Listen to me on TV CONFIDENTIAL:
As always, the further we go back in Hollywood history, the more that fact and legend become intertwined. It's hard to say where the truth really lies.
November 18, 1953
Kevin Nealon is born.
Actor and comedian, best known as a cast member on Saturday Night Live from 1986 to 1995, acting in several of the Happy Madison films, for playing Doug Wilson on the Showtime series Weeds, and providing the voice of the title character, Glenn Martin, on Glenn Martin, DDS.
November 18, 1953
Kevin Nealon is born.
Actor and comedian, best known as a cast member on Saturday Night Live from 1986 to 1995, acting in several of the Happy Madison films, for playing Doug Wilson on the Showtime series Weeds, and providing the voice of the title character, Glenn Martin, on Glenn Martin, DDS.
November 18, 1978
Mass suicide at Jonestown
November 20, 1943
Veronica Hamel is born, in Philadelphia.
She began a fashion modeling career after being discovered by Eileen Ford. In her first film role, she played a
model in 1971's Klute, followed by roles in the disaster
films Beyond the
Poseidon Adventure and When Time Ran Out.
She was the model in the last cigarette commercial televised in the U.S. (for Virginia Slims, aired at 11:59 p.m. on New Year's Day 1971 on The Tonight Show). Hamel had been a model in print ads not just for Slims, but also for Pall
Mall Gold cigarettes.
Hamel started appearing in TV series in 1975. She was
considered for the role of Kelly Garrett on Charlie's Angels, but reportedly declined the role. Producer Aaron Spelling cast Jaclyn Smith instead.
Hamel is probably best remembered for playing Joyce
Davenport, the hard-driving public defender and love interest of police captain
Frank Furillo, on the long-running TV series Hill Street Blues from 1981 to 1987. She was a five-time Emmy nominee
for that role.
Alan Alda's 1988 film A New
Life cast Hamel in a leading role
as his doctor and love interest. She was cast as Elizabeth, the wife of Charles Grodin's character in the movie Taking
Care of Business in 1990. She was
named on Us magazine's "Best Dressed" list for 1983. Hamel portrayed Lily Munster in the 1995 Halloween telefilm Here
Come the Munsters in which Yvonne De Carlo had a cameo.
In 2002, she also appeared on Hill Street Blues creator Steven Bochco's legal drama Philly. In recent
years, Hamel had a recurring role in the NBC television series Third Watch and appeared as Margo Shephard, Jack's
mother, in the ABC series Lost.
November 24, 1978
David Letterman makes his first guest appearance on The
Tonight Show.
Letterman became a
favorite on the show, serving as guest host more than 50 times. By 1982,
Letterman had his own late-night comedy talk show, Late Night with David
Letterman, which ran until 1993. When NBC chose Jay Leno instead of
Letterman to become the replacement when host Johnny Carson retired, Letterman
changed networks and launched Late Show on rival network CBS.
Sesame Street Episode 1839, now known to children and fans as "Farewell, Mr.
Hooper" airs.
When actor Will Lee died in 1982, it left the producers of Sesame Street with the question of how to deal with the loss of Mr. Hooper, a beloved character who had been on the show since the first episode. Dulcy Singer, executive producer at the time, said that "if we left it unsaid, kids would notice." One way out was to avoid the issue of death entirely. Producers toyed with the idea of telling viewers that the character had gone away. Caroll Spinney said that "we didn't know what to do. [We] thought perhaps he could just retire, move to Florida or something, but then the producers thought that the best thing to do would be to actually deal with death." After much discussion and research, the producers decided to have the character of Mr. Hooper pass away as well, and use the episode to teach its young viewers about death as a natural part of life and that it is okay to grieve and feel sad when a loved one passes away.
When actor Will Lee died in 1982, it left the producers of Sesame Street with the question of how to deal with the loss of Mr. Hooper, a beloved character who had been on the show since the first episode. Dulcy Singer, executive producer at the time, said that "if we left it unsaid, kids would notice." One way out was to avoid the issue of death entirely. Producers toyed with the idea of telling viewers that the character had gone away. Caroll Spinney said that "we didn't know what to do. [We] thought perhaps he could just retire, move to Florida or something, but then the producers thought that the best thing to do would be to actually deal with death." After much discussion and research, the producers decided to have the character of Mr. Hooper pass away as well, and use the episode to teach its young viewers about death as a natural part of life and that it is okay to grieve and feel sad when a loved one passes away.
After consulting with numerous child psychologists, Norman Stiles, the head writer for the show, prepared a script
designed to deal with the issue of death on Sesame Street. The cause of death
was not discussed on the show, nor is the process of growing old. Valeria
Lovelace, director of research at the show's production company, the Children's
Television Workshop, said "We were advised to take the direct approach...
Children don't understand words like 'passing away.'" The show took an
honest and direct approach. Show producer Fran Kaufman said that
the goal was to avoid "sugar-frosting" the message.
That message, according to the producers, was
"[Mr. Hooper] died, he won't be coming back, and we are all going to miss
him...Another message of the segment was that children have to understand that
they will continue to be cared for."
In the episode, Big Bird thinks that Mr. Hooper will return later, but is told about the
irreversibility of death. Although being reminded of already being told Mr.
Hooper died, Big Bird, like many kids, shows his initial inability to
comprehend this concept. But Big Bird's concern soon switches to his own needs.
"He's gotta come back," Big Bird exclaimed, "Who's going to take
care of the store? Who's gonna make me birdseed milkshakes and tell me
stories?" The other adults reassure him that everything will be okay and
he will be taken care of. Big Bird gets frustrated by these comments exclaiming
"but it won't be the same". Bob addresses Big Bird's
concern head-on saying "You're right, Big Bird. It'll never be the same
without him. But you know something? We can all be very happy that we had a
chance to be with him and to know him and to love him a lot, when he was
here."
The farewell episode aired November 24, 1983 (Thanksgiving Day). Loretta Long noted, in an interview on The Tavis
Smiley Show, "We were very careful to do it over the Thanksgiving
holiday, where there would be a lot of adults in the house to help the
children."
The filming of the scene was very emotional for the
cast and crew, whom had worked closely with Will Lee for 14 years. Genuine
tears were present in almost all on set. "We barely got through that
show," said Bob McGrath in a 2006 interview. "Any emotions you saw were
real. We tried to do a pickup and we got about a minute into it and we all fell
apart emotionally. It crossed over not only from PBS, but all of the networks.
They all felt it was such an important show that they took the time to
highlight it."
Mr. Hooper's death received a lot of press and drew
many viewers. Reports stated that the episode was used to stimulate discussion
of death in many homes. Valeria Lovelace commented, "It was a relief to us
all that the segment worked as we hoped it would. It was really scary
beforehand; we didn't know for sure how it was going to turn out." The
episode was soon selected by the Daytime Emmys as being one of the 10 most influential moments in
daytime television.
Aside from receiving critical acclaim, the episode
garnered success with its target viewers. Loretta Long explained, "People
come up to us and say, 'Thank you. Now we can explain what happened to grandma,
what happened to grandpa.'"
The episode was later adapted into the book, "I'll Miss You, Mr. Hooper" by episode writer Norman Stiles. The full, uncut version of this episode is available for viewing as part of the collection at The Museum of Television and Radio. The scene with the adults explaining Mr. Hooper's death was released on the DVD Sesame Street: 40 Years of Sunny Days, while Sesame Street Unpaved included a script for the scene, and portions of this scene have appeared in Sesame Street: 20 and Still Counting, Sesame Street's All-Star 25th Birthday: Stars and Streets Forever, Sesame Street Unpaved, A&E Biography: Sesame Street, and The Street We Live On.
“The best episode we ever did
was Mr. Hooper's death. Those were real tears. Will was the sweetest man”. -- Caroll Spinney
No comments:
Post a Comment