November 10, 1969…’Sesame Street’ Debuts on PBS
November 10, 1969…’Sesame Street’ Debuts on PBS
At the link is video of the first episode’s open…it’s the first time we meet Big Bird, Bert and Ernie and the human cast. Kermit, Rowlf and other Muppet characters were not new to the public.
Since everyone in the world knows the show, well, almost everyone since it’s now on in 123 countries, we’ll celebrate the 45th season with a look more at the early production side.
In the photos below, we see the original home of the show which was done from the old RKO 81st Street Theater at 2248 Broadway. The theater was owned by Teletape Productions and before this, it had been the home of the first and only CBS color studio on the east coast…Studio 72 which was created in the fall of 1954. The last photo is a shot from the control room of Studio 72 in 1955.
Also shown here is an early cast and crew photo with the Marconi Mark VII color cameras. The color photo of a Mark VII shooting Grover is the one that I now have in my collection…it was Camera 2 and in the closeup, you can see that the dome tally light number is the same. There were six Mark VIIs in use on the show.
Teletape was a remote and studio video production company that merged with Reeves Sound Services in 1974 and became Reeves Teletape. Before that, Reeves had been more of a sound and video post edit company.
According to our friend Dennis Degan, who worked at Reeves Teletape, R/T moved ‘Sesame Street’ production in 1983 from 81st Street to the 55th Street studio, which was formerly WNET-TV’s studio on 9th Ave at 55th Street. They made this move because R/T sold the 81st Street studio. They originally bought it from CBS in 1967 and spent even more to renovate and modernize the building. Sesame Street was produced at 55th Street from 1983 to around 1990, first with R/T, then in 1987 with Unitel Video, as R/T went out of business. Sesame moved to Kaufman-Astoria Studios in 1990 where it has remained to this day. The RKO 81 studio was torn down in 1986. This little history lesson was brought to you by the letter B for Bobby. Enjoy and share! -Bobby Ellerbee
Best show ever conceived! Thank you PBS!
I think given a chance Ikegami could have developed a better H.D. camera than SONY. At least for studio use. Fox news uses Panasonic in the studio setting. And the pictures are stellar.
The engineers at CBS-Chicago told me ¨The Marconis are a great camera to learn on, because they are always breaking.¨ Time to re-seat some modules…
Actually Bobby, R/T moved the show’s production in 1982 from 81st Street to the 55th Street studio, which was formerly WNET-TV’s studio on 9th Ave at 55th Street. They made this move to make room for Search For Tomorrow. A year or so later, SFT production moved again to the old EUE studio on 44th Street, possibly because R/T needed cash and intended to sell the building. They sold the 81st Street building (the only studio they actually owned) not long after. The site is now an apartment tower.
Sesame Street was produced at 55th Street from 1982 to around 1990, first with R/T, then in 1987 with Unitel Video, as R/T went out of business. SS moved to Kaufman-Astoria Studios in 1990 where it has remained to this day.
Here’s a photo of R/T’s control room, used for SS production. I worked for R/T from 1979-1986, then for Unitel until 1998:
https://www.flickr.com/photos/dennisdegan/557874701/
This photo shows what became of the 81st Street studio building:
https://www.flickr.com/photos/dennisdegan/557875987/
The facade facing Broadway was retained; only the theater was torn down.
let me guess, it’s condos now…
This a picture of my brother and me at the 30th anniversary special “Elmopalooza,” which aired on ABC in 1998. My dad was a dolly grip on the show, which was shot at Sony Music Studios on W 54th St. http://muppet.wikia.com/wiki/Elmopalooza
I distinctly remember seeing the first episode of “Sesame Street” airing on a program on NBC called “NBC Experiment in Television.” Also, Miss Piggy was not already known to the public because she had not been created yet. She arrived with the debut of “The Muppet Show” in 1976.
Thank you Jim Henson.
Here’s the premiere ad from WYES New Orleans (includes their auction that week)
In NYC the show was shown on TWO stations.. The PBS station WNET and on WPIX Channel 11 for almost a full season.. I was baffled why it was shown on 2 channels.. Obviously Channel 13 showed it throughout the rest of it’s long run…As they said, the rest was history…
We had the pleasure of riding down the 30 Rock elevator with the Ex Producer of Sesame Street after winning the Emmy in 2004! We had a beverage at the Rainbow Grill after the Daytime Emmys at Radio City…we also mentioned that my Wife’s Uncle Harold Jury won the Emmy for Sync in 1948…
Here is a pic of the control room for Sesame Street. My father, Bob Alexander is on the left. He was the TD for the first three years.
Ernie named his bathtub “Rosie”. Is the reason you call your TK 41 that because it is about the same size?
Fantastic history lesson sir – well done!
I was a senior in HS (69-70), and we had CCTV and interconnects to most of the schools within the district. Our Educational Services head received a 16mm film from the local station, WNED-TV to play for the elementary classes, that November. I guess it was for the teachers to evaluate students reactions to segments. I actually was fascinated by the way the counting was done while watching that film in a rapid style approach.
I was in the audience for the premiere! But I was 2 and therefore don’t remember. My hometown, South Bend, didn’t have a public television station yet, so the local NBC affiliate aired Sesame Street until a PBS station was built. If it seems odd that a commercial station would donate time, know that in those days that station was owned by the University of Notre Dame.
Since “Search For Tomorrow” moved from CBS Broadcast Center to Reeves Teletape by late 1982/early 1983,I would assume that Sesame Street moved out sometime in 1982
Fascinating, Bobby. But if I remember correctly, it debuted on NET (National Educational Television), since PBS started up nearly a year later.