History
Lefty was first seen during the first season in skits pairing him with Ernie. Later, he began appearing with a group of gangster associates in another series of skits.
Lefty's boss (performed by Jerry Nelson) is the only character who refers to him as "Lefty." For years, CTW production materials, the book "Sesame Street Unpaved" and Sesame Street merchandise (including storybooks and record albums) referred to the character as simply as "The Salesman." The 2008 Sesame Street book "Storybook ABCs" was the first to feature Lefty's name in print, in a story casting Grover as the main character in "Jack and the Beanstalk".
The Lefty character is reminiscent of a comedic character played by Sheldon Leonard on the Jack Benny radio and television programs. Leonard's character would accost people with shady and unpredictable propositions, opening with lines like, "Hey, buddy, wanna buy a duck?"
Lefty was gradually removed from the American version of the show after concerns were raised by adult viewers who were concerned that he encouraged children to talk to strangers, although the validity of this claim is questioned. However, he is still a rather popular character on Sesamstrasse, the German version of Sesame Street. On this version of the show, he is known as "Schlemihl," a Yiddish word for a "habitual bungler".
Read more about this topic: Lefty (Sesame Street)
Famous quotes containing the word history:
“... that there is no other way,
That the history of creation proceeds according to
Stringent laws, and that things
Do get done in this way, but never the things
We set out to accomplish and wanted so desperately
To see come into being.”
—John Ashbery (b. 1927)
“You that would judge me do not judge alone
This book or that, come to this hallowed place
Where my friends’ portraits hang and look thereon;
Ireland’s history in their lineaments trace;
Think where man’s glory most begins and ends
And say my glory was I had such friends.”
—William Butler Yeats (1865–1939)
“The second day of July 1776, will be the most memorable epoch in the history of America. I am apt to believe that it will be celebrated by succeeding generations as the great anniversary festival. It ought to be commemorated, as the day of deliverance, by solemn acts of devotion to God Almighty. It ought to be solemnized with pomp and parade, with shows, games, sports, guns, bells, bonfires and illuminations, from one end of this continent to the other, from this time forward forever more”
—John Adams (1735–1826)