The following is an excerpt from the book My Life as a Furry Red Monster:
What Being Elmo Has Taught Me About Life, Love, and Laughing Out Loud
by Kevin Clash with Gary Brozek
Published by Broadway Books; September 2006;$19.95US/$26.95CAN;
0-7679-2375-8
Copyright © 2006 Clash Puppets, Inc.
1
Love
He may not look like it, but that Elmo's a love machine.
When parents tell me, "My child lives for Elmo," I tell them that Elmo
lives
because of their child's love for him. I don't just mean that Elmo is
alive
in their child's imagination, though that is certainly a part of it. That
child and Elmo aren't just experiencing love; they're creating more of it
to
go around, and in doing so they make the world a better place.
It works like this: Elmo feeds off the love he receives from kids, from
the
adult characters on the show, and from his fellow Muppets. He doesn't just
take that love in as a fuel and use it up. Instead, he drinks it in and
gives it right back in spades. He's a kind of love-energy power station,
and
the more love he takes in, the more love he produces for the rest of the
world. The more love he produces, the more love he receives, and the cycle
completes itself over and over again. Talk about a renewable resource!
I first saw this powerful cycle in action shortly after Elmo debuted and
was
gaining in popularity in the mid-1980s, when I did an appearance with him
at
a school in the Bronx. A group of preschoolers were gathered in the
library,
all of them bundles of fidgeting energy with their legs swinging like
metronomes. As soon as Elmo said, "Hello, everybody! Elmo loves you!" it
was
like a floodgate had opened, and Elmo and I were awash in a surge of
little
children. I could almost feel an electric charge in the room, as their
shouts of "I love you, Elmo!" reverberated off the cinder-block walls.
Elmo
laughed and opened his arms wide and tried to scoop up all the love and
hug
it to his chest, all the while repeating "Elmo loves you, too."
That may have been the first time in my adult life when I finally
comprehended the ancient notion that what you put out in the universe
comes
back to you. Since that day, I've learned to try to put as much Elmo and
Kevin love out into the world as I can, knowing that it will have a very
positive ripple effect. Elmo and the children taught me that one.
Somewhere
along the road to adulthood, we seem to forget this little secret about
the
power of love, but it's worth remembering.
When children tell Elmo that they love him, they all have different styles
of expressing their emotion. Some of the more demonstrative kids throw
their
arms around his neck, snuggle their faces against his, and with an
eyes-closed, sigh-heaving, hand-me-my-Tony-Award gesture that projects to
the very last row of the theater's balcony, they proclaim their undying
devotion to Elmo in prose as purple as Telly Monster. "Oh, Elmo, I love
you
more than chocolate ice cream! More than I love the new baby! Please come
and live in my house forever!"
Older kids are a little more matter-of-fact, as if they've been married
for
twenty years and they're picking up their keys and their bag and heading
out
the door with an affectionate but perfunctory "Love you." Still others are
more shy and reserved, like the bashful and nervous teen letting his or
her
feelings be known to their crush for the first time. I often wonder how
these children will express their love as adults and how many of them will
remain demonstrative and unembarrassed, or if they'll naturally pull back
into more conservative styles as they grow older. It would be ridiculous
if
we all greeted each other the way the more enthusiastic kids greet Elmo --
imagine how long it would take to get that first cup of coffee at the
office
with all the morning greetings in full swing! -- but still, doesn't
imagining a love-filled world like that put a smile on your face?
Children approach Elmo differently depending on their age, but they also
are
inevitably influenced by the kinds of physical demonstrations of affection
they receive at home. Elmo wants to reach all kids, and sometimes he can
be
like that overly enthusiastic puppy who finds everything in the world so
fresh and new and wonderful that he can't contain himself. Just as kids
may
squeal in delight when they first see a puppy and then retreat in
leg-hugging, face-****elding fear when the puppy starts to jump on them,
Elmo
can evoke the same response. Over time, I've learned to think quickly on
my
feet, to gauge the kinds of responses I'm getting from a child and either
tone down or amp up Elmo's enthusiasm level accordingly. I constantly have
to remind myself that even though they've seen Elmo countless times on
television, they're meeting him face-to-face for the very first time.
The funny thing is, no two kids are alike. I've seen the quiet ones
respond
with smiles and giggles that escalate to a full-on Elmo love attack -- the
eardrum-piercing, vibrating, arms-wide, hugging and squeezing and kissing
frontal assault. Other shy kids need a little bit of time to warm up to
Elmo
and his "de-monster-ative" displays of affection. But in the end, they all
come around.
Excerpted from My Life as a Furry Red Monster by Kevin Clash with Gary
Brozek Copyright © 2006 by Clash Puppets, Inc. Excerpted by permission of
Broadway, a division of Random House, Inc. All rights reserved. No part of
this excerpt may be reproduced or reprinted without permission in writing
from the publisher.
Author
Kevin Clash began making his own puppets and performing for live audiences
when he was a boy. He turned his childhood obsession into a professional
passion, forging a career in television and making an indelible mark on
children's imaginations. Kevin has been with Sesame Street for twenty-six
years and is coexecutive producer of "Elmo's World." He has won three Emmy
Awards for Outstanding Performer in a Children's Series and six for his
work
as coexecutive producer of an Outstanding Pre-School Children's Series. He
has a daughter, Shannon, and lives in New York City.
For more information, please visit www.kevinclashbook.com
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