This must be the last picture taken of me on the Sesame Street set as Maria. (I always liked to be photographed by Oscar’s can so I could be associated with my favorite Muppet character.)
After the news of my retirement from Sesame Street became so public I look at this photo and ponder all that’s been said. I don’t want to come across as being falsely modest, I always knew the effect the show had on people, but it was, and is still gratifying to hear it from so many individuals. The outpouring of love and affection has been over whelming. Folks have said everything I want to hear; that they grew up on the show, that I had impacted on their lives, that they related to me and I was their favorite character. Some have even said I was the first Latina they ever knew off.
It has made me feel wonderful.
I remember first seeing the show at the student union of Carnegie-Melon University. In the funk of anger I was always in, I watched James Earl Jones recite the alphabet in a very deliberate manner as the letters flashed over his head. I thought it was a show that taught lip reading. But seeing Susan and Gordon talking to me from a neighborhood that resembled many of the Bronx neighborhoods I had lived in lifted my spirits! I was hooked.
My love affair with television had began long before, as I watched hours of Leave It To Beaver and Father Knows Best on a tiny black and white set, in the mid-fifties in the Bronx. The world I saw was not the one I lived in and I wondered where I would eventually fit it.
People have asked why I’ve stayed so long on the show. I came of age in the late 60’s, a very idealistic time in America. Students were taking over college campuses and the Civil Rights movement was at its peak. I was in the throes of idealistic fervor and Sesame Street fanned the flames. Sesame Street set out to close the education gap and to do its share to eliminate racism. I wanted to help them do it.
People want to know why I chose this particular moment to leave? Of course, there are many answers. The short one is that I got the writing bug with my first picture book No Dogs Allowed and now want to devote all my time to being an author. But there is also this — my friends and I, perhaps because we love theater, talk about having a third act. As we like a beginning and middle and an end or finale in a theatrical piece, we like it in our lives as well. It is time for me to begin my third act.
Maria,
I just wanted to say “thank you” and that you helped teach me to read. I was born in Manhattan in 1969. I have memories of watching you on television in my Aunt Amy’s kitchen; while my Mom was working. I would practice my spelling with you daily. I even remember you talking to Big Bird when Mr. Hooper died. You remind me so much of my Mom who grew up on the Lower East Side and looked like she could have been your sister. I’m 46 years old now but when I heard that you are retiring I wanted to let you know just how special you are. I wish I had met you. Good luck with everything. You deserve it.
I agree full heartedly. Raposo & Moss were very skliled at their craft. For some reason, ‘The Ladybug Picnic’ has stuck in my head over the years as well. How about the top 10 Muppet Show songs? There were some fantastic tunes in that show. Remember ‘Mississipi Mud’? We like to think that our tunes don’t make people rip their hair out. Click on on our name and go check out our site if you’re interested in hearing what we sound like. We’re called Gogo Bonkers!
I’m 41 as of late but I remember growing up watching you and the others. This was the only show my mother would turn on for me. My plates, cups, etc were all of Sesame street. The alphabets entertained me when I didn’t like eating my dinner and my Mother made me sit there for long periods until I did. There was so much about this show that can’t be summed up but for me you and everyone else were my friends as I was an only child for a long time.
More importantly thank you for staying consistent and being there. So many kids didn’t have the consistency in their home that you all showed on the show. Showing up every day made a difference to me as a child and now knowing after 40+ years you decided to leave but only after you committed your life to helping children, at the time, like myself learn in simple way. I could Sesame Street as helping my learning abilities. Today I work and own my own business it isn’t easy yet it has been made better because of my early beginnings which you were apart of. #SesameStreet
Gracias Maria por los años