Sesame Seeds (Episode 5): Gordon Robinson

 

Hello, everyone, and welcome back to Sesame Seeds. The series where we look at the progression of a Sesame Street character, from humble beginnings to the present day.

Today is a very special episode, because not only are we tackling our first human character, but we’re also tackling one of the first human characters ever, Gordon.

Now I’d say Gordon, along with Maria, is one of the two human characters, even people who don’t pay that much attention to the show know exists, so naturally, he has quite a bit of history on him. In fact, I’d go as far to say that Gordon has more history than he has hair, but that’s not really saying much.

I’ll start this off by saying Gordon looked WAY different than he does now, and it’s not just because of the hair. When Joan Ganz Cooney was figuring out what types of human characters to make for the show, one of the characters she envisioned was a black man named Gordon, (After photographer Gordon Parks) who would take the role of the responsible father.

For the test pilots, they cast a man named Garrett Saunders for the role, but after shooting was finished, everyone realized something wasn’t right. Michael Davis described Saunders’ Gordon as “A person in the neighborhood that children would run away from, not to.” And if you were to watch one of those unaired pilots, you’d probably agree he seemed kind of off.

So for the actual pilot, it was decided a different Gordon had to be a casted. Little did they know the person they were looking for would come sooner than they thought.

Matt Robinson, a man who spent a good majority of his life working on television, was brought to the Children’s Television Workshop to help them make sure they were handling situations that different races go through correctly, but eventually they connected the dots and figured that he was just right for the part.

So once the first episode was shot, Mr. Robinson became the face everyone would soon know as Gordon, delivering the first ever line of the show, describing it perfectly.

“Sally, you’ve NEVER seen a street like Sesame Street! EVERYTHING happens here! You’re gonna love it!”

And that was while he was introducing a little girl named Sally to this wonderful neighborhood.

For the first three seasons, Matt was everything Joan wanted Gordon to be, he was an excellent teacher, a terrific husband to Susan, and had great charisma when interacting with everyone, kids and muppets included.

He wasn’t just Gordon, though, he also wrote for the show and created/provided a voice for a muppet character named Roosevelt Franklin, who soon became a fan favorite.

But alas, while Robinson was amazing at the role he was given, it just wasn’t his thing, so after the third season was over, he would retire the role, but still be part of the show.

Now, you’d think the most logical thing to do in that situation would be to retire Gordon from the show, but he was now a vital part of the cast, with a committed relationship with one of the main characters. So after another casting call, Hal Miller was next to bat.

Miller was okay, but much like Saunders he lacked the Gordon-y feel that Matt Robinson had clearly illustrated. So after season 5, Miller left and the search was back on.

It was then, when a young man by the name of Roscoe Orman heard about the job from Sesame Street director Stan Lathan, and was recommended to try out by the original Gordon, Mr. Matt Robinson himself.

Mr. Orman did audition and made it to the final three. And even though he couldn’t help but look at the puppeteers instead of the muppets themselves, he demonstrated the right relationship with kids that Gordon was supposed to have.

So when the first episode of season 6 came out in 1974, the world was re-introduced to Gordon, but with a bald head. From then on, Roscoe Orman would be Gordon’s concrete performer, giving the same firm, but gentle energy that defined his role on the show.

Focusing on the character now, Gordon’s profession on the show was teaching. He taught both history and science. He was also part of the trip to New Mexico, saved Big Bird in Follow That Bird and was a contestant in the New York City Marathon.

Then came season 17, where not only would Gordon be one of the only humans to take Big Bird’s word on Snuffy not being imaginary, but he and Susan would make a major milestone in their lives: Adopting a child.

Funny thing was Mr. Orman had suggested that Gordon and Susan have a baby way back in 1974, but the producers thought casting an actual baby would be too difficult. Then one day, ten years later, he had his own son, Miles Orman. And Caroll Spinney told Orman that Miles should be brought on the show to play Gordon’s son, and mentioned the fact that his character could be adopted, which the producers actually liked.

So in a four episode story we get to watch Gordon and Susan adopt their son Miles Robinson, and get him acquainted with the other characters. And Miles would play the role all the way up until season 26, where he would then be recast.

Meanwhile Gordon himself wouldn’t go through any massive changes or developments, and would just continue being a good father, teacher and friend to his neighbors.

It wouldn’t be until season 35, where he would get to do something really exciting. In that season, he assumed the role of Trash Gordon, a parody of the comic superhero Flash Gordon, and Slimey the worm’s favorite fictional character, whom Oscar would read a story about at the end of every episode to help his pet worm fall asleep.

The Trash Gordon segments continued to air up until season 38, which would also be the year where Gordon and Susan’s nephew Chris came onto the show, and the couple took somewhat of a backseat from then onwards.

That’s not to say Gordon would disappear from the street, at least not yet. He would still make frequent appearances in street scenes teaching Telly about jealousy, promoting Maria to be the superintendent of 123, and giving Ernie and Bert a place to sleep, after their apartment floods.

But eventually, after 2015 Sesame Workshop had issues with budgeting, so they had to let go of Gordon, along with many of the other cast members.

Though again, that wouldn’t mean Gordon was completely forgotten about or stopped appearing in stuff relating to the show. Mr. Orman would make a cameo as Gordon in episode 4629 of season 46, he would appear in two short web videos, where he reads stories to Elmo and Abby, he would still appear at many Sesame Street related events and gatherings, he appeared along with Maria in the CNN Town Hall special, Coming Together: Standing Up To Racism, and by himself in The Power Of We special, and he would be one of the many original human characters present in the 50th Anniversary special.

So, it’s safe to say, while Gordon is mostly gone, he’s definitely not forgotten. Especially not by me. Gordon was one of the only humans I remember seeing the most of on Sesame Street growing up, and like the others, I thought he was alright. But now having learned more about the show and Gordon’s place on the show, I can now understand his importance and get more enjoyment out of him.

And let me just say, I think I grew up with the best Gordon. Yeah, yeah, I know. Personal nostalgia bias and all that, but like I went over, Saunders and Miller didn’t have that Gordon charm that the character was supposed to have. And while Robinson’s performance was amazing and a great foundation for where Gordon would end up, I have to say he acted more like an actual teacher rather than an actual person.

But Orman’s Gordon was really special, because he acted like both at the same time. He would still teach kids, and the other characters lots of things, but he also had much more emotions and funny moments which helped him to appeal to the many fans out there. And if that isn’t what makes a good character, then I don’t know what does.

Well, that brings us to the end of another Sesame Seeds episode. So, it looks like we’re… hm, what’s the word I’m looking for?

Oh. Right.