A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood
By: Emma Barnett
Ask almost anybody to finish the lyrics, “It’s a beautiful
day in this neighborhood. A beautiful day for a neighbor. Would you be mine, could you be mine? Won’t
______ .” And they will be able to easily.
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| Fred Rogers in his iconic sweater. Photo Credit: npr.com |
Of course it is the intro song to the beloved Mister Rogers
Neighborhood, staring Fred Rogers.
Fred Rogers was part of childhood for four decades. I know he was part of my childhood and will
always be special to me because we have the same birthday.
Each episode began the same way: Mister
Rogers is seen coming home presumably from work, singing his theme song
"Won't You Be My Neighbor?", and changing into sneakers and a
zippered cardigan sweater. He stated in an interview for Emmy TV that
his mother knit all of his sweaters.
Rogers said in an interview for the
National Museum of American History, he wore a sweater “to make it seem like a
comfortable time. It’s a symbol of staying a while, of settling down for some
quiet time together.”
One of the iconic red sweaters now
lives at the National Museum of American History in Washington DC, on the third floor next to
other television memorabilia, including Oscar the Grouch from Sesame Street.
Fred McFeely Rogers was born on March
20, 1928 to parents James and Nancy Rogers.
In his early years, he spent much of his free time with his grandfather
who taught him to play the piano by the age of five.
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| Mister Rogers' sweater in the National Museum of American History. | Photo Credit: Wikipedia.com |
At Rollins College, Rogers met Sara
Byrd and they were married in 1952. In
the next 10 years they welcomed two sons into their lives. In 1963 Rogers graduated from Pittsburgh
Theological Seminary and was ordained a minister in the United Presbyterian
Church.
In 1953, Rogers went to work for WQED,
a Pittsburgh public television station, as a puppeteer on The Children’s Corner. This
is where many of the puppets, characters and music used in later series were
developed, such as King Friday XIII and Curious X the Owl.
While working on The Children’s Corner is when Rogers started wearing his famous
sneakers because he found them to be quieter when he moved around behind the
set.
Moving to Toronto, Ontario in 1963 to
work on a new series based on The
Children’s Corner. Rogers was
persuaded to appear on camera after the head of children’s programing saw him
interact with children. At this point
the new show was named after Rogers, Misterogers. It aired in Canada until Rogers decided
to come back to the United States.
In 1966, Rogers acquired the rights to Misterogers from the station in Toronto
and moved the show to WQED. With the
show in a new city, it was time for a new name, Misterogers’ Neighborhood.
The 100th episode debuted the
“Neighborhood of Make-Believe”. This was
a fictional kingdom inhabited by hand puppets. The Neighborhood of Make-Believe
would appear in almost every episode.
The only way to travel to the Neighborhood of Make-Believe was a red and
yellow model trolley that entered and exited through small tunnels in the
wall.
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| The Neighborhood of Make-Believe set. Photo Credit: Francis McGrath |
“I remember one year, when my sister
and I were about four, we only wanted one thing for Christmas,” Meredith Beck,
22, reminisces back to her early childhood. “We kept asking our parents for a
trolley just like the one in Mister Rogers.
We wanted tunnels in our house so we could go visit the Neighborhood of
Make-Believe.”
Then in 1967, tragedy struck.
The show was cancelled due to a lack of
funding. However, an outpouring of
public response prompted a search for new funding and it was found in less than
a year. The Sears Roebuck Foundation
provided funding for the program, which enabled Misterogers’ Neighborhood to be seen nationwide on National
Educational Television.
In 1970, PBS replaced NET and
with that came the final title change Mister
Rogers’ Neighborhood. The show was
in production from 1968 to 1979 and again from 1979 to 2001.
“My favorite song was always the
closing song. “ Melissa Beck, 22, shares
her memories of Mister Rogers’
Neighborhood, “But by far the best part was when he would say ‘You always
make each day a special day. You know how: By just your being you. There's only
one person in the world that's like you, and that's you. And people can like
you just the way you are.’ It always
made me feel special mainly because I have an identical twin.”
Fred Rogers was not afraid to talk
about the hard topics. In 1970, he dealt
with the death of one of his pet goldfish.
Over the years, Rogers also dealt with divorce, competition and
war. He often returned to the topic of
anger and focused on peaceful ways of dealing those feelings.
When Rogers died in 2003, PBS posted
suggestions on their website for parents on how to respond to children who ask
about Rogers’ death.
In 2007, some PBS affiliates began replacing
Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood with new
shows. The majority of PBS affiliates
were still showing the show as part of the daily syndication lineup.
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| The model of Mister Rogers Neighborhood that was used in every opening and closing. Photo Credit: nscale.net |
2008 came with the announcement that
PBS would stop broadcasting the show everyday, instead airing the show once a
week over the weekend. Some stations
chose to air the show independently of the PBS syndicated feed.
There was a large campaign in 2008 and
2009 to urge PBS to bring the show back seven days a week. WQED, the series home, chose to continue
airing the show everyday until 2010.
Even though Fred Rogers died 11 years ago, many people still
know the words to songs he would sing everyday.
Watching Mister Rogers’
Neighborhood can take any adult back to their childhood days and bring back
all the good memories that come with it.
The Fred Rogers Company
The Fred Rogers Center
15 Reasons Mister Rogers Was The Best Neighbor Ever
Links:
Mister Rogers IMDBThe Fred Rogers Company
The Fred Rogers Center
15 Reasons Mister Rogers Was The Best Neighbor Ever
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