The Robinson family (Sesame Street)

Sesame Street was created, through private and federal grants, as a television series to "give the disadvantaged child a fair chance at the beginning," as co-creator Joan Ganz Cooney wrote in the 1967 study The Potential Uses of Television in Preschool Education.[1]

Especially before the inclusion of the Muppets in Street scenes,[2] Sesame Street was centered on Gordon and Susan. As per suggested by Harvard psychologist Jerome Kagan, Cooney advised in The Potential Uses that a series should feature a male lead, to "provide continuity from one segment to another, establish the tone, and function, subtly, as the master teacher." A male teacher would both encourage kids to emulate an intelligent adult, and "defeminize the early learning atmosphere."[1] The decision to create such a character was backed up by research in the US government study The Negro Family: The Case for National Action. Known better as the Moynihan report, Assistant Secretary of Labor Daniel Patrick Moynihan suggested "the Negro community has been forced into a matriarchal structure which, because it is so out of line with the rest of the American society, seriously retards the progress of the group as a whole."[3] His report suggested that, after the slavery-era of US history, the rise of out-of-wedlock births, absent fathers, and female-headed families only perpetuated cyclical poverty.[4]

In his memoirs, Roscoe Orman who portrays Gordon Robinson commented that "what the character most significantly symbolizes, his most distinguishing and praiseworthy attribute, may lie in the simple fact that he is a man of African descent who for over three decades has been a respected and beloved father figure to young people of all races and all social classes all across America and beyond." He continues to say that while "born in a country that was founded and has continued to thrive upon the subjugation of his ancestors, he harbors no hatred or thirst for revenge but, on the contrary, is a model of patience, understanding, and civic responsibility who embraces all of humankind."[5]

Orman went on to describe his on-screen wife, Susan, as an "exemplary model of African-American womanhood" and the couple's on-going relationship "in sharp contrast to the prevailing images of black men that have been projected within mainstream American culture since and especially prior to Sesame Street’s premiere and certainly during the formative years of my own generation."[5]

Feminists objected to the character of Susan because they felt she fulfilled stereotypes they were against, that of a stay-at-home wife. Historian Robert W. Morrow defends her creators, stating that their goal was presenting Gordon as a strong black male capable of supporting his family. Sesame Street's producers responded to this criticism by making Susan a nurse during the show's second season, and by introducing Gordon's sister, Olivia, in 1976.[6]

Actors were selected for the roles of Gordon, Susan, Bob, and Mr. Hooper by an audience of children who had watched videotaped performances.[7] While some shows replace actors appearing in pilot episodes due to audience involvement, casting control this early on was and is unusual. In a series of test pilots, Garrett Saunders played Gordon; records of his appearance were lost by producers, and his identity unknown until his family identified him in 2011.[8]

Matt Robinson had joined Children's Television Workshop to assist in the development of Sesame Street, producing and overseeing filmed segments focusing on the diversity of different characters on the show. Robinson was eventually chosen to play the fictional character of Gordon in the series, after the performance of the character by Saunders in test episodes did not work out as the producers hoped.[8] Gordon was the first character with spoken lines in the show, as a result of difficulty in finding someone to fill the figure. This was against his original intentions with joining the show as he preferred a behind-the-scenes role, and was initially reluctant to take the part. Dolores Robinson commented on his backseat role on the set with, "He was by nature shy, and he knew that they were having a difficult time casting Gordon. And the people overseeing the taping up in the booth, peering at the monitors, kept saying, ‘Matt knows what to do. He should be the Gordon.’"[9] He ultimately resigned from the role in 1972.

In early episodes, it was often Gordon introducing and concluding the program.

Loretta Long was chosen to play the lead role of Susan. Her prior experience included hosting Soul!, a variety series on NET (later PBS). Initially, she was a supply teacher for schools in the Bronx area, which reportedly surprised and confused many young students.[7] Long earned her doctorate in Urban Education in 1973 from the University of Massachusetts Amherst, during the show's fourth season. Because she had grown up on a farm in Michigan, the show's writers established that Susan had as well.

Sesame Street’s first episode centers on Gordon taking a girl named Sally around Sesame Street, to get acquainted with everyone and everything in her new neighborhood.

From its inception, Sesame Street has been highly scrutinized by critics of all kinds. While it was specially conceived to represent racial harmony, as suggested by followers of Dr. King, the "second-wave" feminist movement had not yet risen to prominence. Cynthia Eaton and Susan Chase of the National Organization for Women studied the series, in particular male and female interaction. It insisted that the program marginalized women and their role in society.

"After they presented their observations and concerns about our institutionalizing stereotypes, Jon Stone said, 'Well, let's give Susan a career.'"[7] He was the primary director for the show. She became a public health nurse, who would run immunization clinics on Sesame Street. Gordon also was regularly shown helping her with household chores. Long recalled to Cooney in 1976 that, "I was too nice at the beginning, the great dispenser of milk and cookies."[10] Some feminists still referred to her as "a hapless, hopelessly vague mother", even after the change.[11]

Even with the addition of Sonia Manzano as the young, single woman Maria in the third season, critics still chided "All in all, Sesame Street has changed, from being incredibly sexist to being slightly less sexist"[11] This view was helped by characters like Betty Lou, "a simpering, querulous little girl with pigtails and a squeaky voice".[11]

Matt Robinson was, however, the voice of Roosevelt Franklin, a purple Muppet meant to represent an African American boy. While the skits with the character musically provided reading and writing concepts, critics found his jive-talking to be a cultural stereotype, and the producers of the series removed him.[7] Roscoe Orman provided the voice of one of Roosevelt's classmates, Hardhat Henry Harris, before joining the series as the third actor to play Gordon. The Roosevelt Franklin Muppet occasionally turned up in multi-Muppet musical routines such as "Clap, Clap, Clap" and the Canadian edition of Sesame Street continued to air the Franklin segments well into the early 1980s.

Miller as Gordon, with Long as Susan and Caroll Spinney as Oscar the Grouch. Undated publicity photo, likely from 1972.

Hal Miller became Gordon for a brief stretch, 1972 to 1974. Unlike Matt Robinson, Miller didn't sport a moustache, and was slightly heavier-set.[7]

Roscoe Orman became the third Gordon in 1974, a role he kept until 2016. "The kids who were on the show that first season would not accept me as Gordon," Orman remarked. "One day there's Hal [Miller] as Gordon and the next day there's this new guy who says he's Gordon...the kids, both on the show and at home...they just assume that we are that person we're playing."[12]

In 1985, Orman and his wife were about to have their second child together; Big Bird puppeteer Caroll Spinney mentioned this to his wife, Debra. They went to producer Dulcy Singer, suggesting that Gordon and Susan should have a child on the show. It was decided that they would adopt, instead of Susan being pregnant, and that Orman's newborn son Miles would take the role. It was revealed that Susan had been trying to become pregnant, but to no avail due to infertility. At age seven, the younger Orman quit the series, and was replaced by child actor Imani Patterson.

Before the series of episodes where Miles is adopted, Gordon and Susan lacked last names. "Robinson", named after original Gordon actor, Matt Robinson, was shown as Miles' last name on his adoption certificate.[7] Alternatively, Roscoe Orman has suggested that the name was revealed in a different storyline aired in 1991, involving Gordon teaching in the classroom. Writers felt that the students couldn't address their teacher as "Gordon", so Orman suggested "Mr. Robinson".

Similarly, Mr. Hooper's first name was only revealed on his GED,[7] Bob Johnson's last name went unrevealed for years, and Gina Jefferson's last name first appeared on the door of her new veterinary practice in 2002.

Roscoe Orman has garnered more screen time since season 35, playing Trash Gordon, the hero of a series of bedtime stories Oscar the Grouch reads to Slimey the Worm at the end of each episode. Based on Flash Gordon, Trash is an intergalactic traveller, who encounters odd creatures on each planet he visits. He escapes peril in each chapter, thanks to his quick thinking; when a living pile of rotten bananas confronts him, for example, it is soon chased away by an "Intergalactical Monkey" he happened to have with him.[13]

Roscoe Orman played Gordon from 1974 to 2016. He is seen here at the 2007 Texas Book Festival in Austin, Texas.

Looking back on his role, over the last 33 years, Orman commented, "If I could boast of no other major career accomplishment, having played a central role as I have in the development and continuation of this landmark series would alone have made my life sufficiently meaningful. The historical significance of Sesame Street and its surprising longevity have made my association with the show, in many regards, my life's crowning achievement."[5] However, Orman doesn't credit Sesame Street as having defined himself personally and his overall career; The Free Southern Theater of New Orleans and The New Lafayette Theatre of Harlem collectively take that honor.

By 2002, Imani Patterson left his role as Miles, and was replaced by actor Olamide Faison. As a recording artist of the mildly successful hip-hop group Imajin,[14] Faison could be used more frequently as a singer on the series. Plot lines like season 36 episode 4089 focused on Miles singing numerous 1960s-style parody songs for American Fruitstand.

In episode 4112 (2006), Miles graduated from high school alongside Gabi, despite the fact that the characters' respective births on the show occurred four years apart. A flashback in this episode also revealed that Miles was shy on his first day of school.

Loretta Long is the last remaining non-puppeteer actor on Sesame Street from its first episode, as Matt Robinson (Gordon for the first three seasons) left the show in 1972 and died in 2002, Will Lee (Mr. Hooper) died in 1982, and Bob McGrath left the show in 2016 and also died in 2022. While none of the actors have appeared in a significant number of episodes since about season 38, the longevity of their roles are with few precedents. Of the Muppets from the first episode—Big Bird, Oscar the Grouch, Kermit the Frog, Cookie Monster, and Bert and Ernie—all except Kermit are still major characters on the show. However, Jim Henson (Kermit and Ernie) died, with Steve Whitmire playing Ernie from 1993 to 2014, followed by Billy Barkhurst from 2014 to 2017, and then Peter Linz since 2017 (Kermit no longer appears); Frank Oz, busy as a director, puppeteered Grover, Bert, and Cookie Monster occasionally until 2012 (Eric Jacobson and David Rudman have largely taken over his respective characters); and Caroll Spinney retired in 2018 and died in 2019, thus handing over the role of Big Bird to Matt Vogel, and Oscar the Grouch to Jacobson.

On July 28, 2016, it was announced that Gordon (along with Bob and Luis) would be dropped from the show as Orman, McGrath, and Delgado's contracts were not renewed as part of Sesame Workshop's re-tooling for the series.[15] Following Orman, McGrath, and Delgado's departures, the workshop stated that they would continue to represent them at public events.[16]

Since Sesame Street Magazine published calendars in every issue, character birthdays were established. Gordon's is February 23, Susan's is May 3, and Miles' is December 4. Gordon's brother Stevie was born on October 20.