos of them on the show or something like that. I know Matt died a few weeks ago and that he was Holly Robinson's father, but that's about it. Any help on this would be appreciated. Thanks.

 

[Cantus Rock]

Hey,
Here is some info on Matt Robinson:

Matt was born Matthew Thomas Robinson Jr. in Philadelphia, PA in 1937. He wrote for the TV shows "The Cosby Show," "Eight is Enough," and "Sanford and Son." He also wrote and produced the films "Save the Children" (1973), "Amazing Grace" (1974), and co-wrote the film "The Possession of Joel Delaney." He played Gordon on Sesame Street from 1969 to 1972. He died August 5th, 2002 in Los Angeles, California from complications due to Parkensons disease.

He spoke the first lines on Sesame Street.

Hope that helped a bit.

-Matt

 

[Daffyfan4ever]

Reply

A little bit. Do you remember what the first lines he spoke were? I'm still kind of curious.

 

[Mayhem Diva]

On the Gordon topic...

Just a Gordon-related aside:

Roscoe Orman (the Gordon with whom most of us are probably most familiar) had a brief speaking role (2 or 3 lines) as a waiter on a train's dining car on last week's episode of "Sex and the City" on HBO. What an odd place for him to pop up!

 

[Cantus Rock]

Yeah, take a look in (I think) the TV Appearances section. There is a thread called "Gordon on SEX," which is about that. All of us wandered in with dirty minds, and left with a sour taste in our mouths so to speak..hehe.

The first words are on the first page of "Sesame Street Unpaved" (the book). I am really too lazy at this hour to move and get it, so I'll post the first lines tomorrow.

-Matt

 

[Daffyfan4ever]

Reply

O.K., thanks, Matt.

 

[Cantus Rock]

OKay, laziness over. The first lines were:

You've never seen a street line Sesame Street. Everything happens here. You're gonna love it!

-Matt

 

[Daffyfan4ever]

Reply

Interesting. Did he say that to the audience, or was he talking to a person? I know you people probably think I'm annoying for asking so many questions. I'm just kind of curious, since I'm not old enough to have seen the show on the 60s and 70s. I'm just wondering how different it would have been. I've also read that at the beginning of the show the humans and the Muppets interacted in different scenes. I'd like to know more about that.

 

[sstVideo]

Gordon was introducing a little girl who "just moved into the neighborhood" to all of the people and muppets on the street. It was an opportunity to introduce the audience to Mr. Hooper, and of course, Big Bird.

 

[Cantus Rock]

Yeah, sst sumed it up pretty well. I do have a copy of the first episode, if your interested in obtaining it email me or check out my website. It really is very interesting. Big Birds head is much less featherful, Oscar was orange...wowzers!

-Matt