Happy Birthday, Elmo!

As the Muppet Captain himself said back in a 2004 Emmy interview, "I'm a black man. I'm six feet tall... I mean, (fans) would never think that I perform this little red monster on 'Sesame Street.' They can't connect it." But Clash had wanted to be on "Sesame Street" as long as he could remember. The connection makes sense: The show had been created to reach out to inner-city children, and the shy Baltimore boy from a working class family fit the ... more 

As the Muppet Captain himself said back in a 2004 Emmy interview, "I'm a black man. I'm six feet tall... I mean, (fans) would never think that I perform this little red monster on 'Sesame Street.' They can't connect it." But Clash had wanted to be on "Sesame Street" as long as he could remember. The connection makes sense: The show had been created to reach out to inner-city children, and the shy Baltimore boy from a working class family fit the profile. Students teased him for playing with dolls, but Clash performed puppet shows at his mom's in-home daycare, then gradually for larger audiences (his father helped build his sets). To help her son's ambitions, mom Gladys tracked down famous muppet designer Kermit Love and introduced her son. By age 20, Clash worked on three shows: "Captain Kangaroo," "The Great Space Coaster," and "Sesame Street." Clash actually quit "Sesame" because of an overloaded schedule, but later his idol Jim Henson asked him back full-time. less