Hooper's Store
Encyclopedia
Sesame Street
Sesame Street has undergone significant changes in its history. According to writer Michael Davis, by the mid-1970s the show had become "an American institution". The cast and crew expanded during this time, including the hiring of women in the crew and additional minorities in the cast. The...
. Its owners have been Mr. Hooper
Mr. Hooper
Harold Hooper was a character on Sesame Street, played by Will Lee, who was the original proprietor of Mr. Hooper's Store, which still retains his name.-Biography:...
, David, Mr. Handford, and Alan; these managers have been assisted by Tom, Cookie Monster
Cookie Monster
Cookie Monster is a Muppet on the children's television show Sesame Street. He is best known for his voracious appetite and his famous eating phrases: "Me want cookie!", "Me eat cookie!", and "Om nom nom nom" . He often eats anything and everything, including danishes, donuts, lettuce, apples,...
, Bert, Petey, Gina, Carlo, Natalie, and Gabby at times.
Overview
Mr. Hooper
Harold Hooper was a character on Sesame Street, played by Will Lee, who was the original proprietor of Mr. Hooper's Store, which still retains his name.-Biography:...
before 1969, the store originally ran along the lines of a general/candy store. The menu was extensive and suited to the dietary needs of the different cultures that lived on Sesame Street; along with traditional American diner-type food, the restaurant even served birdseed milkshake
Milkshake
A milkshake is a sweet, cold beverage which is made from milk, ice cream or iced milk, and flavorings or sweeteners such as fruit syrup or chocolate sauce....
s for Big Bird
Big Bird
Big Bird is a protagonist of the children's television show Sesame Street. Big Bird, like many of the other Sesame Street characters, is a Muppet character. He is sometimes referred to simply as "Bird" by his friends....
. Not only was the menu broad, the store stocked up in everything from dry goods to soap dishes. The store even sold empty cigar boxes for a while, as evidenced in Christmas Eve on Sesame Street
Christmas Eve on Sesame Street
Christmas Eve on Sesame Street is a Sesame Street Christmas special first broadcast on PBS on December 3, 1978.-Plot:The opening features the inhabitants of Sesame Street enjoying an ice skating party. Big Bird has trouble skating, but a child gives him a hand, and he ends up skating very well...
; this is unusual, as no one has ever smoked cigarettes, cigars or pipes in public on Sesame Street, but the boxes were likely used to store stuff.
Based on the Ernie and Bert skit There were monkeys in my bed, in which the song "Living in, on, and under" is sung, it may be plausible that Hooper's is open in early morning hours like a convenience store or truck stop. If this is the case, it is even plausible that Natalie or another New Yorker manages the store during the off-hours for Alan, the present operator of the store.
Early years
During the initial seasons, until actor Will LeeWill Lee
Will Lee was an American actor best known for playing the store proprietor Mr. Hooper on Sesame Street, from the show's debut in 1969 until his death in 1982.-Early career:...
's death, the store was run by Mr. Hooper.
During Season 3 (1971), Larry Block
Larry Block
Lawrence Joel "Larry" Block is an American radio, TV, film and theater actor. In 1971, Block appeared on Sesame Street as Tom, who worked at Hooper's Store....
played Tom, a man who worked at Hooper's. Cookie Monster worked at the store in a few episodes (though his large appetite tended to cause problems in a store that sells food).
David and Gina
David, a young African-American who moved to Sesame Street in the early 1970s was soon hired by Mr. Hooper as an assistant. David was originally conceived as a hip, upbeat individual fresh out of high school who was fond of eccentric hats and singing. Although he appeared in Season 3, he began working at the store in Season 4 while studying law at college.Mr. Hooper left David the store in his will
Will (law)
A will or testament is a legal declaration by which a person, the testator, names one or more persons to manage his/her estate and provides for the transfer of his/her property at death...
. During seasons 16 and 17, a teenaged boy named Petey (played by Eddie Castrodad) worked at the store. Following this, David hired a new resident of the area, Gina (played by Alison Bartlett-O'Reilly
Alison Bartlett-O'Reilly
Alison Bartlett-O'Reilly is an American actress known for portraying Gina Jefferson on Sesame Street. Initially playing the character on an on-and-off basis in 1985, Bartlett-O'Reilly has played Gina regularly since November 1987...
) in 1987. This young teenage girl helped David as he himself had helped Mr. Hooper.
Bert was hired to help David in one Sesame Street book. During his employment he broke a teapot
Teapot
A teapot is a vessel used for steeping tea leaves or a herbal mix in near-boiling water. Tea may be either in a tea bag or loose, in which case a tea strainer will be needed, either to hold the leaves as they steep or to catch the leaves inside the teapot when the tea is poured...
given to David by Mr. Hooper, but was forgiven for the mistake.
David ran the establishment from 1983 until 1989 (when Northern Calloway
Northern Calloway
Northern James Calloway was an American actor who played David on Sesame Street from 1971 through 1989, and also voiced Muppet characters including Same Sound Brown....
, the actor that played David, left the show). It was said that he moved to live with his grandmother in 1989. Actually, Northern Calloway was forced to leave the show for health reasons, and died in 1990.
David's final appearance was the season finale of Season 20 (the birth of Maria and Luis' daughter). Gina continued to work at the store for a couple of years after was bought out by Mr. Handford. Partway through the 1990s, she got a new job at the local daycare, until she finished college and remained on the show as a veterinarian.
Mr. Handford and Carlo
The enthusiastic Mr. Handford was a new character brought to the show exclusively to run the store, a change from the previous new managements of David and Gina, who started out as characters before store operators. This African-American man was a retired firefighter who bought the store to keep active.Although Leonard Jackson
Leonard Jackson (actor)
Leonard Jackson is an African-American stage, film, and television actor, perhaps most widely known for his roles in several PBS television series for children as well as his roles in films such as The Brother from Another Planet, Car Wash, and The Color Purple.-Early years and stage...
played him in Season 21, he was then recast and David L. Smyrl took over the role. While Jackson portrayed Mr. Handford as something of a “grumpy old man” with little patience for his friends’ quirks, Smyrl made the character much more cheerful, friendly, and quite young at heart.
In 1991, Sully and Biff tried to hang a picture frame, but one blow from their hammer caused the entire woodwork of the store to fall apart. No one was hurt, but the store was ruined. Mr. Handford considered forgetting about the store, but everyone convinced him that they needed it, so they all pitched in to rebuild it.
A teenager named Carlo (played by Carlo Alban
Carlo Alban
Carlo Alban is an Ecuadorian actor. He is known as Carlo from Sesame Street , appearing in the telefilm Elmo Saves Christmas. He grew up in Sayreville, New Jersey and attended Rutgers University, majoring in visual arts.-Notable roles:He has had recurring roles in Strangers with Candy, Thicker...
) first appeared in 1993 as one of Gordon’s students. In 1995, he was hired to work at the store.
Mr. Handford and Carlo ran the store until 1998 when the actors left the show. There was no on screen explanation to the characters' departures, though it's been cited that Mr. Handford had sold the store to Alan (played by Alan Muraoka
Alan Muraoka
Alan Muraoka is an actor and theatre director who plays Alan, the current owner of Hooper's Store on the television show Sesame Street.-Early career:...
) that year.
Natalie fills in for a vacationing Alan
In season 35, Natalie was hired by Alan to sub in for him while he took a vacation. Big BirdBig Bird
Big Bird is a protagonist of the children's television show Sesame Street. Big Bird, like many of the other Sesame Street characters, is a Muppet character. He is sometimes referred to simply as "Bird" by his friends....
and Baby Bear are initially very anxious of the big change, but Natalie gradually assures them things will be fine. Natalie was played by guest star Natalie Portman
Natalie Portman
Natalie Hershlag , better known by her stage name Natalie Portman, is an actress with dual American and Israeli citizenship. Her first role was as an orphan taken in by a hitman in the 1994 French action film Léon, but major success came when she was cast as Padmé Amidala in the Star Wars prequel...
. Portman was set to star as Natalie in three episodes in the 2004 season, but due to her losing her voice, Sesame Workshop had to film the other two episodes with Gabby in charge.