To be honest I didn't see Sesame Street until I was probably eight or nine because we only had one small black and white TV at the Artboy compound and my parents didn't share very well. On those rare occasions when we could get a signal and my siblings were not fighting so loud that I couldn't hear myself think I would lay on the floor with my pencil and paper and draw as the Baker (Jim Henson himself) fell down the stairs, the Count did his evil counting, Oscar showed how even grouches have hearts, Grover was awkward and clumsy, Burt would talk about pigeons and  bottle caps and Ernie would sing about his Rubber Ducky. Of course the most important character to my development as a Cartoonist was Kermit and the man who created him. I still miss Jim Henson, he was and is a creative influence on me and the way I teach children today. Humor and Fun and Art should be a part of education as much as air and food are a part of life.  I'd have to say that the humor was one of the things I think I remember most. They never talked down to kids, they've delt with complicated and serious issues without  cheating children of their childhoods and they showed that learning and having fun were not mutually exclusive. My daughter has passed the age where she would watch it every day but every once in awhile I catch her sitting there watching and I realize just how much she learned from the show herself.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY SESAME STREET!