Welcome to Maria Week – Celebrating over 40 years of Sonia Manzano’s work on Sesame Street! We’re dedicating an entire week to her performance as Maria and the legacy she’s leaving with the recent announcement of her retirement from the show.
With so much Maria love going on this week, we thought it wouldn’t be complete without actually seeing Maria in action! We’ve compiled some of her greatest hits, thanks to a bunch of generous YouTube uploaders, including some classic moments, some personal scenes, and some hysterical videos from Sonia Manzano’s career on Sesame Street.
To start, let Maria tell you (and Grover) her life story via the jobs that she’s held over the years:
And now let’s begin with Maria’s love life. Because that’s what we all really want to know about, right?? In the early years, she was an item with David:
But her true love was just down the Street. In this clip, Big Bird and Snuffy (taking fate into their own hands) help Maria and Luis fall in love:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ah3hRYcuw1I
Then they are so totally in love, even the Yip-Yips can tell:
First comes love, then comes marriage. Here’s the entire classic episode of Maria and Luis’s wedding, which is just fantastic:
Now that they’re married, there’s a baby on the way! The following two videos tell the whole story of Gabi’s birth:
¡Hola!
This one’s for Ryan Roe: Possibly the best song featuring a rapping Forgetful Jones, “Write it Down”:
How about that time Placido Flamingo fell in love with Maria?
Or that time Stinky fell in love with Maria? (Fun Fact: Everyone is in love with Maria.)
Maria and Luis and (best of all) Bob dressed as Atlas sing in the museum:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SD-7y0t69UQ
Here she is as Charlie Chaplin, because that’s a thing they were able to do on children’s television in the ’70s:
And now, Grover presents: Maria’s head.
Finally, possibly the greatest thing to ever happen on Sesame Street, Maria and Bob and Luis and David sing “Whipped Cream Pies”:
With over 40 years of Sesame life on her resume, there are way too many memories to share in one article. So feel free to tell us your favorites that we might’ve missed!
Click here to fall in love on the ToughPigs forum!
by Joe Hennes – Joe@ToughPigs.com
