The Robinson family (Sesame Street) facts for kids
The Robinson family is a fictional family in the children's television series Sesame Street. The family consists of husband Gordon, a high school science teacher, and his wife Susan, a nurse. Later, the family expands to include their adopted son Miles, as well as Gordon's sister Olivia, and his father Mr. Robinson. As African Americans, the family was created as leads for the show, originally targeted to underprivileged inner city children. Even as human roles were slowly reduced over the years, their characters maintained a constant presence.
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Gordon, Susan, and Mr. Hooper were all turned into Little People toy figures in 1975, nearly the only toys ever created of the human characters of Sesame Street (a Mr. Noodle doll was created in the early 2000s). Gordon and Susan, as well as other humans on the series have been included in various books, particularly during the 1970s and 1980s.
During the early years, Susan often sang "One of These Things". She also headlined her own album, Susan Sings Songs from Sesame Street, and had minor roles in both Sesame Street movies.
Robinson and Long appeared in the original Sesame Street Live touring production, while Orman and Long make occasional appearances in and out of character. In the summer of 2005, Orman appeared as Gordon with Kevin Clash puppeteering Elmo at series sponsor Beaches Family Resorts in Jamaica.
Long speaks on various topics, including "Children's Education and the Dynamics of Television on the Education of Young Children", "Cultural Diversity: The Sesame Street Method", "Happy Birthday Sesame Street: A Twenty-Five-Year Retrospective", "Mother the First Teacher and Home the First School", "Sesame Street: The Second Generation", "Sesame Street: A Space-Age Approach to Education for Space-Aged Children", "Susan of Sesame Street Sing-Along", "The ABC's of African-American History", and "Why Didn't Someone Tell Me? A Talk About Teaching in the Inner City".
Long has taught classes at Rowan University, including "The Sesame Street Approach to Elementary Education".
The original Gordon, Matt Robinson, died 5 August 2002. As many fans didn't know there were two actors who previously portrayed Gordon before the current Roscoe Orman, and many didn't know Orman's name, rumor spread that it was Orman who died. Hal Miller's post-Sesame career included three movie appearances and one production credit; only one of the roles was named. Miles Orman played basketball for the Marist College Red Foxes.
