Whatever happened to Roosevelt Franklin?

[mikealan]

Roosevelt Franklin was a little purple boy Anything Muppet in a red-and-yellow striped shirt who was around on Sesame Street in the 70's. When the format has changed, he is now disappeared. Why did they got rid of him?

 

[Phillip]

Roosevelt's voice (Matt Robinson) left the show after the third season, making new Roosevelt Franklin segments much more difficult to record.

 

[ssetta]

They actually got rid of him way back in, I think it was the late 70s, but it might have been early 80s. Remember that classroom that he was in? If you don't, they used to misbehave all the time by throwing papers, and talking as loud as they could. It was considered to be too rowdy and a bad example of what school is like.

 

[Splurge]

Originally posted by Phillip Chapman
Roosevelt's voice (Matt Robinson) left the show after the third season, making new Roosevelt Franklin segments much more difficult to record.

I find it interesting that Matt did come back at some point to record with Roscoe Orman (the current Gordon) as Hard Head Henry.

Which brings me to something I've often pondered: there was a Roosevelt Franklin School scene in the Stevie Wonder episode, during the time Hal Miller would have been Gordon. (It was the spell "poison" skit.)

Well, the Hard Head Henry character was there and I wonder if Hal Miller or anyone else was playing him?

I'm not demanding an answer to this question and I don't think I'd get a satisfactory one. It's just something to wonder about.

 

[mikealan]

Well, I don't know if Matt Robinson played Roosevelt Franklin on his classroom sketch on the 1975 Season Premiere, but I know that Matt performed Hard Head Henry in it. BTW, I remember that Roosevelt can be shown on the episodes from 1974-1975...Today, I watched him on the clapping segment on Play With Me Sesame.

 

[Philip Kippel]

I thought that one of the reasons why they took Roosevelt Franklin off of Sesame Street was because he was considered an African-American stereotype.

At least that's what other sources have said.

 

[ssetta]

Hardhead Henry Harris was actually performed by Roscoe Orman.

 

[jay malls]

Got any R. Franklin video?

Hi,
I'm new to the forum. I just posted something in the wanted section about Roosevelt Franklin video. I'm in deperate need of some for a school project. I don't have much sesame street video, but I have alot of albums. I've got lots of albums in general, and I'd be willing to trade dubs of whatever. Let me know if anyone can help.

 

[jay malls]

oh yeah

I'd be especially into seeing the Stevie Wonder episode. I'm a huge Stevie fan. -j

 

[PutDownDuckie]

hmmmm, I own Sesame Street...Unpaved the book and it says:

"The character was abandoned because he was thought by some to be a negative cultural steryotype and because the schoolroom in which he spent most of his time was considered too rowdy and to be a bad example. The kids in the class...were prone to smart-aleck remarks, throwing papers, and general disruptive behaviour. nevertheless, roosevelt remains an old Sesame favorite, and goes down in history as one of the coolest Muppet poets."

And to end with a Roosevelt Franklin poem:

"Same Sound Brown was a rhymin' man
He would rhyme words faster than I bet you can
See if you said "moose,"
brown would say "juice."
If you say "Moose juice,:
Brown would say "Loose Goose."
If you said "Juicy Loose Goose,"
Brown would say "Moosey Gose Juice."

...ahhhh how beautiful