Secrets from Sesame Street's Pioneers

Written by	Lucille Burbank
Published	2013
Publisher	Booklocker.com, Inc.
Pages	176
ISBN	1626464022

reissue cover

Secrets from Sesame Street's Pioneers: How They Produced a Successful Television Series is a 2013 book written by Dr. Lucille Burbank.

Using previous Sesame Street non-fiction books and interviews with the cast and crew, as well as original interviews by the author, the book describes the success of the Sesame Street model.

“My purpose in writing a book is to disseminate the knowledge and wisdom given to me by the creators —the pioneers— of Sesame Street. Each interviewee spent a lot of time carefully answering my questions, and to each, I am eternally grateful.

In-depth interviews were conducted with Joan Ganz Cooney and Lloyd Morrisett, co-founders, Dave Connell, executive producer, Evelyn Davis, community outreach director, Danny Epstein, music coordinator, Clark Gesner, consultant, Sam Gibbon, associate producer, Jane Henson, wife and creative partner of Jim Henson, Emily Perl Kingsley, writer, Dr. Valeria Lovelace, assistant vice-president of research, Bob McGrath, actor, Jeff Moss, head writer and songwriter, Dr. Edward Palmer, vice-president of research, Matt Robinson, producer, Caroll Spinney, puppeteer for Big Bird and Oscar the Grouch, and Jon Stone, producer and director.

Apart from Sesame Street, Bob Keeshan, creator of Captain Kangaroo, Gus Allegretti, puppeteer and actor on Captain Kangaroo, and Fred Rogers, creator of Mister Rogers' Neighborhood, were interviewed.”

The book was reissued in 2016 with images and a new interview with Edward L. Palmer, as The Inside Secrets of Sesame Street (ISBN-10 1634914384).

External links

• Karla Peterson, "Column: How San Diego educator Lucille Burbank left her mark on ‘Sesame Street’," The San Diego Union-Tribune, 7 November 2019.