50 years of Sesame Street
Sesame Street, the American educational TV program featuring Jim Henson's Muppets, has long been a favorite with children and adults alike since it first aired on November 10, 1969. Over the years it has won many Emmy and Grammy awards, more so than any other children's TV programme. The show celebrates its 50th anniversary this year.
Joe Namath, quarterback for the New York Jets, chats with Big Bird during taping of the children's television show Sesame Street in a New York studio, Monday, Sept. 25, 1972. (AP Photo/Harry Harris)
New York Knicks' Ernie Grunfeld joins his Sesame Street namesake on the court at New York's Madison Square Garden, Dec. 17, 1982. (AP Photo/G. Paul Burnett)
Astronaut Sally Ride, who was a member of the Space Shuttle 7 crew in June 1983, poses with Sesame Street character Grundgetta on the set of the children's televison show in New York City, Friday, Jan. 7, 1984. Ride appears in a segment for the program in which she teaches children about the letter 'A,' as in astronaut. (AP Photot/Dave Pickoff)
Famed heart surgeon Dr. Denton Cooley is examined by another famous doctor, Sesame Street's doctor Muppet character during a party on Feb. 14, 1985 in Houston, where Dr. Cooley was named "Dr. Heartbeat." Dr. Cooley was made an honorary member of Sesame Street live at a valentines day party for young patients at Texas Heart Institute in Houston's Texas Medical Center complex. (AP Photo/R.J. Carson)
First lady Rosalynn Carter and daughter Amy hosted a Christmas party, Dec. 21, 1978 in Washington at the White House for diplomatic children from all embassies in the Washington area and Sesame Street's Big Bird showed up for the party. Shown from left meeting Big Bird are Amy Carter holding nephew James, 1 ½, Jason, 3 and standing in back are newscaster Walter Cronkite and Mrs. Carter. Cronkite took part in the program for the children. (AP Photo/Mark Wilson)
Big Bird, the character from Sesame Street, gets a hug from first lady Betty Ford, left, as daughter, Susan Ford, second from right, and Santa Claus take part in festivities during a Christmas party for Children of the Diplomatic Corps at the White House, Tuesday, Dec. 14, 1976, Washington, D.C. (AP Photo)
First lady Barbara Bush chats with Big Bird and several children while taping a special segment of PBS' Sesame Street for its 21st season, Oct. 19, 1989 at the Children's Television Workshop in New York. (AP Photo/Mark Lennihan)
First lady Hillary Rodham Clinton smiles as she looks at Big Bird from the Chinese-language version of Sesame Street, during a dedication ceremony at the new Shanghai Children's Medical Center, China's most advanced children's hospital, Tuesday, June 30, 1998. (AP Photo/Katsumi Kasahara)
Lily Tomlin plays “Ernestine” the telephone operator in a skit with Oscar the grouch when she appeared on the TV show Sesame Street in New York on Sept. 19, 1988. (AP Photo/Marty Lederhandler)
Neighborhood children are gathered at the house of Shirley Foster, sitting in background in New York, May 13, 1988, to watch the season finale of Sesame Street. Maris and Luis, two of the characters of the series, got married in what is the first wedding in Sesame Street's 19 years. (AP Photo/Dave Bookstaver)
Big Bird, of the educational television show Sesame Street, shakes hands with Sen. Daniel Inouye, D-Hawaii, chairman of the Senate Commerce Science and Transportation Communications subcommittee on Capitol Hill in Washington, on April 12, 1989. The subcommittee is holding hearings on competitiveness in educational children's television. (AP Photo/John Duricka)
Jim Henson, puppeteer, is holding his 1989 Emmy award in Pasadena, Calif., Sept. 17, 1989. Henson is the creator of The Muppets and the creative force behind the television series Sesame Street. (AP Photo)
Big Bird clutches his statuette at the 21st Annual Daytime Emmy Awards gala in New York, May 25, 1994. Sesame Street, on PBS, in which Big Bird stars, won the award for outstanding children’s series. (AP Photo/Luc Novovitch)
Israeli muppet Daffy, left, visits Palestinian muppet Haneen on the set of a Palestinian street Tuesday, April 1, 1997 during the taping of a joint Israeli-Palestinian production of Sesame Street. (AP Photo/Will Yurman)
In this Aug. 22, 2001 photo, original muppet characters Bert, left, and Ernie, from the children's program Sesame Street, are shown in New York. (AP Photo/Beth A. Keiser)
Jim Henson, creator of the Muppets, poses with one of his puppets, known as Kermit the Frog, in this February 1988 photo. (AP Photo)
United Nations Secretary General Kofi Annan laughs as he films a scene with the Muppet character Elmo during a taping of Sesame Street, Thursday, Dec. 6, 2001, in New York. (AP Photo/Marty Lederhandler)
Several Muppets from the cast of Sesame Street surround United Nations Secretary General Kofi Annan as Annan taped an appearance for the PBS series, Thursday, Dec. 6, 2001, in New York. (AP Photo/Marty Lederhandler)