Posted on 05/31/2007 8:50:38 PM PDT by van_erwin
15 Reasons Mister Rogers Was the Best Neighbor Ever
Back when I was in 7th grade I stood up in front of my English class and delivered a tongue-in-cheek, poorly researched presentation on why I thought Mister Rogers should be the next President. I ate up the first few minutes zipping up my cardigan, and putting on some sneakers, and then I proceeded to mock him roundly. It was a riotous success. Fourteen years later, I’m using this post to repent. The following are 15 things everyone should know about Fred Rogers:
1. Even Koko the Gorilla loved him
Most people have heard of Koko, the Stanford-educated gorilla who could speak about 1000 words in American Sign Language, and understand about 2000 in English. What most people don’t know, however, is that Koko was an avid Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood fan. As Esquire reported, when Fred Rogers took a trip out to meet Koko for his show, not only did she immediately wrap her arms around him and embrace him, she did what she’d always seen him do onscreen: she proceeded to take his shoes off!
2. He Made Thieves Think Twice
According to a TV Guide piece on him, Fred Rogers drove a plain old Impala for years. One day, however, the car was stolen from the street near the TV station. When Rogers filed a police report, the story was picked up by every newspaper, radio and media outlet around town. Amazingly, within 48 hours the car was left in the exact spot where it was taken from, with an apology on the dashboard. It read, “If we’d known it was yours, we never would have taken it.”
3. He Watched His Figure to the Pound!
In covering Rogers’ daily routine (waking up at 5; praying for a few hours for all of his friends and family; studying; writing, making calls and reaching out to every fan who took the time to write him; going for a morning swim; getting on a scale; then really starting his day), writer Tom Junod explained that Mr. Rogers weighed in at exactly 143 pounds every day for the last 30 years of his life. He didn’t smoke, didn’t drink, didn’t eat the flesh of any animals, and was extremely disciplined in his daily routine. And while I’m not sure if any of that was because he’d mostly grown up a chubby, single child, Junod points out that Rogers found beauty in the number 143. According to the piece, Rogers came “to see that number as a gift… because, as he says, “the number 143 means ‘I love you.’ It takes one letter to say ‘I’ and four letters to say ‘love’ and three letters to say ‘you.’ One hundred and forty-three.”
4. He Saved Both Public Television and the VCR
Strange but true. When the government wanted to cut Public Television funds in 1969, the relatively unknown Mister Rogers went to Washington. Almost straight out of a Capra film, his 5-6 minute testimony on how TV had the potential to give kids hope and create more productive citizens was so simple but passionate that even the most gruff politicians were charmed. While the budget should have been cut, the funding instead jumped from $9 to $22 million. Rogers also spoke to Congress, and swayed senators into voting to allow VCR’s to record television shows from the home. It was a cantankerous debate at the time, but his argument was that recording a program like his allowed working parents to sit down with their children and watch shows as a family.
5. He Might Have Been the Most Tolerant American Ever
Mister Rogers seems to have been almost exactly the same off-screen as he was onscreen. Despite being an ordained Presbyterian minister, and a man of tremendous faith, Mister Rogers preached tolerance first. Whenever he was asked to castigate non-Christians or gays for their differing beliefs, he would instead face them and say, with sincerity, “God loves you just the way you are.” Often this provoked ire from fundamentalists.
6. He Was Genuinely Curious about Others
Mister Rogers was known as one of the toughest interviews because he’d often befriend reporters, asking them tons of questions, taking pictures of them, compiling an album for them at the end of their time together, and calling them after to check in on them and hear about their families. He wasn’t concerned with himself, and genuinely loved hearing the life stories of others. Amazingly, it wasn’t just with reporters. Once, on a fancy trip up to a PBS exec’s house, he heard the limo driver was going to wait outside for 2 hours, so he insisted the driver come in and join them (which flustered the host). On the way back, Rogers sat up front, and when he learned that they were passing the driver’s home on the way, he asked if they could stop in to meet his family. According to the driver, it was one of the best nights of his life—the house supposedly lit up when Rogers arrived, and he played jazz piano and bantered with them late into the night. Further, like with the reporters, Rogers sent him notes and kept in touch with the driver for the rest of his life.
7. He was Color-blind
Literally. He couldn’t see the color blue. Of course, he was also figuratively color-blind, as you probably guessed. As were his parents who took in a black foster child when Rogers was growing up.
8. He Could Make a Subway Car full of Strangers Sing
Once while rushing to a New York meeting, there were no cabs available, so Rogers and one of his colleagues hopped on the subway. Esquire reported that the car was filled with people, and they assumed they wouldn’t be noticed. But when the crowd spotted Rogers, they all simultaneously burst into song, chanting “It’s a wonderful day in the neighborhood.” The result made Rogers smile wide.
A few other things:
9. He got into TV because he hated TV. The first time he turned one on, he saw people angrily throwing pies in each other’s faces. He immediately vowed to use the medium for better than that. Over the years he covered topics as varied as why kids shouldn’t be scared of a haircut, or the bathroom drain (because you won’t fit!), to divorce and war.
10. He was an Ivy League Dropout. Rogers moved from Dartmouth to Rollins College to pursue his studies in music.
11. He composed all the songs on the show, and over 200 tunes.
12. He was a perfectionist, and disliked ad libbing. He felt he owed it to children to make sure every word on his show was thought out.
13. Michael Keaton got his start on the show as an assistant– helping puppeteer and operate the trolley.
14. Several characters on the show are named for his family. Queen Sara is named after Rogers’ wife, and the postman Mr. McFeely is named for his maternal grandfather who always talked to him like an adult, and reminded young Fred that he made every day special just by being himself. Sound familiar? It was the same way Mister Rogers closed every show.
15. The sweaters. Every one of the cardigans he wore on the show had been hand-knit by his mother.
His mom made all his sweaters
You’ll be surprised to know that the man inside “Dancing Bear” was none other than (might want to sit down for this) Alice Cooper. I forget what his real name was. Anyway, it was Vermonter Capt Kangaroo who introduced Cooper to Jim Henson at a Chinese restaurant, hence his subsequent appearance on The Muppet Show. Small world.
from tv.com...the cast of Captain Kangaroo. Gus Allegretti played Dancing Bear amongst many other characters.
Jane Connell - Aunt Maude Chuck McCann - Sailor Clyde Bob Keeshan - Captain Kangaroo Kevin Clash - Kevin, Dunk, Pfeiffer, Artie Bill McCutcheon - Dudley Dudley Doug Anderson - The Magic Barn Painter Hugh Brannum - Mr. Green Jeans, The Professor, Greeno The Clown, The Old Folk Singer, Mr. Bainter The Painter Larry Wall - Mr. Baxter Debbie Weems - Debbie, Phoebe Beebee Gus Allegretti - Dancing Bear, Mr. Moose, Bunny Rabbit, Miss Frog, Grandfather Clock, Fred, The Magic Drawing Board, Flora and Albert, Dennis The Apprentice
I heard he was a Navy Seal, with several kills to his name — had lots of tatoos on his arms - that’s why he wore sweaters — and when he got back from the war, he became a pacifist.
Alice Cooper was a Navy Seal? I’m calling baloney on that.
My gosh. If everyone had an article demonstrating their life’s work, and had it come out making them look half as good as Mr. Rogers, the world would be a much better place. God bless you Fred Rogers. Sincerely, a loyal fan and admirer dating back to the late ‘70s.
That’s completely false. Somebody made that up as a joke. The whole idea was to take Mr. Rogers and think of things that were completely opposite from his personality. It doesn’t make sense on its face, but it is also debunked on snopes.
I was talking about Bob Keeshan not Fred Rogers...tattoos and wearing sweaters thing..mythical..Rogers never served
Actually, I believe it was Mr. Greenjeans who served in The Corps during World War II. Not sure about the service of Captain Kangaroo, although I loved that show as a kid.
I respectfully disagree.
You, me or anybody on the Earth is completely unaware of how God will judge others....we can guess. We can even hope that God judges some men very harshly. But before we wish that on anybody else I think we should look into our souls first and see what we truly are.
Liar, thief, adulterer, murderer, coward, hypocrite, fornicator, blasphemer, are just a small number of sins that I may have committed.
Do I find proud or hypocritical men disgusting? Yeah.... because I'm one of those men. ........ we all are.
I think that Mr. Rogers may have been on the public dole for too long, but he was harmless. It sounds like he was trying to let the people that were less than perfect realize that God's kingdom is open to all of us. That our repentance and coming to him can be made from any sinner. That we are all sinners and that only through the greatest gift we can receive will we be forgiven and allowed to be given a small chance to be in his glory.
I think God loves you just the way you are. He loves all of us. Even the most vile, disgusting and twisted among us......but just because he loves us, doesn't mean we'll all be saved. I think it means that we all have the opportunity to accept his gift of grace.
Of course that's just my opinion....and I could be wrong....for my sake I hope I'm not.
per post #36..
To: Elsiejay
Thank chain email for Urban Legends. Actually Keeshan enlisted in the Marines in June, 1945 - four months after Iwo Jima. He never saw action during the war and never received the Navy Cross.
36 posted on 06/01/2007 12:58:15 AM EDT by endthematrix (a globalized and integrated world - which is coming, one way or the other. - Hillary)
Guess the Captain was in The Corps as well. At all events, his sidekick, “Mr. Green Jeans” (Hugh Brannum) was a Marine during World War II. See here:
http://www.hqmc.net/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=254&Itemid=31
Seems to me if “God loves you just the way you are” Jesus would not have admonished “Go thy way and sin no more” when he was presented with the woman in John 8 who was “taken in adultery.” He had just saved this lady from being stoned to death for her adultery and his parting words to her were not condemnation but rather an admonition. It is so difficult, dare I say impossible, for the left to understand the concept of loving the sinner, hating the sin.
Tolerance is accommodating a friend’s religious practices when he is at your house for a meal. It is not intolerant to point out sin.
“Junod explained that Mr. Rogers weighed in at exactly 143 pounds every day for the last 30 years of his life. He didn’t smoke, didn’t drink, didn’t eat the flesh of any animals, and was extremely disciplined in his daily routine.”
Given his clean lifestyle, it’s even sadder that he went so soon. Health wise, he seemed to do everything right. It’s frustrating when someone like him dies and some lowlifes seem to live on and on.
Yeah...and not funny anymore, either...too full of himself.
I think I read somewhere he was in the Marines in WW2. My kids “grew up” with him. My wife and I were always comfortable with our kids watching his show.
bttt
“God loves you just the way you are.” Often this provoked ire from fundamentalists.
That’s crap. He sure didn’t love the Pharisees
Except we don't blow up innocent people or shoot women in the street. Minor point I know
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