David Connell's talents grew with his gifts to kids
David Connell, who died May 5, 1995, after a long struggle with cancer, made a notable series of contributions to children's programming: as executive producer of Captain Kangaroo, the first executive producer of Sesame Street and then executive producer of CTW's next series, The Electric Company, v.p. for production at CTW, and senior producer and writer for CTW's math series Square One TV. Joan Ganz Cooney, originator of Sesame Street and cofounder of CTW, remembers Connell as a multitalented and dedicated producer.
Originally published in Current, May 29, 1995
Commentary by Joan Ganz Cooney
Dave Connell joined CTW in 1968, shortly after we opened shop, and I felt extremely fortunate to have him with us. I've always said of our original team that developed and produced Sesame Street, "Collectively, we were a genius.'' The early days really were a case of one for all and all for one: every member made irreplaceable contributions to our joint experiment. Dave was uniquely qualified to lead the creative team as executive producer.
Ironically, considering his enormous legacy to children, Dave was very reluctant to come to CTW. After a stint at Captain Kangaroo, he had wanted to leave children's programming. While Sesame Street was in development, Dave was working as an independent producer. When he read the announcement of our project, he told me later that his reaction had been, "There's $8 million down the drain.'' He was particularly put off, he said, when he read that there would be an educational advisory board and an executive director--me--of whom he'd never heard.
But a CBS executive, who thought CTW was on to something, persuaded Dave to come to see me. We met three or four times before I was able to talk him into joining us. I think he saw that I was sensible and straightforward, not the impractical dreamer he'd expected. I told him I had some "non-negotiable demands''--but not very many! I wanted our new children's program to use the short segments and multiple formats that made Laugh In so entertaining and the most popular show on television at the time. Because I knew that children paid attention to TV, I wanted to use "commercials'' to teach letters and numbers. I wanted to see a multiracial cast and both sexes on the show--no one star. But I told Dave that as executive producer, he'd be in charge. I wouldn't be second-guessing creative decisions unless there was a clear policy reason to do so.
My promise of creative freedom swayed Dave--and the rest of our original team as well. The times also were on my side. Like many other dedicated and gifted people in the late 1960s, Dave was eager to make a contribution to society, especially to its youngest and poorest citizens. In the end, he took a salary cut to join us.
Dave was terrifically collegial, a wonderful leader with a great sense of humor. We had very few disagreements, and the ones we had were easily resolved. He also was an immensely gifted animation producer who ended up producing most of the animation for Sesame Street's first season.
As part of our team's experimental approach, we brought in child development experts and education researchers to help us figure out what worked and what didn't. Never before or since has research played so important a role in a television production. Research is at the heart of what is now known as the CTW model of production--a three-way collaboration among producers and writers, experts on curriculum and child development, and researchers. In practice, the CTW model means holding many long meetings to reach consensus. That remains as true now as it was in our early days.
Dave was very skeptical of this approach at first, but once he saw how research helped us figure out what children liked on television, and what helped them learn, he became a great believer. Subsequently, he always relied heavily on research and educational advisors.
I think the truly remarkable quality about this very talented man was that his talent kept growing, and along with it, his contributions to children's educational television. Sesame Street became a hit as soon as it went on the air, and consequently, we were able to obtain funding for a second series that would help school-age children learn to read and write.
I was extremely nervous about this new project. Sesame Street had been so very successful that I was worried that any new series would be compared unfavorably to its predecessor. But during the last half of Sesame Street's first season and into its second season, Dave devoted a good deal of time to developing The Electric Company. That series, and "The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe," our animated special for CBS that was based on C.S. Lewis's The Chronicles of Narnia, were wonderful showcases for Dave's taste and know-how in animation, and both won wide acclaim.
All of his many talents came to fruition on what I think of as Dave's own series, Square One TV. Dave had always wanted to do a math show, even before The Electric Company. In the mid-1980s, after Dave had helped launch our science series, 3-2-1 Contact, he walked into my office and said one word: "Math.''
I said, "Fine. Go for it.'' At that point, Lloyd Morrisett, chairman of the board, arrived and I told him, "Dave thinks we should do the math series now.''
Lloyd said, "I do, too. Let's do it.'' The conversation literally lasted that long. Dave went off to conceive and create Square One TV. It went on the air in 1986, and remained Dave's labor of love. It displayed all his many abilities: his talent for parodies, his deftness at inserting curriculum into entertainment formats, his skill at comedy writing, and, of course, his ground-breaking animation.
As Dave went on contributing to the CTW, his record of accomplishments in the name of children's education grew, to the point where it is unequalled. He will always occupy a unique place in the history of children's educational programming, and in the memory of those of us who were lucky enough to have worked with him.
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