Your Thoughts: Street Gang – The Complete History of Sesame Street

[Vic Romano]

A little late, but here are my thoughts:

Like most have said, there's a lot of stuff to trudge through that gets tedious and has nothing to do with Sesame Street directly. Joan Cooney has a lush family history, but it just doesn't belong here. There's a long big and exciting build up to the show actually starting, and then like most have said; it rushes through the actual show very very fast.

It's a lot more about the complete history of children's television more than anything else, but it's very enthralling. I didn't know anything about Kukla, Fran and Ollie or Captain Kangaroo outside of passing quotes from interviews with Jim or Frank, but it was a fascinating glimpse of those worlds non the less.

What I loved most about the book was it's bold approach of subjects usually considered taboo. Mr. Davis and those quoted have no problem exposing the ugly side of people or expressing very frank opinions on many Muppet-related subjects I've always wondered about.

The intro alone was worth the $30, and anyone who's interested learning stuff about Jim alone that I personally only heard rumors about should definitely pick this up. Yeah, there are couple moments that are hard to get through, but overall it is a fascinating read.

 

[Vic Romano]

[*]While Henson, Oz, Brill, Hunt, and Spinney get a lot of biographical information, it seems like Jerry Nelson didn't get the same kind of attention. He sort of does when the book discusses Hye Cinderella, but gets over his biography quickly.

I agree with this a lot. There's a brief mention that because Jim and Frank were so preoccupied with things like TMS, SS relied heavily on Richard and Jerry, but Jerry barely got any face time in the book.

 

[Kimp the Shrimp]

i just listened to Carol Spinney read the book.......not bad


I Agree that it was mainly The Pre SS History and the 1970's. As a child of the 80's i was disappointed that it was skimmed over and the last 20 years here after thoughts.......


But not a bad book

 

[Drtooth]

Is there supposed to be a revised edition for the paperback book? I remember hearing that a while back, and I just wanna see if its still a go... and when it's going to be released.

 

[dwayne1115]

I really loved this book, and thought that it really showed what SS had to go through to get on the air. To think that just because of one man asking a simple question that something that has touched so many people in so many ways would get created. You could tell that Davies was an Ernie and Bert fan the way he kept metiointg them throughout the book, but it did shock me that he did not mention how Steve Whitmere took over doing Kermit and Ernie.

I don't know about anyone else but after reading Carol's book I wanted to know about this Jon Stone person, and see if he really was like Carol said. After reading Street Gang I can say that Jon is my new hero. He really seemed like someone i would have had a great time working with. I would love to read his memore that never got published, i think it would really shed light on things and be a great read for film historieans and makers.
I would also love to see this book made into a movie, and think that the way everything played out in the book could very well be a movie. What do you all think?

 

[zns]

I really loved this book, and thought that it really showed what SS had to go through to get on the air. To think that just because of one man asking a simple question that something that has touched so many people in so many ways would get created. You could tell that Davies was an Ernie and Bert fan the way he kept metiointg them throughout the book, but it did shock me that he did not mention how Steve Whitmere took over doing Kermit and Ernie.

I don't know about anyone else but after reading Carol's book I wanted to know about this Jon Stone person, and see if he really was like Carol said. After reading Street Gang I can say that Jon is my new hero. He really seemed like someone i would have had a great time working with. I would love to read his memore that never got published, i think it would really shed light on things and be a great read for film historieans and makers.
I would also love to see this book made into a movie, and think that the way everything played out in the book could very well be a movie. What do you all think?

I couldn't agree more. This book is definately a fine read for Sesame Street fans, Henson enthusiasts (which is what I consider myself), and television historians. Knowing that Sesame Street has managed to pull through a great deal into the 21st century, despite the amount of competition in the cable and satelite universe, is one of the greatest joys in the media world. I hope someday if I ever have children of my own, they can grow up with Big Bird and Elmo the way I did since the day I was born. God bless those at Sesame Workshop.

 

[dwayne1115]

I couldn't agree more. This book is definately a fine read for Sesame Street fans, Henson enthusiasts (which is what I consider myself), and television historians. Knowing that Sesame Street has managed to pull through a great deal into the 21st century, despite the amount of competition in the cable and satelite universe, is one of the greatest joys in the media world. I hope someday if I ever have children of my own, they can grow up with Big Bird and Elmo the way I did since the day I was born. God bless those at Sesame Workshop.

You know what it really has been wonderful watching my kids falling in love with Sesame Street, the Classic Muppets and the Fraggles. To see there eyes light up when Elmo or Grover comes on the T.V is just a touching moment Now that I have my new baby I will be able to get her watching Sesame Street, and then grow with her again. I can't wait.
I kind of thought that the book was a bit critical of Jim Henson, and the way he did some things, and some of the shows/movies he did. Now I have been a huge Henson fan and have seen a whole lot of his work from his early years to latter on in his life to the end, and I can say the only prodject i had any problem with was Labyrinth. It just didn't seem to sit well with me. Other then that I think most of Henson's work has a whole lot of heart. but that is just how I feel.

 

[dwmckim]

Is there supposed to be a revised edition for the paperback book? I remember hearing that a while back, and I just wanna see if its still a go... and when it's going to be released.

Well a few reports seemed to indicate that the new paperback edition (just released) would be a revised edition including an additional chapter on the various Gordons - but after a skim through in the bookstore it looks like the only difference between the paperback and the original (besides being in paperback) is the cover.

 

[Drtooth]

Even if they didn't add those things in, I was waiting for the papperbok to come out anyway... much cheaper that way.

(and yes, I spelt it wrong on purpose as a reference to a Monty Python paperback edition of another book)

EDIT: upon doing some searching, the chapter appears to be Web Only and even has that caption at the top pf the page.

 

[MJTaylor]

Having never read this book I am not really in a position to comment on it, but I would like to think this and the Louise Gikow book would complement each other. Her book mentions most of the things that minor muppetz claimed the Michael Davis book ommited, but Street Gang seems to have as many things that Sesame Street A Celebration left out.