Mr. Handford

PERFORMER	Leonard Jackson 1989-1990
	David L. Smyrl 1990-1998
DEBUT	1989

Leonard Jackson as Mr. Handford

Mr. David Handford owned and operated Hooper's Store on Sesame Street from 1989 to 1998. Mr. Handford was a retired firefighter, who bought the store from David in order to keep active. In his earliest appearances, he often offered fire safety messages. As detailed in Episode 2620 and 2791, he worked in a library through high school, then moved onto the fire department for twenty years until retirement, using his savings to buy the store (though he contradicts this in Episode 3277, where he says he worked at a day care for six months after leaving the fire department). In Episode 3688 he also revealed he was part of a doo-wop group called "The Handford Five" in his youth.

Mr. Handford also appeared in the specials Elmo Saves Christmas and Elmopalooza. Mr. Snuffleupagus occasionally had trouble pronouncing his name, calling him Mr. Handfoot, similar to how Big Bird often pronounced Mr. Hooper's name as Mr. Looper.

No specific explanation was given, on screen, for Mr. Handford's departure - Season 29 simply ended with him running Hooper's, and Season 30 began with Alan taking over; Sesame Workshop's official website cited that Mr. Handford had simply sold the store to Alan in 1998.

Notes

• The character's name was originally spelled as "Hanford" in scripts from seasons 21 and 22, as well as in the closing credits for both seasons. By season 23, the "Handford" spelling is consistently used. His first name was revealed to be Langston in Episode 2942, but changed to David by Episode 3583 - both names are references to the actor that played Mr. Handford for most of the character's time on the show.

Book appearances

• Who's Who on Sesame Street (1994 edition)
• Elmo Saves Christmas (1997)