Fred Rogers

Nearly everyone who lives in Pittsburgh has a Mister Rogers story. Here's mine...

Mister Rogers' Neighborhood

For those who don't know Mister Rogers (is there anyone?!?), Mister Rogers' Neighborhood was an American half-hour educational children's television series that was created and hosted by Fred Rogers. The series debuted in Canada in 1962 on CBC Television, but in 1966, Rogers moved back to the United States and broadcast the show on the regional Eastern Educational Television Network (EETN, a forerunner of today's American Public Television), where it aired on NET and its successor, PBS, until August 31, 2001.

The series was aimed primarily at preschool children ages 2 to 5, but it was labelled by PBS as "appropriate for all ages". Mister Rogers' Neighborhood was produced by Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania public broadcaster WQED and Rogers' non-profit production company Family Communications, Inc. In May 1997, the series surpassed Captain Kangaroo as the longest-running children's television series, a record the series held until June 2003, when Sesame Street beat Mister Rogers' record.

Working

In 1990, Dance Alloy brought in choreographer Sam Costa to set a work on the company. He choose to stage Working, his trio for three slack-minded guys just doing a day's work packing and hauling.

Because Mister Rogers' Neighborhood frequented included visits to various workplaces to introduce his audience to a variety of jobs, we thought it might be fun to have the trio appear on Fred's show. He agreed, and came to the performance to see the work.

While he liked Working, what really interested him was a different work on the same concert called In Our Own Image by choreographer Jerry Pearson. The first sections of the piece used three-foot sections of white PVC pipe to create geometric forms. The final section of the work introduced a contrasting element with a number of green exercise balls, which the dancers rolled upon, reclined, and manipulated.

Fred was so excited by the possibility of having that final section on his show, he made arrangements to have an entire studio set-up to film the dance. We spent several hours in the large studio at WQED, adjusting the dance to work for the cameras. Fred stopped in a one point to talk with us, and he was clearly excited by what he saw.

The Show

After several months of post-production editing, Mister Rogers' Neighborhood aired with a segment featuring the Dance Alloy. Mister McFeeley delivers the video tape and an exercise ball to Mister Rogers, and after watching the video, they each try some of the moves the dancers performed on the balls.

You can watch that episode HERE.

Because Mister Rogers episodes were frequently re-run, my nieces and nephews were always excited when Uncle Scott showed up on the television at home!

And because Fred Rogers was as nice as man in person as Mister Rogers appeared on the show, it was no surprise that shortly after the episode aired I received a signed photo (above) with a personal note of thanks.

The Gallery

The photographer Lynn Johnson has spent many hours with Fred, capturing him in moments of both work and relaxation Lynn had taken a very famous photo of Fred, sitting on the steps of an old trolley holding the trolley from the show.

 

An art gallery in Dormont was presenting an exhibition of photography by local artists, and some of Lynn's photos (including the trolley photograph) were a part of the show. At the time, I lived not far away, and decided to attend the opening reception.

When I arrived, I found the usual gallery opening environment: lots of art fans, dressed in black, eating small cubes of cheese and drinking white wine. People glanced at me as I entered the gallery, but quickly determined that I was a "nobody" and went back to their conversations. All of a sudden, the gallery felt charged by electricity as Fred entered the space. The whispered buzzing started immediately: "Ooh, it's Mister Rogers! Mister Rogers is here!"

Fred went up to the gallery owner, gave him a hug, and said how happy he was to be there. Then he saw Lynn, and flew to her, remarking what a lovely show it was. Then Fred turned to look at the rest of the room, and spotted me, and greeted me by saying, "Scott, I'm so glad to see you again!"

The buzzing in the room instantly changed. "Who is that guy?!? He must be someone. Mister Rogers knows him!"

Fred made the rounds to view the exhibit and talk to fans, but for the rest of the evening I was approached by strangers who wanted to start up a conversation. Everyone was curious how I was connected to Mister Rogers. My standing in Dormont society suddenly skyrocketed thanks to Fred's greeting.

Witches, Wolfes & Wizards

Dance Alloy began looking at a way to create a holiday tradition for Pittsburgh families, much like the Nutcracker for ballet companies. The company decided that the Thanksgiving holiday would be ideal, because many families were gathered together and looking for something to do once the Thanksgiving dinner was done.

Carnegie Music Hall

 

What came out of this thought process was Witches, Wolves & Wizards, a dance/theater work that would be engaging (and not too scary) for audiences of all ages. Three stories were selected for the first year, with the idea that this "anthology" show would rotate various segments in and out over the years, so there would always be something new. The witch came from Hansel and Gretel, the wolf from 'The Three Little Pigs", and the wizard from the stories of King Arthur and Merlin.

We secured the exquisite Carnegie Music Hall for the production. (Dance Alloy was, at that time, housed in residence in The Carnegie, rehearsing and teaching classes.) I wrote an article for Carnegie Magazine about this new production.

A production of this sort seemed ideal for Mister Rogers' audience, and so I invited Fred to come to the performance to see the show. Several days later I received the following note:

 

 

Mister Rogers note front

 

Mister Rogers note reverse

 

A couple of days after the Witches, Wolves, and Wizards performance, I received this note from Fred:

Mister Rogers note 2

 

Mister Rogers note 2

 

Absolutely everyone you speak to about Fred Rogers will say the same thing: he was exactly the same in real life as in the show. He was as warm and giving as he seemed, and I am so grateful to have gotten to know him, even just a little.