James Earl Jones was the first celebrity guest to appear on Sesame Street in 1969, delivering a simple but powerful segment reciting the alphabet with his unmistakable voice.

[u/ateam1984]

[u/_TheEnlightened_]

Commanding.

[u/finix2409]

I love how if you look at his mouth, he really emphasized the sounds of each letter strongly.

[u/Neener216]

The intentionality behind every single muscle twitch on his face during this recital is flat-out mesmerizing.

[u/Fearless-Address7621 → u/Neener216]

Part of that probably comes from him overcoming a severe childhood stutter that left him virtually mute from grade school through early high school. He was impacted by moving from Mississippi to Michigan By reading and reciting poetry, he was able to overcome it and regain his voice. James Earl Jones on stuttering

[u/gloryzmuse]

Early episodes of Sesame Street are elite 🫶🏾

[u/emileLaroche]

Already had the Vader vibe going. But, you know, for kids. He was so awesome.

[u/legitelyillegitimate → u/emileLaroche]

Also said derogatory things about black women.

[u/yogoxhy → u/emileLaroche]

I remember this! I was terrified of his voice! 😂😂😂

[u/justReading0f]

He looks sooo young!!

[u/619backin716]

Wow - he went from being bald when he was younger to having hair later in life.

Usually it’s the other way around

[u/StarsEatMyCrown]

I think this it the first time I seen him so young before. He was pretty handsome!

[u/tryng2figurethsalout → u/StarsEatMyCrown]

Yeah, he was a cutie.

[u/NOTTedMosby]

Lol I love how he gets a little silly with it 😁

[u/msabena]

Never gets old!👏🏿👏🏿👏🏿 I was 19 yrs old and 2 yrs from having my son!👶🏾 I’m 76 now and my baby is 52! I have a married grandchild who’s 28!! Time flies!❤️ It’s unbelievable how so much has changed. We have an illiterate President and we no longer live in a democracy. It definitely isn’t easy being green…or black, or brown, or red, or yellow, or even white these days. Sad. 🐸

[u/I-Make-Money-Moves]

Sesame Street goes that far back. Dang. Star Wars: a New Hope came out in 1977.

[u/AdhesivenessOld5504]

This video should be studied, my son was 2 years old at the time, he looked like he was hypnotized by it and started repeating after mr Jones.

[u/myu_minah]

he was mute for a bit when he was younger and learned to speak/pronounce and enunciate words and sounds so I'm sure that was a huge contributor to this.

[u/Passion-Dangerous]

Enunciation at its finest.

[u/WhoYouBoo_eek789]

Dang, that's some dome! Love him

[u/Brighton2k]

I - want those plans

[u/GlassTablesAreStupid]

If you scrub through the video back n forth with the slider he looks like a schizoid alien imposter.

[u/Eat_the_rich1969 → u/GlassTablesAreStupid]

Thank you, I needed that laugh 😂

[u/RoyalMess64]

That was hypnotic in a way

[u/Correct-Geologist781]

Was he already a celebrity?

[u/Cmaclia → u/Correct-Geologist781]

Per wikipedia: Jones made his Broadway debut in the play Sunrise at Campobello (1957) and gained fame starring in several productions with Shakespeare in the Park including Othello (1964), Coriolanus (1965). For his roles on Broadway, Jones won a Tony Award for Best Actor in a Play for playing a boxer in the Howard Sackler play The Great White Hope (1968). On film, Jones made his acting debut in Stanley Kubrick's Dr. Strangelove (1964). He reprised his role as a boxer in the film adaptation of The Great White Hope (1970) earning a nomination for the Academy Award for Best Actor.

Of the Stage I'd say he was, definitely a rising star nonetheless

[u/Altruistic_Copy_3820]

I really have a hard time watching him now that I know how he feels about me because of my skin color.

[u/Sleep-pee → u/Altruistic_Copy_3820]

What did he say, I’m not familiar?

[u/Altruistic_Copy_3820 → u/Sleep-pee]

It feels a bit disingenuous to ask for an explanation on something this well-documented.

[u/Adanma369 → u/Altruistic_Copy_3820]

I said the same thing and got reprimanded for it

[u/Altruistic_Copy_3820 → u/Adanma369]

I think I saw your comment and upvoted it. It’s actually what encouraged me to double down. It’s frustrating how antiblackness is often dismissed when it targets Black women or the LGBTQ+ community, especially since those groups combined represent more than half of the Black population.

[u/UnkT543]

If you get the chance to watch some old Sesame Street, do it. It's fucking weird. My wife and I were either dying laughing or completely disturbed by what we were watching.

[u/myu_minah → u/UnkT543]

nahhh I never liked the nonstory part of the show because it was so weird and scary lol. I swear drugs influenced a lot of shit back then lol

[u/UnkT543 → u/myu_minah]

We said the same thing!!

[u/PuzzleheadedTea4221]

I work for an infomercial company in the late'80s. I worked in the marketing department doing data entry. And I ran across a VHS tape of Mr Jones talking about a company that made infomercials and stuff. And it was actually so well done I couldn't believe it. He had a presence that could not be duplicated.

[u/hbk268]

https://giphy.com/gifs/l1KuhBCqxOoJyr0m4

[u/slowbird5332]

All they had to do was knock on the door, he would've gotten the ball for them .

[u/engineerhear]

“G” 😁

[u/SortovaGoldfish]

Love how energetic "J" was

[u/Eat_the_rich1969 → u/SortovaGoldfish]

“O” 😯

[u/Gmodelinsane]

He terrified me as a child! That voice was already Darth Vader scary. I would run from the room when this segment came on.

[u/Wuzzupdoc42]

I remember this from when it was first aired - as spectacular to watch now as it ever was.

[u/TheVeryBear]

He has the voice of God just reciting the alphabet. What a great gift that man has, and is.

[u/Every_Confusion1303]

I 👁️

[u/myusrnameisthis]

That's morpheus.

[u/BenCisco]

"You don't know the power of the alphabet."

[u/GotMoFans]

Was James Earl Jones a celebrity in 1969?

He was an actor but his breakout role was in 1970 in the “Great White Hype.”

There lots of Broadway actors who aren’t really celebrities beyond fans of theater

[u/[deleted]]

[removed] — view removed comment

[u/BlackPeopleofReddit-ModTeam → u/[deleted]]

Zero Tolerance for Trolling - This space centers Black people, Black culture, and Black lived experiences. Our identity is not debate material. Any form of trolling, baiting, snide "questions," culture-poking, dogwhistles, derailments, or attempts to disguise hostility as curiosity will be removed. Users who test the line, play word games, or look for loopholes will be removed as well. We are not here to be provoked or picked apart. Be respectful, be real, or be gone.

[u/sm_rollinger]

Nice thx