‘Sesame Street’ Begins Third Decade of Bringing Laughs, Lessons to Kids

In the beginning there was Joan Ganz Cooney and a secretary. Then came Big Bird, Bert and Ernie, the Cookie Monster and more. They still ask if you can tell them, please, how to get to “Sesame Street.”

Millions of kids--many of whom have grown into adults--know the way well. The series starts its 21st year today on public TV, having grown to a staff of 92, including 10 actors and 13 Muppet players.

For some time now, its audience has been more than American. Its English-language version is seen in more than 80 countries, and it has 15 international co-productions, its makers say.

But it’s still aimed at kids ages 1 through 5, particularly those of poor, inner-city families. And the goal of the one-hour series is the same now as in 1969: to teach as well as entertain.

Now costing $12 million annually to make--80% of that from commercial licensing of its characters and 20% from PBS stations, according to its makers--it began with definite marching orders.

“I said, ‘Let’s do a kind of “Laugh-In” for kids,’ ” recalls Cooney, the founder and since 1988 chairwoman of the Children’s Television Workshop, maker of “Sesame Street” and subsequent teach-the-tykes shows.

There have been some additions and changes, the biggest of the latter the expanded range of what Cooney calls “curriculum aims.”

Among other things, today’s “Street” watchers get a taste of math and science.

And, Cooney says, they also see teen-agers, a student from Japan and people with various disabilities, from Down’s syndrome to hearing and vision problems.

“We’ve dealt with death, with love and marriage, with pregnancy and childbirth, with adoption, with anger,” she says. “We also have a goal of teaching children to cooperate. . . . We consciously model the acceptance of all people, of treating people kindly.”