Original Gordon from the Sesame Street test pilot has been identified

[LinkiePie<3]

This article says it all

 

[Drtooth]

Why is this thread so bare? This is amazing news. One of the biggest mysteries of all time has just been solved and it's like tumbleweeds here...

http://muppet.wikia.com/wiki/Garrett_Saunders

 

[Phillip]

Yes, this is a big deal. It would be great if Sesame would release all 5 test shows with Garrett Saunders as a way to celebrate. As he said in the pilot, "Let's Dance!"

 

[charlietheowl]

I'm sure somebody could explain this, but how did they lose track of who the guy was after all these years? I know this pilot was filmed 40-some years ago, but still, did they lose all the casting records or something? Had the print deteriorated so much that they couldn't consult the closing credits?

It's really cool how they turned this out to the internet and it took only a couple of months to pin this guy down.

 

[Drtooth]

I'm sure somebody could explain this, but how did they lose track of who the guy was after all these years? I know this pilot was filmed 40-some years ago, but still, did they lose all the casting records or something? Had the print deteriorated so much that they couldn't consult the closing credits?

It's really cool how they turned this out to the internet and it took only a couple of months to pin this guy down.

Well, it took a little longer, since they mentioned it in the 40th anniversary book... but I guess no one saw it.

I'd tend to think the problem lies in the fact that they were a start up company, and they probably didn't keep track of all the old paperwork. And I'm wondering if they planned to recast Gordon once the show went public anyway.

 

[CensoredAlso]

I know this pilot was filmed 40-some years ago, but still, did they lose all the casting records or something?

It's possible, records get lost all the time, or after a certain period of time might be discarded as out of date.

 

[mbmfrog]

Well, I'll be this is a great thing for the show to find indeed.

 

[Katzi428]

Well finally! I truly am surprised that Loretta Long (Susan) or Bob McGrath (Bob) didn't remember. (Then again this was 40+ years ago people are entitled to forget small things.) Don't get me wrong; I'm not saying that the two are getting old and forgetful. They've had to work for a LONG time with Muppets & other humans. No disrespect for them at ALL!

 

[mr3urious]

Wonderful news! I can now sleep a little easier tonight!

 

[CherryPizza]

I'd tend to think the problem lies in the fact that they were a start up company, and they probably didn't keep track of all the old paperwork. And I'm wondering if they planned to recast Gordon once the show went public anyway.

In Street Gang, Jon Stone is quoted as saying that Saunders was cast at the last minute, and that nobody was happy with the casting, so most probably. He's not the only thing about the test pilot that's rough around the edges (Susan was almost at Vanna White-level in being 'set dressing'), and even though Matt Robinson's Gordon was more streetwise than Roscoe Orman's (I haven't seen enough of Hal Miller to comment), it is fairly clear that Saunders' character didn't have much 'Gordon' about him.

I truly am surprised that Loretta Long (Susan) or Bob McGrath (Bob) didn't remember. (Then again this was 40+ years ago people are entitled to forget small things.)

I guess that with the combination of the test pilots being an intensive process (they would have had to be churned out AND been prepared for scrutiny so that changes could be made left, right and centre) and this being such an infantile stage of the show, it wouldn't have been that hard for him to be forgotten. I've been involved in courses or projects before where people drop out in the early days, and towards the end of them there has been a collective strain to even remember those people.

Interestingly, when Sesame Workshop first put out the call to identify Saunders, one of the 'clues' was that Caroll Spinney didn't know. This barely seems relevant, since he was not in the test pilots and, it appears, was hired by Jim Henson after they had aired in response to the ned for Muppets on the street. This in itself is a testimony to how information innocently goes astray. Factor in the passage of 40+ years, and you can see how he was lost to the times.