CarollSpinney

Okay, here's one.

This is a very sad story, but it's real.

I got a letter from a fan who said his little boy, who was 5 years old, his name was Joey, he was dying of cancer.

And he was so ill, the little boy knew he was dying.

So the man, in his letter, asked if I would call the little boy. He said the only thing that cheered him at all in his fading state was to see Big Bird on television.

So once in a while, he wouldn't see Big Bird on some days, because he wasn't necessarily in every show. So he asked could I telephone him, and talk to the boy, tell him what a good boy he's been.

So I took a while to look up a phone, because this was before cell phones. And they got a long cord to bring a phone to the boy.

And I had Big Bird say "Hello! Hello Joey! It's me, Big Bird!"

So he said "Is it really you, Big Bird?"

"Yes, it is."

I chatted a while with him, about ten minutes, and he said "I'm glad you're my friend Big Bird."

And I said "I'd better let you go now."

He said "Thank you for calling me Big Bird. You're my friend. You make me happy."

And it turns out that his father and mother were sitting with him when the phone call came. And he was very, very ill that day. And they called the parents in, because they weren't sure how long he'd last.

And so his father wrote to me right away, and said "Thank you, thank you" - he hadn't seen him smile since October, and this was in March - and when the phone was hung up, he said "Big Bird called me! He's my friend."

And he closed his eyes. And he passed away.

And I could see that what I say to children can be very important.

And he said "We haven't seen our little boy smile in MONTHS. He smiled, as he passed away. It was a gift to us. Thank you."

Well, see - other people make arguments in favor of us being totally honest, that does not fit with my feeling of the joy of being a little child. I've seen a child discover me - we thought we were alone in a park, filming a scene outdoors on some great stretches of rock, we had to do a shot for a China film - and a little boy came along, and he saw me take Big Bird off! And he screamed, and cried, and I said "Quick!" - he looked so funny with his little legs, running away, crying and crying - and I chased after him, with the costume back on- and I said "Little boy, I'm okay" and he said "I thought that man was hurting you, Big Bird."

When children see that Big Bird - Mr. Rogers wanted me to lift the puppet which is so big I have to get inside, off - it's a series of hoops that create the shape of Big Bird, and then there's netting and feathers, they're all real feathers so he looks nice and real - we found out that children would NOT have liked seeing Big Bird take it off on Mr. Rogers. I said "I'm sorry, I can't do that!" Jim Henson didn't want me to do it either.

So we made a compromise with Mr. Rogers.

And that was that I would just go to the Make-Believe Land, and say "OK, this is Make-Believe" and have some other puppeteers - a good friend of mine, Bob Brown, would show how HIS puppets worked - little marionettes on strings - they don't look so real anyway, like Big Bird did to little kids.

We're not trying to fool them, we're just trying to entertain them, and let them know that their friend Big Bird is not just a man in a giant suit.

Well, one time I was in Georgia, at a small TV station, surrounded by children - Big Bird was sitting on an ottoman - and his pupil let go, and left him with one eye with a black pupil, and one eye blank white! I saw what happened on a monitor, through some feathers we pulled off, and I said "Oh you better stop!"

Well, there I am on television, and one eye is blank. And I said "You can't show this! You'll have to stop." It wasn't live TV, it was on tape, and they wouldn't stop, so I said "I have to apply a new eye" and they said "No, we think it's funny!" and I said "No - It's barbaric - the kids are saying Big Bird's eye fell out!"

It's never just a puppet.

Because I feel that's diminishing what Big Bird does. He's not just a puppet.

I think Sesame Street is fascinating to a lot of people, not just children. Because we tried to make it appealing to little children and to grownups. There's a period of time in children's lives where they don't like things they perceive as "made for babies." And my daughter, Jessie, loved the puppets until she was 9 or so. And then she sat with her friends, and they said "That's such a baby show." But when she got to be 13, or 14, she said she loved watching the show and got the jokes we put in for grownups.

So the children come back.

After a little period of saying "I'm a big girl now!" or "I'm a big boy now."

So we try to make the show great for EVERYBODY who wants to watch.

It's an age between 8-14, I think, where they have to feel that they're more "grown-up" than they really are.

It feels incredible. Because I've had that happen a lot, when I bring out Oscar - I just say 2 words with him- and it's very nostalgic for them. And that's why they're so pleased, and excited. Because nostalgia, and memories of your happy times as a child, makes you feel pretty good!