Street Gang

 This review is brought to you by the letter S. 

S lets you spell words like Smart, Silly and Street Gang, Marilyn Agrelo's documentary based on Michael Davis's book about Sesame Street. How do you get there? A streaming service of your choice, of course.

Argelo takes us back to the mid 60's. An America where TV was commercialized, politicized and uneducational. TV executive Joan Gantz Cooney and psychologist Lloyd Morrisett collaborated to create an entertaining and educational kids program. Their newly developed Children's Television Workshop brought along Muppeteer Jim Henson and writer Jon Stone to help their creation. Sesame Street debuted in November 10, 1969. 

It's pretty educational. The "Street Gang" set their show on the Street to appeal to inner-city kids. The Muppets went from simply the stars of separate segments to co-stars with human actors. We also see the Muppeteers in-action on set. Anyone curious how Big Bird's suit was operated? The film shows you how. There's plenty of on-screen bloopers from men and Muppets. There's quite a bit of off-set conflict, exemplified by the tale of Muppet Roosevelt Franklin. Not to mention the Deep South stations that wouldn't air it.

It's still moving even if you haven't been on the Street in years. Its saddest moment is the death of longtime human cast member Will Lee and his character, Mr. Hooper. I wasn't around for either of those events. But it still got to me. That and the death and funeral of Henson. At least it doesn't bring up when Big Bird himself, Carol Spinney, was almost on the Challenger.

There's plenty of humor to balance things out. We get to see some of Henson's earliest Muppet commercials. They have some of the best dark humor of the 1950s. The Sesame skits are some of the brightest and catchiest the show has aired. We get to see how the music was produced and the musical guest stars that came on the street. Of course, it also mentions the $5 million lawsuit over Letter B.

You'll learn and feel a lot no matter your age. Street Gang: How We Got To Sesame Street is for everybody. So find it on your favorite streaming service and press play. My choice, of course, was Amazon Prime. It might renew some interest in the show. It's on HBOMax, which is where the subject of my next review is...