JOAN GANZ COONEY: Children all over the country
were singing beer commercials, so they were certainly
learning something from television.
It wasn't a question of-- could it teach?
The question was, could it teach something of potential use
to children.
TV ANNOUNCER: Commercial television did not completely
fill the promise of this medium.
That is the reason educational television was conceived.
JOAN GANZ COONEY: I was plagued in my 20s
that I was going to live and die without having made
any difference, and I think when I heard educational television,
I thought I could make a difference there.
JIM HENSON: Many years ago, Joan realized
that there was an important gap in television programming--
that preschool kids were watching
a great deal of television, but there were almost no programs
specifically designed for them.
So she had this cockamamie idea of doing an entertainment show
for preschoolers that had commercials
for letters and numbers.
JOAN GANZ COONEY: It was absolutely
what I was born to do, and I knew it.
You know, this was the '60s.
It was so traumatic a period.
Everybody who had been somewhat focused
on children and civil rights and educational disadvantage
said, let's go.
Let's go do something.
MAN 1: We're planning to treat them
essentially the same way a commercial enterprise would.
We've created a campaign, but we're
trying to sell the alphabet to preschool children.
JOAN GANZ COONEY: We wanted to show an integrated street.
We wanted to show adults treating one another kindly,
and we wanted the adults to be forceful and dignified.
JOAN GANZ COONEY: Everything was to be
educational, but entertaining as well.
And so when they said Jim Henson, I said,
you could get Jim Henson?
And that was how Big Bird was born, and Oscar the Grouch.
We went on the air in '69, but here
was a project that was to change the world in a way.
MAN 2: [SINGING] Boys and girls, have
you met the 26 letters called the alphabet?
ALL: [SINGING] A, B, C, D, E, F, G, H, I J, K, L, M, N, O, P.
JOAN GANZ COONEY: It was truly different,
and the Muppets were hip and edgy.
BERT: Do you know that you have a banana in your ear?
ERNIE: What was that, Bert?
JOAN GANZ COONEY: And yet it was very sweet.
DETECTIVE: Yes, John-John?
JOHN-JOHN: Want count?
DETECTIVE: Oh, I'd love to count.
BERT: OK, good.
JOHN-JOHN: OK!
One, two--
JOAN GANZ COONEY: The reaction to that
show was like something that could only happen once
in a half century, that a miracle had
occurred for children.
MAN 3: I am pleased to present the woman who may be more
than any other responsible for one
of the most important events in the history of our business,
Mrs. Joan Ganz Cooney.
JOAN GANZ COONEY: It was everything I'd ever dreamed of,
but it was so crazy.
ERNIE: [SINGING] Oh, Rubber Ducky, you're the one.
JOAN GANZ COONEY: I thought we were creating
the quintessential American television show.
ERNIE: [SINGING GERMAN]
JOAN GANZ COONEY: And it turned out
that they're the most international characters ever
created.
ERNIE: [SINGING CHINESE]
WOMAN: [NON-ENGLISH SPEECH]
JOAN GANZ COONEY: Our producers are
like old-fashioned missionaries.
It's not religion they're spreading,
but it is learning and tolerance and love and mutual respect.
BARACK OBAMA: In the end, that's what
this all about-- giving our kids the best possible shot at life,
equipping them with the skills, the education,
that a 21st century economy demands.
JOAN GANZ COONEY: What we want to do
is see if we can affect the new media the way
we affected televisions.
We want to introduce educational value
without taking the fun away.
BILL CLINTON: Joan Ganz Cooney has
proven that the powerful medium of television
can be a tool to help build young lives up rather than tear
them down.
She helped teach a generation of children
to count and to read and to think.
They also teach us more about how we should live together.
JIM HENSON: I consider it an enormous honor
to have worked with Joan all these years.
She showed us that television can
be used to do really good things.
In all of these accomplishments, Joan
has led and inspired us all.
JOAN GANZ COONEY: A legacy is when something's over,
and this isn't over.