Favorite Sesame human of all time

[BEAR]

Plus, if you see some of the early clips on her on the show, she looks so young and tiny. She easily passes as atleast a 16 year old.

 

[mikebennidict]

you may all be right. the idea of Maria being a teen still doesn't sound right because since she always lived in the 123 building and there was no mention of parents it's hard to believe. i though the SSU book and i can't remember if they referred to her as a teen though they did refer to her as a hippie. now Gina was a teen when she appeared on the show and there was Mike and was recently mentioned here along with Salvon i think. most of them were gone by the time the 80s ended. but the thing about them is they didn't live on the apartment and i don't think they lived about Hooper's store like Bob does or above the fix it shop. like Mr. Hooper, David, and Luis before being married to Maria lived elsewhere. so it would of been pretty easy to have not included parents of the teen cast. i do believe Mr. Hooper was a married man because i recall 1 episode where a granddaughter of his phoned him and with the exeption of a coupl of episodes where his brother came to visit, to the best of my knoweledge most of his personal life wasn't exploered.

 

[Ziffel]

Yeah, while it's true that actors in their 20's often have played the roles of teenagers ( as in "Happy Days" ), it seems likewise to me that her character was supposed to be her actual age of early 20's. She just seemed to relate to the other adults (and vice versa) that way. (Then again, to a child of age 4-7 in the early 70's as I was, a teenager probably would have seemed pretty old and grownup!). Another thing too is the scene I recall from about 1973 or 1974 where David had the tape recorder. I posted on this at this thread:

http://forum.muppetcentral.com/showthread.php?t=19181&highlight=David+Maria


It doesn't seem too likely that David an adult would have said that Maria is always on his mind if she was a teen. But I can understand the comparison to Gina. Just think they never had Maria's character be quite that young (like no high school and high school graduation for Maria as they did with Gina in 1990 or so).

 

[BEAR]

In the book, Maria was referred to as a "teen". But even if she is in her early 20s, she can still have a relationship with David. How old do you suppose he was?

 

[Censored]

You have to remember that David was pretty young when he started the show too and could probably have passed for someone in his late teens (at least by television standards). David and Maria pretty much represented the "younger generation" in the beginning.

 

[Censored]

you may all be right. the idea of Maria being a teen still doesn't sound right because since she always lived in the 123 building and there was no mention of parents it's hard to believe.

Well, it's not impossible for some teenagers to have their own apartments.

Besides, look at Big Bird, six years old and where are his parents?

 

[BEAR]

Well, it's not impossible for some teenagers to have their own apartments.

Besides, look at Big Bird, six years old and where are his parents?

Speaking of Bird... I know he is, or was, written as a 6-year-old, but doesn't it seem as if lately, he has been allowed to age a bit...like almost to a 7 or 8 year old?

 

[jeffkjoe]

I think Maria is the quintessential Sesame Street human cast member.

Usually, she's the "go to" person when there's no one else around, and the one they use the most in street stories nowadays.

A most valuable player that bridges the gap between old and new Sesame.

 

[Ziffel]

In the book, Maria was referred to as a "teen". But even if she is in her early 20s, she can still have a relationship with David. How old do you suppose he was?

He was also in his early 20's when Maria started the show in 1973. So I was just pointing out that I thought it would be unlikely for them to have an adult be interested in Maria if she was supposed to still be a minor on the show.

You have to remember that David was pretty young when he started the show too and could probably have passed for someone in his late teens (at least by television standards). David and Maria pretty much represented the "younger generation" in the beginning.

That's true, just like the point raised before that often in television and movies people in their 20's have played younger people. But also remember in the case of David and Maria that sketch in her first or second year (1973 or 1974) where they were a couple about to be married and Bob was the minister. It's still possible that the show had her character be a teen. Just giving some reasons that lead me to think they more likely intended her to be a young adult as she was. Just my opinion.

 

[Daffyfan4ever]

Not to take anything away from Hal Miller (second Gordon) either, but he just didn't stay on the show long enough to develop his version of the character.

Yeah, I really can't find anything on Hal at all. I guess we can refer to him as the "lost" Gordon.