When Matt Robinson left the show, Roosevelt Franklin went with him--here's the entry in "Sesame Street Unpaved" about him--if you don't have this book yet, you should really look it up--it's a masterpiece!
"ROOSEVELT FRANKLIN:
A little purple Anything Muppet who was originated and performed (voice only) by Matt Robinson. He attended Roosevelt Franklin Elementary School."
The precocious little purple Muppet was so popular that he even released his own album--Roosevelt Franklin Sings. Besides the basic curriculum concepts, Roosevelt taught us about family, about pride, and about respecting ourselves and others."
The character was abandoned because he was thought by some to be a negative cultural stereotype and because the schoolroom in which he spent most of his time was considered too rowdy and a bad example. The kids in the class (including Hard Head Henry, Smart Tina, and Baby Bree Boo Bop a Doo) were prone to smart-aleck remarks, throwing papers, and general disruptive classroom behavior. Nevertheless, Roosevelt remains an old Sesame favorite, and goes down in history as one of the coolest Muppet poets."
The book also includes some of RF's poetry...
I also have fond memories of Roosevelt Franklin--he was one of the few Muppets who had any cultural distinctiveness---goodness knows I love all of the other Muppets, but with the exception of RF, Rosita, and a few others, there's no correlation between culture/race and the Muppets. I still love them. But it would have been nice to see how Roosevelt changed or didn't change through the years.
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