Father of the Count: TV Writer Norman Stiles

One thousand, two thousand, ahhh, ahhh, ahhh. That's how many scripts Norman Stiles, 63, has written for kids' television shows, but his most lasting legacy will be the inventor of Sesame Street's number-crazed vampire, The Count. Over his 25-year career, the son of a New York zipper salesman has also authored eight books and won 12 Emmys and two Parents' Choice awards for his writing. Encouraged to become a doctor as a kid, Stiles earned his B.A. in Zoology and Chemistry from New York's Hunter College and credits the experience with providing "the basic foundation for a career in comedy and children's educational television." After putting in time on the Mel Griffin Show, The Captain and Tennille Show and The Bad News Bears, Stiles ultimately found his audience in the under-7 set; he worked for years on PBS' Sesame Street and helped create the network's Between the Lions.

You invented Count von Count. Come on, admit it. He's Jewish.

No. He's Romanian, if anything. In 1971 or 72, I wrote a sketch and the producer at the time said, "Good character, terrible sketch." I didn't let that stop me. I wrote another one. It was collaborative. Everybody weighed in—writers, puppeteers, producers. There are many people who raise a puppet. It's born and then it has to grow and develop.

It takes a village…

A felt village. I worked on developing Elmo, Telly Monster, the Amazing Mumford, Rosita, Placido Flamingo and others. But now I'm on to other things. My [writing] partner, Christopher Cerf, and I decided we wanted to do something about the problem of illiteracy. We knew that television could help. We started a company, Sirius Thinking, Ltd., which created Between the Lions.

Those iconic lions in front of the New York Public Library's main branch are the show's central characters.

Now I'm in production on a music education show for PBS called Lomax, the Hound of Music. It should debut later this year.

'Lomax' as in Alan Lomax, the musical anthropologist?

Yes. Get it? The Hound of Music.

What kind of hound is he?

A melody hound—very unusual breed. He can hear tunes for miles away and can talk to the kids at home, but no one can understand him. He can only bark.

What's the toughest situation you've explained on television?

The actor who played Mr. Hooper on Sesame Street, Will Lee, died and we had a decision to make—–whether or not to say something to preschoolers about death. After talking to experts, we decided to address it. It was shot in one take. The tears were real. Will really believed in the mission of the show. He would have loved that we didn't take the easy way out: 'Mr. Hooper moved to Florida.’

This excerpt is from an article originally published in HEEB #13, Summer 2007.