Cookie Monster

As I've already mentioned, my first SESAME STREET toy was the wonderful Cookie Monster puppet produced by Topper/Educational Toys in the Fall of 1971. These puppets were the first SESAME toys produced, and they were spectacular! Beautifully designed and made, with wonderful packaging, and with extreme care taken to make them great toys that truly reflected their on screen counterparts.

The open-front packaging allowed kids to see the actual puppet they'd get. You could feel the fur, pet Cookie Monster. The box was even designed so you could pull on the arm-control string and make Cookie's arms move while he was still in his box!

The box was also designed to be turned into a puppet theatre that looked like a television set. One had simply to cut out the screen and turn the box on it's side. The cut-out area of the screen also featured some small props on several of the puppet boxes: cookies for Cookie Monster, a lid for Oscar's trash can, etc.

Behind the cut-out screen was a handsome four-page instruction sheet. Each booklet was printed in black and the appropriate color for each puppet: Blue for Cookie Monster, yellow for Bert, green for Oscar, etc.

These original puppets from 1971 were a runaway success that Christmas. The care taken to make the best possible, kid friendly puppets was evident in every detail.

Please note that I still need to find a Cookie Monster in his original open-front box for my collection. The puppet photos of the boxed version above are courtesy of another collector. The instruction sheet and publicity photo below are mine. if you have a Cookie in a box for sale I'd love to hear from you. 

"Educational Toys" publicity photo advertising the Cookie Monster puppet.