Sesame Street Staff, `Residents' Celebrate Show's 30th Anniversary.

While Harvard's campus may be diverse, and its student body unique, undergraduates all share a common bond--Sesame Street. Who doesn't know the words to "C is For Cookie" or remember Bert teaching his pet pigeon to play checkers?

The people behind Sesame Street came to Askwith Lecture Hall at the Graduate School of Education Monday night with "Sesame Street Unpaved," a behind-the-scenes view of the world's best-known children's television show. The show is currently celebrating its 30th year.

To introduce the show and warm up the audience, a reel of highlights was played before the panel discussion. The audience joined in with the on-screen figures and sang along with "Rubber Ducky," "I Love Trash," remaining silent during the segment concerning Mr. Hooper's death.

Clearly, Sesame Street has had an impact on American culture.

Michael Loman, the show's executive producer, explained the success of Sesame Street as stemming from planning which preceded its production, most of which took place at the Harvard Graduate School of Education.

During the panel presentation, head writer Lou Berger explained that each episode of Sesame Street is made up of six serious "bits" and one muppet "insert." All of these show parts must support a given year's curriculum, which changes to meet social needs determined through conferences with preschool educators and in-house consultants.

Through this process of updating both fluffy and educational inserts, Loman noted, for those watching Sesame Street, "Every minute is teaching."

Show executives maintain that every Sesame Street show is new, with 65 shows taped each year, about two shows per day from August to December. Actors are expected to be able to do each scene right the first time, and those participating in the panel called the philosophy "Down, dirty and in the can."

Dr. Loretta Long, who plays Susan, remarked that Sesame Street characters are not simply teachers, but serve a more basic and almost spiritual role.

"We're guides, not really the kind of didactic teacher that I was trained as," Long said.

Indeed, Susan was the first character on television to transition (in 1969) from a housewife to a career woman, and more recently to working mother. Long said her character is testament to the show's ability to fairly portray real-life situations for a younger audience.

"Even though we hang out with eight-foot yellow birds, we are more reality-based than many other shows," she said.

The characters are only as strong as the writers, according to Berger. The show's head writer took time during the panel to discuss the interplay between writers who are concerned with "what can I do with Grover in restaurant" and the necessity of meeting curriculum goals for each scene.

"At every level, curriculum, adult and child viewing, it's funny," he said.

The show's songs, which are all original, also work on many levels, according to Chris Cerf, Sesame Street composer. This helps insure that children watch with their parents, promoting familial communication.

The clear star of the Education School program was Elmo and his puppeteer Kevin Clash. Elmo stole the show repeatedly by questioning an especially earnest panelist, or simply by sitting on the shoulder of the person next to him.

Indeed, when panel moderator Pamela Green, vice president of Children's Television Workshop, announced Clash's part Emmy-award win, Elmo became rather agitated.

"Emmy should have gone to Elmo," the furry red muppet said. "Elmo could have put it in his bag."

When members of the audience questioned the availability of old episodes, Green took the opportunity to announce that CTW and Nickelodeon have entered into a partnership to launch "Noggin," a digital children's entertainment network that will show, among other things, old Sesame Street shows. The announcement was quickly followed by an audience request for an address to which interested job-seekers could send resumes.

During the informal discussion that followed panelist comments, and the Vreception afterward, panelists told theirfavorite muppet stories, some apocryphal, somesimply hilarious.

Kermit the frog began life as muppet creatorJim Henson's aunt's coat. Grover did not start outas a blue monster and Oscar the Grouch wasoriginally orange. In fact, many "star" muppetsbegan as AMs (Any Muppet), new muppets created forbit parts that may later rise in popularity.

The most memorable stories told during thereception following the panel discussion dealtwith children's desire to maintain the illusionthat muppets are real. Clash said that when kidstalk to him with Elmo present, "they don't evensee me."

Loman concluded by saying that Sesame StreetUnpaved has already provided them with a chance tosee what college students think about the shownow, as graduates of Sesame Street.

"It's good for us to get out of our cave andsee what college students think," he said

Kermit the frog began life as muppet creatorJim Henson's aunt's coat. Grover did not start outas a blue monster and Oscar the Grouch wasoriginally orange. In fact, many "star" muppetsbegan as AMs (Any Muppet), new muppets created forbit parts that may later rise in popularity.

The most memorable stories told during thereception following the panel discussion dealtwith children's desire to maintain the illusionthat muppets are real. Clash said that when kidstalk to him with Elmo present, "they don't evensee me."

Loman concluded by saying that Sesame StreetUnpaved has already provided them with a chance tosee what college students think about the shownow, as graduates of Sesame Street.

"It's good for us to get out of our cave andsee what college students think," he said