Mister Rogers

The world would be a better place if we listened to Fred Rogers.

He may have been the kindest, calmest man in children’s television programming. He always came across as trust-worthy and caring.

Before his long run on PBS (starting in the network’s NET days, with the house logo I always liked), he was on the CBC. The Mother Corp specialised in low-key children’s shows in those days. There was The Friendly Giant. There was Chez Helene. A little more boisterous was Razzle Dazzle with Howard the Turtle. And later came Mr. Dressup.

The CBC version was called Misterogers. It debuted on October 15, 1962 (check your local listings for time). It appears the network sent out a news release because I’ve found the same unbylined story in several Canadian newspapers days before the first airing.

Fred Rogers, of CBC-TV’s Misterogers puppet show for children, makes no attempt to hide himself or his lip movements as he talks for puppets on the TV screen.
It is his philosophy that children should not be fooled, even though his program is set in a fantasy neighborhood where most of the neighbors are puppets.
“From the beginning, I want young viewers to know that this is a land of make believe. We are all playing. The human link helps children put the fantasy in its proper perspective, yet they still believe in the fantasy characters,” he says.
His show, Misterogers, will be seen Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays at 2:30 p.m. beginning Oct. 15 on the CBC-TV network.
Most of the “neighbors” are puppets, except for Rogers and a live guest who assumes a neighborhood character role.
Misterogers evolved from a program, called Children’s Corner Rogers had in Pittsburgh for seven years. He introduced his first puppet, a tiger named Daniel. “The tiger was so warmly received by viewers,” says Rogers, “I decided to increase my puppet population, and it’s been growing ever since.”
Puppet characters appearing in Misterogers include King Friday XIII, Daniel Striped Tiger, a family of talking furniture, Lawrence Light and his wife Lydia Lam-Light, Philodendron and his wife Rhoda, his talking gramophone, and a book worm that lives in an encyclopedia.
Other neighborhood characters popping in and out of the series include Edgar Cook, Lady Elain Fairchilde and her husband Cornflake S. Pecially, X Owl, Henrietta Pussycat, Nine Nice Mice, and Grandpere who lives in the Eiffel Tower.
Fred Rogers started composing music even before he mastered his multiplication tables. He received his Bachelor of Music degree from Rollins College, Florida, and composes all the music for his show as well as writing the lyrics and script.

Rogers’ stay in Canada was short. He quit the CBC and returned to Pittsburgh in 1964, and the show went off the air in July. The Canadian network wasn’t through with him. The Montreal Star of March 17, 1965 reported he was now part of the Canadian School Telecasts that aired weekdays starting at 10 a.m. Rogers evidently shot the episodes in Pittsburgh. It was a short run, the Gazette reported the show would be on only four more weeks. In the meantime, the CBC had been syndicating the show in the United States starting in 1964.

Back in the States, the June 23, 1965 edition of the Pittsburgh Press reported Misterogers’ Sunday Show would air for a half hour on WTAE, Channel 4, as of Sept. 19, while a ten-minute Monday through Friday version would begin Nov. 15. Judging by newspaper ads, the Joseph Horne Co. paid costs to air them. Whether these were old CBC broadcasts, or new ones filmed in the U.S., or a combination of both, is unclear.

Rogers told TV Guide in September 1968 the show ran out of production money in summer 1966. American backers stepped in. On November 21, 1966, he returned to WQED, Channel 13 in Pittsburgh, with a half-hour Misterogers’ Neighborhood, originally seen at noon and 4:30, as Emilie Brontesaurus brought a lion cub to visit with Mr. Rogers. The Joseph Horne Co. took out an almost full-page newspaper ad to herald the show. Along the way, the Sears, Roebuck Foundation awarded him a $150,000 grant (then another in August 1968) and the Neighborhood was seen on WGBH in Boston and other NET stations.

This profile was published in newspapers beginning December 14, 1967.

World of Children Shown On Unique TV
By RUDY CERNKOVIC
PITTSBURGH (UPI)—Fred Rogers slipped unobtrusively into a rear seat of a classroom in a Pittsburgh elementary school. His presence did not go unnoticed long.
A boy sitting nearby recognized him as the conductor of “Misterogers’ Neighborhood,” a children’s program shown five days a week over WQED, the first community-supported educational television channel in the United States.
“My teddy bear lost his ear when I put him in the washer,” the boy later told Rogers.
“Sometimes that happens with toys,” Rogers said. “Did your mother sew it back on? You can do things like that to toys, and sometimes doctors can do it for people.”
Studies Children, Environment
The visit to the school was a routine event in Rogers’ study of children and their environment.
“Misterogers’ Neighborhood” is a creation of a mind that under stands the special world of children. The program deals with everyday situations and problems children face—the doll that breaks, fear of the dark, the arrival of a new baby, going to a hospital or taking a bath.
Rogers, tall, lean and soft spoken, believes television is an intimate medium, which can deal with the inner needs of children. To help children learn about their world, he seeks to create a real atmosphere which they can recognize and relate to their lives.
“We try to learn from children,” he said. “We don’t super-impose our own ideas upon them. We treat them with respect, because they are individuals who are growing up. We try to give them on our program an environment in which they can feel accepted as they are. Once accepted, they can begin to grow.”
Communication Important
“We are serious about communicating with children, it’s a real mission with us.
“We divide reality from make believe. We understand childhood fantasy and deal with it in a real way. In the neighborhood of make believe, everything is possible.
Rogers says many children’s television programs today appall him.
“They convey an excess of violence, as well as stifle the child’s imagination by forcing him into the role of a passive, fearing spectatator,” he said. “So few programs really reach into the child’s world.
“The first thing I’ve done in preparing children’s programming is to listen with my ears and eyes, even with my nose, to know what is appropriate for them.
“I’m committed to doing good children’s programs, working and playing with them face to face and then building programs and writing songs and stories for them. I don’t want anything else.”
Puppets Participate
There are several puppet characters in “Misterogers’ Neighborhood.” King Friday the 13th is very proper and pompous. Daniel, a striped tiger, who is tender and tame, lives in a clock. Grandpere is a warm, human character who gives the right advice.
The set for the show includes a living room and a kitchen. “Most families, regardless of how rich or how poor, have kitchens, and children can associate their environment with the program,” he said.
At present the show is taped for viewings in 19 cities and is highly popular in Boston where 9,000 people waited in line last year to greet Rogers on a personal appearance.
Currently, Rogers is preparing a new series of programs for National Educational Television (NET) which will be beamed over 120 stations beginning next February.
The father of two, Rogers is an ordained minister of the United Presbyterian Church. He earned a degree in music at Rollins College in Florida.
In preparing his programs, Rogers consults with Dr. Margaret McFarland, associate professor of psychology of the University of Pittsburgh’s School of Medicine.
“Young people tend to respond to ‘Misterogers Neighborhood’ as though it were an interaction between themselves and Rogers,” she said.

The TV Guide article mentioned above concludes:

For Rogers, his life-long goal to “create an atmosphere where children are accepted and allowed to grow” has gained national attention, with the results beginning to show. As one mother put it: “When Misterogers looks out from the television screen and says, ‘You're a very special person and I like you just the way you are,’ my little boy, who has big ears, glasses and an unruly cowlick, just beams. He accepts himself and feels stronger for it.”

Considering the bullying and bigotry in the world, nothing better could be said to an innocent and doubting child than “You’re not worthless.”

Fred Rogers is gone, but it’s a message that is needed today.