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With November 2009 being the 40th Anniversary of Sesame Street, I wanted to feature one of the shows which dealt with the death of a major character, which I had only learned about after listening to a segment on "C is for Controversy" about Sesame Street on NPR's Talk of the Nation.

Episode 1839, titled 'Farewell, Mr. Hooper,' aired Thanksgiving Day in 1983.  The actor, Will Lee, who had played Mr. Hooper had died almost a year earlier in December of 1982, but the cast had already shot many of the episodes for the upcoming year so while the producers deliberated on how to address this issue, many episodes ran with Mr. Hooper.  Numerous options were considered: Mr. Hooper moved to Florida and retired, maybe get another actor, or simply not mention it.   Ultimately the show decided to allow the character Mr. Hooper to die as well and to discuss the topic directly on the show.  From a 1983 NY Times article:

But Dulcy Singer, the program's executive producer, said, ''we felt we ought to deal with it head-on.''

''If we left it unsaid, kids would notice,'' she said. ''Our instincts told us to be honest and straightforward.''

Child psychologists, religious leaders and other experts were consulted to help decide how to best present the death of Mr. Hooper.  This 'curriculum bath' was devised to let the writers soak in multiple different viewpoints from experts.  The staff worked with focus groups to see if the right message would resonate with children.  The whole process to write this episode and perfect it took months.  Parents were encouraged to watch the episode with their children.  It was aired Thanksgiving Day which would help ensure adults would be watching too.

Valeria Lovelace discusses her work as director of research on the show:

"Children sometimes have to face death in their own lives. They should be aware that death is permanent," Lovelace says. "We showed that life on Sesame Street would go on, that Mr. Hooper would be missed but someone else would take care of the store and look after Big Bird.

"We did not specify how Mr. Hooper died," Lovelace says. "The terms old and sick were not used."  The staff considered, then rejected, the use of film flashbacks of scenes with Mr. Hooper. "This would have confused the youngest children," Lovelace says. "For them, if something moves, it's alive."

The decision to deal with death independent of religious overtones fit with the secular educational philosophy of Sesame Street.  The main focus was to highlight that Mr. Hooper would be remembered fondly in all of the characters memories as opposed to discussing complex and family specific spiritual issues such as the existence of an afterlife.  The allowance of sadness and grief and anger as normal reactions to loss was also underscored.  The cause of death was not mentioned and thankfully they actually used the words 'died' and 'dead' instead of potentially confusing euphemisms such as 'passed away.'

The whole episode dealt with issues around coping with loss.  In one of the opening scenes a character Forgetful Jones starts hollering and forgets why he was getting so excited in the first place.  Gordon then starts asking him questions about how he is feeling which leads him to remember why he was happy.  This is then mirrored later in the show when Gordon asks Big Bird why he is feeling sad.  Later in the episode Big Bird decides to 'listen to the adults talk' while playing around them.  When they quiz Big Bird about what they were talking about he remembers many facts very well highlighting that children can pick up on things even when they seem to be inattentive.

Here is the most prominent video clip from the show demonstrating how Big Bird's friends tell him about Mr. Hooper's death.  This scene was done in one take and the actors later declined to try and go over the material again because the first take was so difficult despite his death nearly one year earlier.  Grief and sadness of losing a loved one can still come back quite strongly despite the passage of time.



Here is a transcript of some of the key parts of the above clip where Mr. Hooper's death is explained.

The actor who played Big Bird, Carroll Spinney, discusses his relationship with Mr. Hooper/Will Lee and how the show approached death and dying.  There are some real touching moments in this clip.



At the end of the show to highlight the continuity of life, as Big Bird hangs his own drawing of Mr. Hooper* all the other cast members begin fawning over a newborn baby that has come to Sesame Street.  Big Bird cheers up some and exclaims, ''You know what's amazing about new babies,'' he says. ''One day they're not here and then there they are!''

* The drawing was made by Caroll Spinney who played Big Bird and still hangs in the nest til this day.

Some other interesting trivia I found while researching this topic:

• Will Lee walked in the Macy's Thanksgiving Day parade only two days before he died.  Author Michael Davis wrote a book about Sesame Street called Street Gang and on a radio show he shared a great story about a friend from the show visiting the actor Will Lee in the hospital days before his death.  His friend said, "Will If you promise if you'll urinate for the nurses I promise the next episode will be sponsored by the letter P." 
  
• The NYT actually had a readers Ask Big Bird a questions and I found this interesting comment from an adult who was helped from watching the "Farewell, Mr. Hooper" episode as an adult. 
• Interestingly the program to donate money in your will to Sesame Street to ensure the legacy of the show is called The Hooper Society.
• There is also a book based on the episode called, "I'll Miss You Mr. Hooper."  You can find the text and images from the book at ToughPigs.com - a website for Muppet fans who never grew up. You can read their commentary about the book when they discussed it a few years back for their book club.
  
• Other times Sesame Street has dealt with death was in 2002 in the South Africa version when they introduced a HIV positive muppet child named Kami.  Here is a short transcript of one exchange highlighting the importance of memories of the deceased:

Ms. FRAN BRILL (Actor): (as Kami) This is a memory box that my mom made for me
Unidentified Man (Actor): (as character) Yeah.
Ms. BRILL: (as Kami) before she died of AIDS.
Unidentified Man (Actor): (as character) Oh, yeah. I see. And what do you do with the memory box?
Ms. BRILL: (as Kami) Well, I look at all the beautiful things
Unidentified Man (Actor): (as character) Mm-hmm.
Ms. BRILL: (as Kami) inside my memory box when I want to remember all the good times I had with my mother.

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Franz Schubert was a gifted composer who died tragically young. Easily considered among the "greats" of composers, Schubert contracted syphilis in 1822 at the age of 25. He continued to compose, even as his health deteriorated. Many say that the works of his last 2 years became very dark, showing a deeper sense of spiritual awareness, and even a sense of the "beyond".

At the age of 20, Schubert put to music a poem by Matthias Claudius entitled "Death and the Maiden". The lied portrays a maiden begging for death to pass her by, and Death trying to persuade. The words from his song and Claudius's poem are as follows:

Maiden:
Stay away! Oh, stay away!
Go, fierce Death!
I am still young, please go!
And do not touch me.

Death:
Give me your hand, you beautiful and tender vision!
I am a friend, and come not to hurt you.
Be of good cheer! I am not cruel,
You will sleep softly in my arms!

This theme of Death and the Maiden is seen in art as well as music. Usually death is portrayed seducing or tempting a beautiful maiden. The idea that death would be a temptation began earlier in the 1400's when death was portrayed in the Dance Macbre, playing an instrument, luring people to death. Perhaps if Death was a temptation, then humankind could avoid the temptation, and avoid death? Death and the Maiden as a theme also conjures up a feeling of vulnerability in youth, as well as beauty. It leaves us with the feeling that life is fleeting, as beauty can be.

Schubert did an interesting thing. In 1824, a few years after his syphilis diagnosis, as his own mortality became central to himself, he re-worked his original Death and the Maiden lied into a string quartet. The theme, while similar to the original lied, takes on a very agonized and at times urgent tone. We might surmise the urgency he himself felt as he became more ill.

Listen first to the earlier lied by Schubert. This video from YouTube of Marian Anderson singing has a classic Death and the Maiden art image shown in the middle. (For email readers click on the post's title for re-direction to the original to see the video)

Second, here are two short videos I've done from the later string quartet. You'll notice the words from the original lied placed in the video, as well as suggestions to what you're hearing. The first is the maiden and the second Death answering. Hopefully you'll appreciate the dramatic difference in the earlier lied and later quartet and notice that the theme of "Death and the Maiden" took a very personal turn for Schubert.







A few short years later Schubert did die. He was only 31. It is believed he died from complications for syphilis, though some believe he may have died from mercury poisoning, which at the time was the standard treatment for syphilis.