[static crackles]
[man] This is probably one of the most famous birds in the country,
the original bird from Sesame Street.
- Hi there. Welcome to Dallas. - Hey, hi. How are you, Dallas?
-Hi there. Want a lift? -Oh, no, thanks.
I'm on my way to New York City to try to break into public television.
-Ah. -Big Bird, how do you feel?
-Well, I'm happy to be me! -[man chuckles]
Wow! Are all of these letters for me?
They sure are. See? "Big Bird, Sesame Street."
"Big Bird, Sesame Street." "Big Bird, Sesame Street."
Who could all these letters be from?
Oh, well, why doesn't Big Bird open them and see?
-Good idea, Elmo. -Thank you.
[man interviewing] You remember when Grover brought you a big bag of letters?
Oh, I sure do.
And it made me feel good that I could help others.
-[woman] Dear Big Bird... -Dear Big Bird...
-Dear Big Bird... -Dear Big Bird...
[woman] Dear Big Bird, Hearing your voice reminded me
how it was possible to find joy, even in all of my sadness.
In good times and in bad, I could always count on you to be there for me.
You were one of the first to show me what positive interactions look like.
I think that everyone should be treated how they want to be treated.
I want to be treated with kindness and-and respect,
so that's how I treat everyone I meet.
[woman #2] Not only did you help me learn English,
but also you helped me find my larger place in the world.
[woman #3] When my father died, I was consumed with grief.
I needed someone to help explain the loss to my daughter and you were there.
[Big Bird] Having friends is important
because it means that someone's always there when you need them.
You can help friends in a lot of different ways.
I'm always there for my friends because I love helping people.
It's one of my favorite things to do.
Dear Big Bird...
- [letter-writers] Dear Big Bird... - Dear Big Bird...
-Dear Big Bird... -Dear Big Bird...
Dear Big Bird...
[interviewer] Rolling, rolling.
Sound speed.
All right. Whenever you're ready.
"A" mark.
[interviewer] Can you introduce yourself, please?
Uh, hello there. I'm Big Bird.
[interviewer] Tell me the story of your life.
Oh, a story?
About me?
Well, I was born on the best street in the whole wide world, Sesame Street.
[man narrating] The year was 1969.
Apollo 11 landing on the moon, Woodstock,
and a little-known children's television program
landing in living rooms across the country.
[children] ♪ Sunny day ♪
[narrator] Its creators called it an experiment.
Could children actually learn from TV?
The original promise of Sesame Street
was to use television to prepare children for school.
-Thirteen. -Thirteen.
-Fourteen! -Fourteen!
[Rollin] The show was also supposed to narrow
the educational and cultural distance between poor and middle-class children.
[man #2] No other children's television show was bringing together
some of the greatest minds in television and in education in '69.
It was a very different idea of what children's television could be.
We had a number of meetings and seminars
about what we would be doing with this television show.
And one of the thoughts would be to create a character the child could live through.
-Hello, Big Bird. How are you? -Hi, Gordon.
-Okay. -I want you to meet Sally.
Sure. Oh, hi, Sally.
Sally? Where's Sally?
Big Bird, in theory, is himself the child.
[man] Look up.
Aah! Oh, my heavens. Ah! She's eight feet tall!
[man] No, she's not. She's only four feet tall.
I'm holding her up, Big Bird.
[Rollin] Big Bird himself, who will not be interviewed out of his feathers,
feels that he contributes another kind of learning on the show.
I try to learn, and they watch me learn.
And sometimes I'm a little slow at it,
and they can see maybe what I should do before I do it.
[Rollin] But the show teaches more than letters and numbers.
Making children aware of racial and cultural diversity
is an important part of Sesame Street.
[Big Bird] On Sesame Street, everyone's welcome.
It's the kind of place where we can celebrate
all the things that make us special
and learn to be smarter and stronger and kinder.
Can we be friends?
Yeah, I guess so.
[Big Bird] How about that?
A big bird and a little bird.
We're gonna be friends for a long, long time.
There's always a friend on Sesame Street, and they're always teaching me new things.
I guess that makes me one lucky bird.
-There's a word that I saw today. -Uh-huh.
Huh. I can hardly say it, and I sure don't know what it means.
I was walking around Sesame Street, trying to find new words,
when I stumbled upon a really, really long word.
-That's not a word! -It's not?
No, Big Bird. This is the alphabet.
- You mean, that's the alphabet? - That's right.
Teaching is sharing something that you know with someone else,
and sharing is an important part of being a friend. Mm-hmm.
[woman reporter] Turns out Big Bird may be the best substitute teacher after all.
Watching Sesame Street delivers educational benefits
as effective as preschool.
By watching the program,
children are more likely to stay at the appropriate grade level for their age,
especially for those in disadvantaged areas.
[interviewer] Hey, Big Bird, I have some of those letters from your friends.
- Do you wanna read one? - Oh, I'd love to read a letter.
Let's see here.
It says, "Dear Big Bird,
I was..."
Uh... Some pretty big words here. Do you think you could help me?
[interviewer] Why don't we get the letter writers to read them to you?
Okay, great!
[woman] Dear Big Bird, I was born in the United States in the 1980s
to traditional Indian immigrant parents.
My mother and father wanted to hold on tightly to their culture,
so we mostly spoke Hindi and were strict vegetarians at home.
At that time, there were very few South Asian families in our neighborhood.
My parents were very aware of the racism and prejudice we could face as immigrants.
So they encouraged me to try to embrace my new surroundings in America.
[school bell rings]
Even at this young age, I knew I was different,
and I was deathly afraid of how much I would stick out.
And because my parents primarily spoke Hindi,
they were concerned that I would fall behind in school.
On one of my first days of school, I called my teacher mausi,
which is Hindi for aunt.
I instantly realized no one, including my teacher, knew what I meant.
I worried that no one thought I was smart.
To help me, my parents would turn on Sesame Street every day.
Watching you and your friends became one of the best parts of my day.
Big Bird, you quickly helped me learn English.
You taught me how to make shapes of letters using my hands.
I picked up numbers and words and songs and was so entertained
that I barely noticed how much I was learning.
[Big Bird and woman] L-O-V-E.
[Big Bird] Love.
You and your friends also taught me kindness and acceptance.
I loved seeing people and characters of all colors, shapes, sizes, and ages
get along so well.
You taught me to cherish what makes each of us different
and showed me that we all have our own unique story to tell.
As I grew up, these ideas became more and more important to me.
They led me on the path of becoming a journalist.
I felt called to share stories about social justice from all over the world.
Big Bird, I want you to know just how much
you and your friends on Sesame Street impacted my life and the way I was raised.
I honestly don't know where or who I would be without you.
Wow. It's nice to help a friend.
[static crackles]
I would love to make you a hot fudge sundae.
Ah, ah, ah, ah, ah. You can just sit down, Mr. Looper.
I'll make John-John a hot fudge sundae, and you study.
Well, he's marvelous, huh? All right.
[male reporter] Sesame Street has been teaching children for 14 years,
teaching lots of children--
more than nine million kids under six watch every day--
teaching them about letters and numbers,
about cities, about life and people.
But this week, Sesame Street is teaching a new kind of lesson,
sharing with its viewers some thoughts on how to deal with death.
[news anchor] Will Lee died last night at the age of 74.
He's better known to millions of children in this country
as Mr. Hooper from Sesame Street.
For 13 years, he was the grandfather-like character
who often played straight man to Big Bird.
[interviewer] Do you remember Mr. Hooper?
Oh, sure. I-I remember Mr. Hooper.
He was a great friend.
- You spilled it all over. - It's a shame to waste this milk.
Oh, well, it's just a little mistake.
-Everybody makes mistakes. -Yeah.
I miss Mr. Hooper every time I walk past Hooper's Store.
He was my friend, and I loved seeing his smiling face.
He'd give me a wave and say, "Hi, Big Bird."
But I'm so happy that I had the chance to know him.
And I love thinking about the memories we had together.
[male reporter] When Will Lee died, Sesame Street had a choice.
They could fake it, have Mr. Hooper move to California, say.
Or they could deal with his death in terms their young viewers would understand.
[man] A three-to five-year-old needs to know just the essential facts.
You feel sad when somebody dies, and that's okay.
That you might feel a little angry, and that's okay.
And that, uh, you have your memories.
And, uh--
And that there is no explanation.
[interviewer] How did you feel when you found out he'd passed away?
I was sad, and I was confused.
I'd drawn him a picture, and I wanted to give it to him.
Where is he?
Big Bird, uh, don't you remember we told you?
Uh, Mr. Hooper died.
He-He's dead.
Oh, yeah. I remember.
Well, I'll give it to him when he comes back.
Big Bird, Mr. Hooper's not coming back.
Why not?
Big Bird, when people die...
they don't come back.
Ever?
No, never.
At first I was upset and I had a lot of questions.
But everybody told me that they would always be there for me.
Now, I can help people understand what happens when people die
and what we can do to remember them.
[woman] Dear Big Bird,
My daughter, Carly, spent the first five years of her life
watching nothing but Sesame Street.
It brought her so much joy and taught her many valuable lessons.
[girl] Dear Big Bird, I loved watching you so much
that my second birthday party was Sesame Street themed.
It was awesome. I watched it all the time with my grandfather.
I called him Papa.
My father loved spending time with Carly.
They spent hours together watching Sesame Street.
He was a somewhat reserved man, but around her, his walls would come down.
He could be himself. They had a very special bond.
Then, a month before she turned three,
my dad, her grandfather, died suddenly.
I was struggling with how to tell Carly, on top of handling my own grief,
which wasn't making it any easier.
I knew it was affecting her, but I didn't know what to do.
Big Bird, I thought of her love for you and your friends
and remembered how Sesame Street is always comforting during hard times.
I did a quick search and found the clip where you learn Mr. Hooper has died.
It'll never be the same around here without him.
[Big Bird] Mmm.
[man] But you know something?
We can all be very happy that we had a chance to be with him
and to love him a lot when he was here.
Yeah.
[woman] This was exactly how I wanted to tell her.
It was concrete, clear, and digestible.
It even helped me in my own grieving process.
From that point on, I had a better understanding of what had happened.
Even though I missed him a lot, I knew that it would be okay.
Big Bird, we were able to have this conversation with Carly
at such a young age, and that's all because of you.
-[static crackles] -Wow. Look at that.
-[wind blowing] -Yeah, what a storm.
I've never seen wind like this before.
How long do hurricanes last, Gordon?
[male reporter] The East Coast is being pummeled
with the power of a record-breaking superstorm.
[female reporter] This storm is so big, so vast,
60 million Americans will feel its power.
My nest was destroyed in a hurricane.
Mmm. It's true. It had everything a bird could ever want:
toys and books and pictures of my friends.
Nothing was left, except Mr. Hooper's picture.
It was scary and confusing.
-[Gordon] Oh, my. -[Big Bird] Ohh.
-G-Gordon, my home. -Oh, no.
- My nest! My everything! - Big Bird, Big Bird, Big Bird.
- I-It's all right. It's all right. -No, it's not.
You're right, you're right, Big Bird. It's not all right.
But it-it will be all right.
Well-- But my nest. What happened to my nest?
Well, the wind was so strong that it just blew it all apart.
Oh. [groans, sniffles]
It's all right, Big Bird. I'm here with you.
My friends told me that everything would be all right,
and together, we rebuilt my nest.
And it was bigger and better than ever.
Don't worry, Big Bird. We're all gonna help you and we're gonna fix this.
Yeah, I can fix these doors up like new.
Even though the hurricane blew away your nest,
it didn't blow away your friends.
[chuckles] That's true, Snuffy.
Every time I'm sitting in my nest,
I think about how lucky I am to have such great friends.
When my friends are feeling sad or lonely or scared,
I remind them that they can come see me.
I can comfort them, and I can help them not to be afraid.
Because that's what friends are for.
[woman] Dear Big Bird, As a giddy kid sitting way too close to the TV,
I was never able to get enough of Sesame Street.
You were always my favorite character
for how calming, protective, and relatable you were.
When I had children of my own, they also became enamored of you and your friends.
But I never would have imagined that you'd be there for me some 30 years later.
One afternoon, I was driving my two kids in our car,
when we were suddenly struck.
-[scream] -[crash]
When I tried to yell to the back seat for my kids, no words came out.
I was gasping for air. It was terrifying.
[sirens wailing]
After what felt like an eternity, help arrived.
Luckily, both kids were okay.
Several incredible firemen were able to pull them from the car and calm them down,
while I was whisked away on a stretcher and into an ambulance.
I was so scared for my kids
that I didn't even notice how unbearable my own pain was
until some EMTs were able to calm me down on the way to the hospital.
After a blur of being rushed around the hospital and in and out of machines,
I learned that my left lung had collapsed and I had broken every rib on that side.
Several hours later, I woke up alone in the hospital.
The vehicle ramming into us kept replaying over and over again in my mind.
[tires screeching]
Desperate for a distraction, I turned on the TV,
not knowing what kind of infomercials and reruns would await me.
Oh, now what are you gonna take from me?
No, I'm not gonna take anything.
We're gonna get medicine into your body quickly.
[woman] Then a bright, yellow, familiar face appeared in front of me.
I felt a wave of tension leave my body
as I turned up the volume on Sesame Street.
-How you feeling, Big? -Oh, better.
But, oh, it's hard to sleep alone in a strange place.
Hearing your voice, Big Bird, was an unexpected source of comfort and calm.
It allowed me to let go of what happened and look forward.
Five days later, I was finally released from the hospital.
My kids were there to greet me when I arrived home.
We spent a lot of the week watching you and your friends on Sesame Street,
holding each other tight, knowing now just how precious life is.
I still watch you with my kids.
Even the ones who are too old still love you.
And I know it's because of what you did for us as a family many years ago.
-[static crackles] -Whee! [chuckles]
Hi, Kelly. Hi, Frankie.
Hey, Big Bird. Hey, you gotta see Kelly trying to skate. It's really funny.
[cackles]
Hey, Frankie, you shouldn't make fun of Kelly.
I mean, she's just learning. It takes time.
Being a good friend means that you're kind to others and you treat them with respect.
I'm always there for my friends, and my friends are always there for me. Mm-hmm.
[man] You guys do amazing things for kids.
I don't know if people know how much stuff you're doing.
Well, you know that my Sesame Street pals, they help people all over the world.
-And it's so cool. -Yeah, it is cool.
And do you know what happens when you help people, Jimmy?
-No. -Well, it makes you feel really good.
It's important to accept others for who they are.
And that's what friends do, isn't it?
They include you and make you feel special.
[interviewer] Tell me about some of your friends on Sesame Street.
Snuffy is my best friend.
And he's even bigger than me, which is saying something.
And Julia is also a good friend.
She comes over to my nest for playdates.
She loves playing tag, and when she gets excited,
she flaps her hands, kinda like when birds fly.
She does some things a little differently than others, but that's okay.
- [interviewer] What makes her different? - Well, Julia has autism.
Take a look at this, everybody.
- [Elmo] Oh! Yeah! - Julia, you're so creative.
[Julia laughs]
Yeah. You're really good at painting.
And I always try to show people that what makes us different
is what makes us special.
You're one of a kind, and that's something to be proud of.
[man] Dear Big Bird,
I was diagnosed with autism at an early age,
and I really struggled to make friends.
Things at home weren't great either.
I never knew what to expect from my parents.
Even when things were good, they could turn bad at any moment.
Their behavior was unpredictable and scary.
I just assumed it was tough love and that I deserved it.
I thought they were just trying to change me
so that I would fit in and be considered normal.
Basically, they didn't understand me, and I didn't understand them either.
[man on TV] Big Bird. 'Cause we're gonna miss you.
[Mr. Hooper] Oh! Big Bird, enjoy yourself!
[reader] Big Bird, our affection looked nothing like yours on Sesame Street.
You treated everyone the same,
even if they were different or weren't always nice to you.
-Let's go! -Hey, Tarah.
Um, how can you do aerobics in your wheelchair?
I exercise all the time.
[reader] You were one of the first to show me what positive interactions look like.
Seeing you, I realized I wasn't being treated right.
When I was older, I moved away from my parents
because I knew I had to find my own path.
You taught me that it's okay to exist just as I am
and to embrace my own identity,
instead of trying to fit into society's expectations.
Learning I didn't have to change myself to be accepted
was one of the best things to ever happen to me.
Being on my own made me so happy.
Big Bird, today, I have finished my master's degree in public policy,
and I am the policy fellow for the Autistic Self Advocacy Network.
I now have a community of friends who surround me with love and acceptance.
They are my family.
I have found my place. I have found my home.
[no audible dialogue]
Big Bird, you showed me how to accept people for who they truly are.
Starting with myself.
Big Bird, at a time in my life when I was too little to understand grief,
you helped me make sense of things.
I am so grateful you got us through such a trying time.
Big Bird, I don't know where I'd be
if you hadn't led me to venture out on my own when I did.
When I was struggling and needed a friend to guide and teach me, you were there.
Thank you, Hillary.
Thank you for everything, Sarika.
Thank you, Big Bird, for showing me what kindness is when no one else did.
Sincerely, Finn.
Thank you, Big Bird.
-Your friends, Rachel. -And Carly.
[Big Bird] On Sesame Street, we know it's important
to surround yourself with friends who will love you no matter what.
And it's even more important to always be yourself.