![]() I wrote sketches…Arnie’s OCD would create friction with how chaotic I was. So I don’t think I’d know how else to write them, but as a loving couple. So it was the Bert & Ernie relationship, and I was already with Arnie when I came to Sesame Street. And Arnie as a film editor-if you thought of Bert with a job in the world, wouldn’t that be perfect? Bert with his paper clips and organization? And I was the jokester. The other thing was, more than one person referred to Arnie & I as “Bert & Ernie.” Bert & Ernie I didn’t have any other way to contextualize them. And I always felt that without a huge agenda, when I was writing Bert & Ernie, they were. And that got passed around, and everyone had their chuckle and went back to it. I remember one time that a column from The San Francisco Chronicle, a preschooler in the city turned to mom and asked “are Bert & Ernie lovers?” And that, coming from a preschooler was fun. Were you thinking of Bert & Ernie as a gay couple? Did that question ever come up? Ok, so we have to address-that’s the big question, right? In the writer’s room, you’re all adults. I’m thinking of the Bert & Ernie New Yorker cover… I don’t know if they’ve ever gotten to it. I would have liked to have been the first writer to do the “two mommy” episode. My activism isn’t a hit the streets variety, and what Sesame Street was doing racially, you certainly don’t want to denounce it. And I can remember being stonewalled in a way that it made me think it was a lost cause. I can remember pitching to the education department, the gatekeepers of the curriculum, gay content, just to get it off my conscience. I mean, what can you tell a preschooler about AIDS? Practice safe sex? There’s a curriculum at the beginning of every season, and a lot of lobbying from the outside to get on that curriculum. It didn’t seem like anything we could touch on the air. What was the attitude like among the cast, the crew? When something like that is going on, is there discussion about how the show should address it? Was there homophobia you encountered? And until Richard Hunt, I don’t think there was an AIDS death. It was nice being there with the Muppets. You also have to remember, all our friends were dying.Īll this-when I talk about that era of my life, it’s all under that shadow. Even when everybody knows, it’s not a casual discussion discussing my boyfriend with the guys. I think even being out, I was sort of…the straight guys, you know, are sort of non-inclusive. I think as I got out-ier I was the only male writer who was out. Oh, and Judy Freudberg (noted writer of An American Tail and The Land Before Time). There was Richard Hunt (the Muppet performer of Scooter, Janice, Beaker and more). So were there other out writers at that point? Performers? ![]() I think during Sesame Street was when I came completely out. But then I have memories of bringing him to beach house parties with everybody. I remember not inviting Arnie to the first Christmas parties, you know. But as they were working on it-I don’t think they thought it through that if it meant all women, it meant no gay men. The concept of it was that it was going to be a musical theatre review and an all-women cast, and all-women writers. So I wound up being one of the writers on a revue called A, My Name Is Alice. So how did you come to land on Sesame Street ? I had in mind a special emphasis on the source of his seven Emmys: a 15-year tenure with The Muppets, including writing scripts and songs for Sesame Street. Santa Claus to family features like The Adventures of Milo & Otis. ![]() His work has encompassed everything from stage musicals like Tin Pan Alley, to telefilms like Mrs. I’ve come to chat with him about his career. Saltzman shows me to his living room, where a pair of leather couches await our presence. ![]() ![]() Tucked in the foothills of Los Angeles, the cozy cottage doesn’t betray the pedigree of its owner…except for maybe the seven Emmy Awards tucked high on a shelf in the corner. ![]()
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