We lost Gordon.  Can you help us find him?  (Seriously.)

Here’s the story, and we’re collecting info on our website, too.

Sesame Street’s debuted 42 years ago today. But like most other TV shows, we had a test pilot. We created it in the summer of 1969, just a few months before the first episode aired. The actor who played Gordon on the show, pictured on the above-linked page (or if you that page goes down, here’s an imgur link, was replaced by an actor named Matt Robinson (who, by the way, is Holly Robinson Peete’s father).

Two years ago, we put together a huge anthology of our then-40 year history… and realized that we do not know who played Gordon in the test pilot. We’ve asked everyone we could think of — actors, actresses, and puppeteers who have been on the show since its inception; Sesame Workshop’s founder, Joan Ganz Cooney; and of course, dug through seemingly endless boxes of documents and photos.

Any clue would be great, even if it’s seemingly esoteric or mundane. You can email it to us at wheresgordon@sesameworkshop.org with any clues.

Oh, and one other thing: Here’s a clip of our mystery Gordon from that test pilot, above. And yes, Bert and Ernie look a little different than they do nowadays, but then again, Oscar used to be orange.