Of
Holger Gertz
When in January 1973 the Sesame Street started in Germany, it was still an American format, translated into German, of course. Samson and Tiffy didn’t yet exist, but Bibo and Oskar, and there were real people: Susan, Gordon, Herr Huber and Bob. For someone who is now over fifty, these were formative encounters. Because the Sesame Street – very unusual for that time – came almost every day, and because superfans could even see them in the morning and, as a repeat, also in the evening, the monsters and the people on Sesame Street were soon and deeply familiar. They sat on the steps in front of the houses, they met in Huber’s shop, and they explained the world to themselves and their audience.