I just was going to do a Google search and I saw Cookie Monster! Google is celebrating the fact that Sesame Street came on TV 40 years ago.

40 years ago, I was in high school. I would check out Sesame Street after school.

Then, as now, I think it is a very clever show.

Hey, I’m not ashamed to like puppets! When I was little, I loved Kukla Fran and Ollie. Ollie was a dragon. I cut up a lot of my father’s argyle socks to make my own version of dragon puppets.

Winchell Mahoney Time, another puppet show, had Paul Winchell (who became the original voice of “scrubbing bubbles) had Jerry Mahoney and Knucklehead Smith.

Before that,  The Ed Sullivan Show had Senor Winces. He made his puppet from coloring a face on his hand. Every Friday after school, I would take out my markers and make my hand into a puppet. It would be mostly washed off by Monday when I had to go back to school. Topo Giggio was on Ed Sullivan, too, but I liked Senor Winces better.

Before that, and before my time, Edgar Bergan had Mortimer Snerd and Charlie McCarthy. I see them in old movies. Edgar and his puppets did a radio show. Puppets on the radio? Yes indeed!

Now, there is Jeff Dunham and Terry Fader. There is Dunham’s Bubba J. There’s a good resemblance to Mortimer Snerd, don’t you think?

I’m sure I’m forgetting some of the puppet shows I watched, and I hope somebody will post and remind me.

So, am I ashamed that I like to watch Sesame Street once in a while? Nope.

Happy Anniversary to Cookie, Grover, Bert, Ernie, Big Bird, and everybody else! (Grover is my favorite character – His bit where he teaches “Near” and “Far” cracks me up just thinking of it. Poor Grover running to and from the camera, over and over and over. Edited to add: I found a video of it:

Edited to add: Oh no, I almost forgot Shari Lewis and Lambchop.

I could post about puppets all day long…..

Edited to add:

Today’s Google page is dedicated to Bert and Ernie:

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