Mike appreciation thread! (anybody remember him?)

[GonzoLeaper]

Well, I was just watching a 1990 released Sesame Street video "Dance Along" the other night. Besides having lots of great songs, it was hosted by Big Bird, Gina, and Mike!!!

Wow! I totally forgot about Mike! After watching the video, I definitely remember him being on Sesame Street, but it was pretty short-lived. According to IMDB.com Ward Saxton (the guy who played "Mike") was on there from 1989-1991. The video showed him doing "A Very Simple Dance to Do" with the kids on the street. I'm pretty sure I do remember seeing this particular song on the show before, so I don't think it was done just for the video. Does anyone remember any other specific songs or skits he was in? I seem to recall him being something of Gina's boyfriend, as he seems to be about the same age. Although I believe he's Canadian, for some reason. I may be wrong on that.
Anyway, I always liked Mike and it's too bad that's he's gone now. I guess he moved on to other things. According to IMDB.com though, he hasn't acted in anything since leaving Sesame Street in 1991!
Anyone else have any other memories of Mike?

For that matter, anyone remember all of the other major human characters that have been on the show?

There's the main ones that are still there- like Bob, Gordon and Susan, Maria and Luis, and then you have their kids- Gabi and Miles. And there's Gina. Linda was there for a long while but finally retired. Olivia was there for a while and so was David and Mr. Hooper. I guess David took over Mr. Hooper's store for a while, and then Mr. Hanford took it over from him, and Alan took it over from him. Is that right? And then there's Ruth Buzzi's character (who was called "Ruthie", right?) Let's see, Bob's uncle was there too (anyone remember his name?) and Mr. Macintosh (the apple vendor) Savion was there for a while, and it seems there was another African-American couple with some kids there for a while in the 90s. They were on the 25th. Anniversary special and sang the "Doo Wop Doo Wop- Hop!" song (the one Kermit originally sang)
And of course, there's been tons of kids on the show, some memorable ones being Jon Jon and Patty in "Christmas Eve on Sesame Street".
Any others I forgot?
And any other fond memories of Mike?
post away.

 

[mikebennidict]

http://forum.muppetcentral.com/showthread.php?t=13079&highlight=cast check this thread out there should be few named here mentioned.

 

[Fuzzy and Blue]

I believe Bob's uncle was Uncle Wally. And you also left out Celina and Carlo on the list of human characters.

~Dana~

 

[The Count]

Heh, heh. Hey GonzoLeaper...
The black couple you're thinking of were... Angela who was the first person to run SS Day Care and Jamal, the park ranger, along with their baby daughter Kayla.
Of course, Lilian took over SS Day Care afterwards before Gina took over before she became the resident vet.

As for your chronology of Hooper's Store owners, you're mostly right. Mr. Hooper was the original owner with David as his assistant. After Mr. Hooper died, David took over with Gina as his assistant. Then, when David moved away, Gina took over for a short while before Mr. Handford came relegating Gina back to her assistant role. And now it's under new management of Alan.

As for a list of SS human characters, I suggest you visit my "Muppet Listings 15.0" thread in the Classic Muppets section of the forum and do searches for the string "(SS," to find the human characters much quicker. There are some whose actor's names I'm still missing though.
Working on that to get the list complete. Hope this helps.

 

[SesameStreetGuy]

Mike is in the episode of SS where Hooper's Store reopens.

 

[GonzoLeaper]

Thanks for the responses. That did help clarify some things.

 

[mikebennidict]

anyone remember Jay? he was in the 3 of these thing segment with the girl hanging upside down and he was the only boy in this one. now most of the kids weren't like the ones on The electric Company meaning they weren't on the same level as the grown ups and Jay was probably no exeption but i seem to have invisioned him can't you wouldn't of noticed this in the segment, but he seemed to have been older. maybe close to beeing a teenager.

 

[Censored]

Yes, I do remember Mike. I believe he's also on a Sesame video where Big Bird gets sick and goes to the doctor. I also remember Mike playing the giant in a Jack In The Beanstalk segment with Elmo. It's interesting that in their version, Jack chopped down the beanstalk BEFORE the giant could climb down and catch him instead of the classic ending where Jack kills the giant by cutting it while he's climbing.

 

[BEAR]

Human cast members list:

Bob - played by Bob McGrath (1969-present)
Susan - Played by Loretta Long (1969-present)
Gordon - played by Roscoe Orman (1973-present)
Luis - played by Emilio Delgado (1971-present)
Maria - played by Sonia Manzano (1974-present)
Mr. Hooper - played by Will Lee (1969-1982)
David - played by Northern Calloway (????-1989)
Linda - played by Linda Bove (1971-????)
Olivia - played by Alaina Reed (1976-1988)
Buffy - played by Buffy St. Marie Wolfchild (1976-????)
Willy - played by Kermit Love (????-????)**
Mr. Macintosh - played by Chet O'Brien (1975-1992)**
Mr. Handford - played by David Langston Smyrl (1989-????)
Gina - played by Alison Bartlett (1987-present)
Ruthie - played by Ruth Buzzi (????-????)
Uncle Wally - played by Bill McCutcheon (1984-1992)
Savion - played by Savion Glover (1990-????)
Lillian - played by Lillias White (????-????)
Celina - played by Annette Calud (????-????)
Carlo (????-present)
Gabbi (????-present)
Miles (????-present)
Alan (????-present)
Molly - played by Charlotte Rae (????-????)

did I leave anything out?

**these actors were also crew members, which may explain why they were really only bit roles and didn't appear quite as much as the rest of the cast.

 

[minor muppetz]

David - played by Northern Calloway (????-1989)
Linda - played by Linda Bove (1971-????)

I think David first appeared in 1971. Linda last appeared on Sesame Street in 2002.

Mr. Handford - played by David Langston Smyrl (1989-????)

Mr. Handford was there from 1989 untill 1998.

Ruthie - played by Ruth Buzzi (????-????)

Ruthie was on Sesame Street in 1998, although she was credited untill 1999 or 2000. I don't think she did anything new after 1998, though.

Savion - played by Savion Glover (1990-????)

savion last appeared on Sesame Street in 1995, although he did appear in the 1993 (or possibly 1994) remake of A new way To Walk, which has been shown since he left. (i think this sketch was last seen in 1999).

Celina - played by Annette Calud (????-????)

I believe that celina was on Sesame Street from 1993-1998.

Alan (????-present)

Alan first appeared on the show in 1998. He is played by Alan Muraoka.