The responsibility of casting for Sesame Street fell to Jon Stone, who set out to form a cast where white actors were in the minority.[48] He did not begin auditions until spring 1969, several weeks before five test shows were due to be produced. He filmed the auditions, and Palmer took them into the field to test children's reactions. The actors who received the "most enthusiastic thumbs up" were cast.[59] For example, Loretta Long was chosen to play Susan when the children who saw her audition stood up and sang along with her rendition of "I'm a Little Teapot".[65] Stone reported that casting was the only aspect that was "just completely haphazard".[66] Most of the cast and crew found jobs on Sesame Street through personal relationships with Stone and the other producers.[66] Stone hired Bob McGrath (an actor and singer best known at the time for his appearances on Mitch Miller's sing-along show on NBC) to play Bob, Will Lee to play Mr. Hooper, and Garrett Saunders to play Gordon.[67][note 12]