VIDEO: Hear Yiddish spoken on ‘Sesame Street’
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Photo by Getty Images
This past Thursday, Nov. 10, marked the anniversary of the day that the iconic children’s TV program “Sesame Street” premiered in 1969.
In this surprising clip from a 1974 episode, we see the owner of the neighborhood candy store, Mr. Hooper, speaking on the phone to his aunt in Yiddish. Mr. Hooper was played by Will Lee, a Jewish actor from Brooklyn who appeared in numerous television and film roles, as well as the Broadway show, “The World of Sholom Aleichem.”
Lee was blacklisted during the McCarthy era but made a big comeback with his role as Mr. Hooper. According to a survey reported by The New York Times, Lee’s Mr. Hooper ranked ahead of all live cast members in recognition by young audiences. As Joan Ganz Cooney, president of the Children’s Television Workshop, put it: “He gave millions of children the message that the old and the young have a lot to say to each other.”
A message from Forverts editor Rukhl Schaechter
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I hope you appreciated this article. Before you move on, I wanted to ask you to support the Forverts' 127-year legacy — and its bright future.
In the past, the goal of the Forverts was to Americanize its readers, to encourage them to learn English well and to acculturate to American society. Today, our goal is the reverse: to acquaint readers — especially those with Eastern European roots — with their Jewish cultural heritage, through the Yiddish language, literature, recipes and songs.
Our daily Yiddish content brings you new and creative ways to engage with this vibrant, living language, including Yiddish Wordle, Word of the Day videos, Yiddish cooking demos, new music, poetry and so much more.
— Rukhl Schaechter, Yiddish Editor