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Everyone loves the nice and kind Big Bird, but the other character of Caroll Spinney – the famous Oscar the Grouch, grumpy and sad in the trash – has a passionate fan club.
He hates talking to people, complains all the time and loves an old fish wrapped in newspaper and his pet, Slimey the Worm.
But Oscar's ruthless nature and dirty, tangled green fur make him even more endearing to his admirers. And with his constant ketching, he offers kids lessons on how to handle conflict or negative emotions, such as annoyance or anger.
Oscar was one of the first inhabitants of "Sesame Street" when the show aired for the first time on November 10, 1969. Mr. Spinney, the puppeteer who announced his retirement on Wednesday, was playing Oscar, as well than Big Bird.
"Oscar the Grouch, thank you for helping me learn, when I was small, that we could be in a bad mood and it was not the end of the world," wrote a reader from New York in a comment on our article on Mr. Spinney's retirement.
Another reader, Barbara Johansen Newman of Needham, Mass., Wrote that she "particularly loved Oscar and his irreverence. Yes, it was a children's program, but it was also a children's program that adults found entertaining. "
In his book "The Wisdom of Big Bird (and the Dark Genius of Oscar the Grouch)," Mr. Spinney wrote that he founded Oscar's voice on a Bronx taxi driver who took him to a meeting.
"He was the stereotypical taxi driver of the time – a Bronx guy in his forties who wore a tweed cap with a little brim – and he kind of grunted from the corner from the mouth, "Where to go, Mac?" Mr. Spinney wrote.
[See[See[Voir[Seewhere to broadcast an excellent documentary about Big Bird]
He had found "the ideal model" for his new character and he was amazed to find that the driver "kept going, expressing in a colorful way his opinion of Mayor Lindsey with many four-letter words".
Oscar – who was originally orange – was not naughty with the kids, but he did not appreciate that someone knocked on his door (which was the lid of his trash can). And he was not impressed by the celebrities, even though many of them came to call.
Johnny Cash once serenade him with "Nasty Dan", a tune on "the most ugly man I know" from his 1975 children's album.
Tito Puente also passed just before Oscar was about to host a Grouchketeers meeting.
"I suggest you and your little group go play somewhere else!" Oscar told him. But not even the most famous grin in the world could resist dancing on his song "Ran Kan Kan", a song that appeared on the soundtrack of the movie "The Mambo Kings".
"Do not do that to me again!" Oscar argues at the end of the song.
"Sesame Street" was originally intended to prepare children from disadvantaged backgrounds at school, and the programs were carefully designed to keep their attention while helping them learn, in this clip where Oscar unwittingly helps Nicole Kidman to explain the meaning of "stubborn".
The researchers had advised against mixing Muppets and human characters, as this could be confusing. But after the street scenes with only human characters fell flat with test audiences, the Muppets' creator, Jim Henson, decided to add Big Bird and Oscar, the author that Michael Davis wrote in his book "Street Gang: The Complete Story of Sesame Street. "
In a 2010 interview, Charlotte F. Cole, then senior vice president of global education at Sesame Workshop, responsible for the show, explained that Oscar's aim was "to help children to understand different perspectives ".
"He likes noise, where others would like silence," she said. "He likes garbage. Having this character, it was a vehicle that allowed children to see that other people see different situations in different ways. "
Dr. Paul Donahue, a child psychologist in Scarsdale, NY, said that Oscar personified the clutter of strong feelings that children experience and need to learn to solve.
"It allowed ambivalence," he said. "You could be a little cranky and irritable or cranky and that did not mean you were a bad person."
Arnie Herz, a lawyer on Long Island, wrote a day a blog post about how Oscar watching with his daughter had helped him to show more empathy at work.
"I think it's easy to deal with Oscar the Grouch because he's so cute," he said in a phone interview. "If you're cute and grumpy, he does not have the same advantage."
In recent years, Oscar, the lover of waste, has also begun to give lessons on waste reduction. After the show went to HBO in 2016 (though it's still running on PBS), a recycling bin was placed next to his long-standing house, and he started appearing in a tunnel underground leading to recycling bins and compost. (He also served as a spokesperson for Waste Reduction Week in Canada.)
And even Oscar is sometimes positive, especially with his girlfriend, Grundgetta. (Well, not really, the Grouch Girls do not want to have fun, after all.)
The lining of Mr. Spinney, Eric Jacobson, will take over the role of Oscar. Jacobson, 47, joined the show in 1994 and also played Bert, Grover and Guy Smiley.
Oscar, as apparently all these days, has also inspired holidays: National Grouch Day is celebrated on October 15th. (Celebrations are not encouraged.)
And Oscar is the author of a forthcoming book: "The Grouchiness Pursuit: The Guide to Oscar's Life, The Grouch", presented as a guide to the loss of friends and the gracious influence on people . It will be published by Imprint in April.
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