At ten he made his fir t
puppet from the lining of his
fatber' old co t, by 12 he wa
performing at Baltimore s
Inner Harbor, and at 16 he wa
starring on local television.
ow Kevin Clash, the 29 year
old puppeteer who delights
millions of children-and
tbeir parents-with hi
Sesame Street characters
Elmo and Hoots the Owl ha
won the 1990 Emmy Award
for Outstanding Performer in
a Chi Idren's Series.
SPEAKI G FO THE
YOUNGEST
Clasb's Elmo i a typical
t 0 year-old, lov ble and
energetic-and ready to play
at every opportunity. The
bright red puppet was created
to represent tbe youngest
viewers in the TV audience
and his favorite phra e, "Elmo
want to play," strikes a chord
wi tb pre cbooler nd tbei r
parents, too. Sesame Street's
re earch department found
that Elmo's constant g me
pi ying is an effective way to
hold young viewer' allen
tion.
FIRST HAND
EXPERIE C
Cia h, who ha been with
the Children's Television
Wor hop e ries for pre-
choolcr ince 1985. gavc
Elmo the manneri m • voice
nd per onal�ty that have
helped make the two nd a
h If ye T-old dynamo a win-
R
t thin
,
YORK - Explaining
why h u es explicit language
. and scxu I reference on his
nti-crimc. nil-drug video
and Ibum. popul r rap arti '1
lee- T i� if you w nt to rc ch
hoodlum' you h v to act like
o�. .
""m n intelligent hood
lum," Ice- T. who used to
belong to treet gan,. told
PARADE Contributing Editor
Lynn Minton.
"l tno my rap i not for
everybody." he ·aid. "If I
nt to rc ch kid in a gang. I
know the route I have to go.
The arc the kid that'll alk
up to you and hoot you in your
f ceo ... Wh t l 'rn, dealing
ith i an unconventional
enemy, and it take unconven
tional lactic .
"Re IIYt • dole cent are an
unconvention I enemy. Th y
don't go for the re oning that
dulls try to use with them.
When you're an adult. you can
listen to a record and ay, "Oh,
th t' terrible. Kid' houldn't
he r th 1.' But you're forget ..
ting that hen you ere 13, the
record you nted were the
record your mother definitely
did not ant you to have.
�.
nero The puppeteer feels he
wa able to bring Elmo to life
because of fir t-hand ex
perience wi th preschooler
gained belping his mother. a
d y care provider in Bal
timore. "1 didn't realize how
deep an impression those
years made," he says, "but
much of Elmo's sweetness, his
vulnerability and his posi tive
ani tude came from those
memories. I could remember
the wonderfulness of that age.
how excited little kid get
when they are learning some
thing."
EARLY SUCCESS
Clash discovered early that
puppetry might take him far.
In school he was once warned
that he needed a way to pick
up his social studie grades, so
he created a Russian puppet
with costume changes that in
cluded a fur hat nd boots: He
earned an " A" for hi efforts.
Soon. young Kevin was
entertaining at children's
birthday parties and he was
asked to become part of the
'"Sunny Sunday" we kend
entertainment line-up at the
I nner Harbor.
"At that stage." he recalls.
"I used to be glued to the TV
set w tching Ses me Street so
I could try to figure out how
the puppets� were put
together. "
IMPORTANT MENTORS
Cia h met and impres cd a
CI
local television personali ty
who asked him to become part
of a new chtldren's show,
"Caboose," on WMAR- TV.
By the lime be WI sixteen. he
wa building puppets, per
forming, arid making $200 a
wee • a sum he looked on as a
fortune.
"I know now that what I
wa gaining as an oppor
tunity far more valuable than
money," he reflects. "I wa
learni ng about tbings I would
need to build a career-TV
monitors, crip and voices.
and I learned tbat teaching
children i 95� entertain
ment, that you have. to grab
their at enticn before tha�
mo t important five percent,
learning, can in in."
The talented teenager
moved on 10 doing guest spots
focu attention
explicit Iy�ic
nti-dr 9 meSliBCJIBS·
Parent don't he r nything
but the caring. But are you
oing to get hung up on the
offensive word', or Ire you
going to think. about the me -
'age?"
Although he personally
never did dru or drank Icc- T
said he "found out that drugs I
re nowhere. from other
people" c xpcr ience ," nd
that's what he hope to help
others avoid.
"I'm lucky," he aid. "I got
a chance. And what my music
is really made of i me expl i n
in what I thought I want VS.
what re lly happened.
"I ay that I wanted to go
down thi particular ro d. the
fast life, be a hustler, make my
mone s, he rich and never
work. That's the road a lot of
minority kid feel they've got
to go. Becau the other road
h applications and inter
view tbat we jut omeho
never eem to be able to get
pa t. There's no appl ic tion
down thi road. You ju t go
ror what you tno . Bui at the
end or that ro d, I found out,
there' a big cliff. And all my
(riends fell off of tbe cliff."
Li eracy
Co tl ed fro Pa 5
Win ton-Salem (NC)
Chronicle (919)722-8624/28.
Ration te lor V or B ck
Pre
HILTO: HIGHER
EDUCATION h s consistent
ly referred to the columnist •
local and national of Pan
African new P pc . a� being'
adjunct (part-time) f cully to
our communitie .
A ASIDE: Whcn we wtite
of the Pan African community,
we are referring to African
Americ ns, Afro-Caribbeans.
Afro-Latino·. Continental
••
e jazz
on the "Captain Kangaroo"
show nd, after high school,
went to New York to work for
a new syndicated TV series
called "The Great Space
Coaster." I
In high school Cia h met
Kermit Love. who had helped
to create Big Bird and other
original Se ame Street p'up
pets. The veteran puppe eer
became a mentor, and in 198�
Clash joined Sesame Street.
"lAMP RTOFMY
CHARACTERS"
Though he maintains an
apartment in New York, home
for CI h i still Baltimore,
where he pend wee ends
with his ife, Gin .
A ·handsome ix-footer,
CI bays the fact that he
remains anonymou behind
ICHIGAN CITIZEN PAGE 21
1
his puppets doe n' t bother
him at aU. "I'm part of the'
characters and I get my
pleasure from what they are
doing for the kids." he says.
"People who a me if it
isn't corny doing puppetry for
kid don't under tand what
it' like to see kid ' reactions
to the ch r cters. Once my
wife, Gina, who a registered
nurse in the oncology depart
ment at John Hopkin Ho pi
tal, a ked me to bring Elmo to
. see one of her pa tient •
seven-year old boy who was
o de pendent he wouldn't
talk to anyone. When the boy'
tried to t Ik to Elmo, it
brou ht tear to my eye .,
And there's nothing corny
about lhal."
Africans. etc.
In fact, we w uld like to
h rc another related concern
that we noticed at the NNPA
convention; namely that the
Afro-Car] bbean comm uni ty
wa well represented in the
presence of the New York
Carib New , yet for the mo t
part, the agenda wa. Afri' n
American.
Thi fact i worth under
scoring, especially in light of
the NNPA" literacy program
effort . The entire Pan
African community will g 'n
(rom re ding and" s pporting
.the Arri�an pre. .
i t e
CI d 00
The po lion paper ci ted
twenty guidelincs. Some of
the guidel i ncs werc as fo -I
low. :
.i: Identify choou with
large number 0 African
Americ n(Pan African) tu
dents.
- Contact Superintendent
and explain. the rationale for
introducing your new P per
in cia room and explai
. how it can improve readin
interest and skills.
Recruit a creativc
retired te chcr to wor part
ti me or vol unteer to coor
dinate your progr m or
suppl the new papers to the
school.
- Develop a generic ad in
your new 'paper regarding
"Liter cy and the Blac
Pre�s."
- Computerize the list of
schools in your ci rculation
are : send out a one-page
description of 'Literacy and
the Black Press."
H:HE: We s lutc Ruth
Love, Ernie Pitt� and the
NNPA member- or present
in' lh � p()�llIun paper. We
now aJ 0 otter our services in
imple cnung thb plan of ac
tion.
HILTON: HIGHER
EDUCATION ; \ d signed to
dialogue 'il" .ollege and
world read rs. Education IS
ongoing and certainly 1I0t
limited to school clas rooms.
r . Le' 's ''Ilk. (7 U) 899·0650.
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