Production Timeline

Nov 1969 - The first episode of Sesame Street is broadcast.

1971

The Topper / Educational Toys Inc. company produces the very first toy puppets to be based on Sesame Street Characters. The original collection of hand puppets includes Ernie, Bert, Cookie Monster, and Oscar.  A "Big Bird Stuffed Puppet" is also produced and marketed with the hand puppets. This is a doll like plush toy with plastic legs and beak. There is a hole at the back of Big Bird's head to allow the beak to be manipulated like a puppet. 

Finger puppets of these same five characters are also produced. They are sold in a boxed set or individually on cards.

late 1971 or early 1972

A hand puppet and a finger puppet of Grover was later added to the line along with a hand puppet of Roosevelt Franklin. The finger puppet of Grover replaced Oscar in the boxed sets, and was also sold on a card.

Some collectors suspect that Topper may have also produced finger puppets of Roosevelt Franklin, Lefty the Salesman and Sherlock Hemlock, though no documentation to prove this theory has ever surfaced. The reason for this confusion is due to the existence of several variations of the puppets, some of which are similar in style to the Topper line, while other variations have less detail. In the case of Roosevelt Franklin some collectors believe that as a hand puppet of the character was made by Topper, it seems odd that a finger puppet was not made as well, which was the case for all the other characters that were made as hand puppets including the later addition of Grover. 

Advertisements found in department store catalogues suggest that Topper had also begun development of the Anything Muppet hand puppet but was unable to produce the toy before they lost the Sesame Street license to Questor / Child Guidance.

mid 1972

Topper looses the license for producing Sesame Street toys which is taken over by Questor / Child Guidance. The Muppet Wiki website notes that "Topper lost the Sesame Street license in 1972, and the finger puppets were distributed in the last six months of 1972 by Gabriel Toys" This information is cited as being from a newsletter by the producers of Sesame Street "Children's Television Workshop Newsletter, Number 28, March 30, 1973" as accessed in the Children's Television Workshop Archives at the University of Maryland. 

However, the same Muppet Wiki page also states "In 1973 the Sesame Street license moved to Questor..." without any citation, which confuses the previously cited information. This also does not clarify whether or not Topper still manufactured any type of Sesame puppets for the remainder of 1972 or early 1973 as it is not stated precisely when the license switched manufacturing companies. Although Gabriel Toys took over as distributor in mid 1972, this does not necessarily mean that Gabriel was also manufacturing the toys as well. As such, Topper may have continued in this roll until another manufacturing company was confirmed. Essentially, it is unclear if Topper's loss of the license in mid 1972 immediately ended all involvement with producing Sesame toys or simply started the process of winding down their production of the toys which was then transferred to Quester at some point in 1973.

late 1972 or early 1973

It is suspected that Topper produced the rare and mysterious rubber headed Count puppet, which is known among collectors as "the Canadian Count puppet" due to the fact that the majority of loose, played with copies of the toy initially surfaced in Canada. In the mid 2010's photographs of an original box for this toy surfaced online but it has yet to be authenticated. If genuine, the box would confirm that the toy was produced by Questor / Child Guidance rather than Topper however the size of the toy and the type of rubber used suggest otherwise. 

According to the Muppet Wiki website, The Count himself made his debut on Sesame Street Nov 13, 1972. Therefore it seems unlikely that Topper would have managed to get such a toy puppet to market in 1972 with only two months remaining, as it would have required more significant development time to have the sculpting of the head and a negative cast made. As such it is more feasible that the puppet was produced in early 1973.

1973

Questor / Child Guidance releases their retooled and modified versions of the puppets which are made with harder plastic heads rather than soft rubber. The Child Guidance puppet heads are also smaller than those on the Topper puppets. The initial collection includes  seven characters: Ernie, Bert, Cookie Monster, Oscar, Grover, Roosevelt Franklin, and the Big Bird Stuffed Puppet. 

Child Guidance also releases their own slightly smaller and less detailed versions of the initial six finger puppets: Ernie, Bert, Cookie Monster, Oscar, Grover and Big Bird. These were sold in a box set of five without Oscar, and all six were sold individually on cards.

In late 1973 Child Guidance released the Anything Muppet hand puppet which was shown in their 1974 product catalogue as "new for 74". 

Finger puppets of Roosevelt, Lefty the Salesman, and Sherlock Hemlock were also released in late 1973 and included in the 1974 catalogue as being new for 74. 

1974

1975 

1976

1977

The 1977 catalogue shows a finger puppet boxed set containing Ernie, Big Bird, Cookie Monster, Sherlock Hemlock and Lefty the Salesman.

1978

Vicma produced puppets based on 1 Rue Sesame including Toccata (a bird) and Mordicus (a dark blue monster). They also make their own version of the plastic head Bert and Ernie puppets.

1979

1980

Vicma rereleases their Sesame puppets based on Toccata and Mordicus.

1981

1982

1983

Mc Call's Crafts offered two different Sesame Street puppet pattern sets. One set included patterns to make Ernie, Bert, Prairie Dawn and Grover. The other set included Big Bird, Oscar, Cookie Monster and Herry Monster.

1984

1985

1986 

Hasbro produced an entirely new line of Sesame Street puppets, marketed as "Sesame Street Pals", which are designed to be plush toys as well as puppets, and therefor the development of the original line of Sesame puppets is officially ended. The series includes Ernie, Bert, Cookie Monster, Grover, Oscar (in his trash can) and Big Bird.

1988

Applause continued the Hasbro Playskool series with the addition of Elmo, the Count, Zoe, and Honker in the same plush toy style puppet.

1990

Hasbro reissues their Sesame Street plush toy puppets in different boxes. These puppets are slightly larger that the ones from 1986.