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Oscar the Grouch is a Muppet character on the television program ''Sesame Street''. He has a green body (during the first season he was orange), has no visible nose, and lives in a trash can. His favorite thing in life is trash, as evidenced by the song "I Love Trash". A running theme is his compulsive hoarding of seemingly useless items. "The Grouch" aptly describes his misanthropic interaction with the other characters, but also refers to his species. His birthday, as noted by Sesame Workshop, is on June 1. The character is performed by Caroll Spinney, and has been performed by him since the show's first episode. ==Origins== Initially, the Muppet characters on ''Sesame Street'' would not actually appear on Sesame Street itself, but be relegated to the intermediary segments. Muppets creator Jim Henson wanted them to be integrated into the series, suggesting a giant bird and creature living in the neighborhood's trash can. The character was developed by ''Sesame Street'' head writer Jon Stone and Henson, based on the personality of a “magnificently rude” waiter.〔Jeffrey A. Kroessler, ''New York year by year: a chronology of the great metropolis'', page 306.〕 Based on the character outline, puppeteer Caroll Spinney was inspired by the voice of a New York City taxi driver, hailed when going to the production studio; when he first got in, the driver asked him "Where to, Mac?" and spoke with Spinney about the mayor of New York at the time (Republican John Lindsay). His name's source is of some debate. Most sources suggest it's derived from the name of the aforementioned restaurant, Oscar's Tavern. In recent years, however, the family of Canadian folk musician Oscar Brand has suggested he was the namesake. Brand was an early board member for the show's non-profit production company, Children's Television Workshop. The claim has been made in an interview with the CBC around the time of Brand's 90th birthday,〔''Sunday Edition'', CBC Radio, 7 February 2010.〕 and by his son in the interview segment of ''Jeopardy''.〔Interview with Jordan Brand on ''Jeopardy'' episode, aired 4 March 2010.〕 Named “Oscar the Grouch”, writers would eventually add other Grouches, an entire species explored in the film ''The Adventures of Elmo in Grouchland'' and various television episodes. The initial puppet, built by staff builder John Lovelady, was orange with a single dark-colored eyebrow. Spinney's other lead character is Big Bird, whom Oscar often describes to children as his friend during public appearances. He especially likes to prank him every morning by putting ketchup in his alarm clock. When Big Bird and Oscar are required in a scene together, Jim Martin often operates Oscar to a vocal track by Spinney so the latter can perform Big Bird. However, occasionally, Matt Vogel will instead operate the Big Bird puppet to a vocal track by Spinney, while he performs Oscar. During the first season of ''Sesame Street'', the street set was arranged such that Spinney, who is right-handed, was forced to operate Oscar's head with his left hand. A subsequent redesign of the set (and Oscar himself, as he was ripped apart by Jim Henson)〔 Chapter 9〕 allowed him to switch hands. In the first season of Sesame Street, Oscar was orange, and later became green in Season 2. This was due to his visit within the show to the Swamp Mushy Muddy. According to ''Sesame Streets Robert W. Morrow, Oscar was created to indirectly demonstrate racial and ethnic diversity. Since his manners and tastes were different from those of the other characters, his creators hoped to address social issues by using his differences as a metaphor for racial and ethnic differences. Some viewers, however, saw Oscar as a "surrogate for poor, urban Americans" during the show's early seasons. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Oscar the Grouch」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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