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This Website is
Devoted to the
Memory of Mr.
Rogers
Mr. Rogers says:,Attitudes are caught, not taught."
The teacher sets the attitude of the
classroom
-- and that attitude
is contagious.
The
Reverend Frederick McFeely
"Fred" Rogers (March 20, 1928 – February 27, 2003) was an American
educator, minister, songwriter and television host. Rogers was the host of the
internationally acclaimed and highly successful children's television show
Mister Rogers' Neighborhood, in production from 1968 to 2001. As Mister Rogers,
he became an iconic presence to millions of viewers worldwide. Rogers was also an ordained Presbyterian minister.
Throughout his life, he was an advocate for the education and welfare of children.
Personal life
Rogers was born in Latrobe, Pennsylvania, a town
located 40 miles (65 km) southeast of Pittsburgh. He was born to
James and Nancy Rogers; he spent many years as an only child, which shaped his
creativity and imagination. He spent much of his free time as a child with his
grandfather, Fred McFeely, and had an interest in
puppetry and music. He would often sing along as his mother would play the
piano. He suffered from red-green colorblindness.
His parents also acted as foster parents to an African American
teenager named George, whose mother had died. Rogers eventually
came to consider George his older brother. George later became an instructor
for the Tuskegee Airmen of World War II and also taught Rogers to fly.
Following secondary school, he studied at Dartmouth College in Hanover, New
Hampshire between 1946 and 1948 before
transferring to Rollins College in Winter Park, Florida. He received
a BA in music composition there in 1951.
At Rollins, Rogers met his wife,
Sara Joanne Byrd, whom he married in 1952. They had two children, James (born
in 1959) and John (born in 1961), and two grandchildren.
Television
Career
Rogers had a
life-changing moment when he first saw television in his parents' home. He had
planned to enter seminary after college, but had been diverted into television
after his first experience as a viewer; he wanted to explore the capabilities
of the medium. "I went into television because I hated it so, and I
thought there was some way of using this fabulous instrument to be of nurture
to those who would watch and listen."
He thus applied for a job at NBC in New York and was
accepted because of his music degree. Rogers moved to New York in 1951 and
spent three years working in the production staff for music-centered
programming such as NBC Opera Theater. He also worked on Gabby Hayes' show for
children. Ultimately, Rogers decided that
commercial television's reliance on advertisement and merchandising undermined
its ability to educate or enrich young audiences, so he quit working at NBC.
In 1954, he began working at WQED, a Pittsburgh public
television station, as a puppeteer on a local children's series, The Children's
Corner. For the next seven years, he worked with host Josie Carey in unscripted
live TV, developing many of the puppets, characters and music used in his later
work, such as King Friday XIII, and Curious X the Owl. Rogers first began
wearing his famous sneakers when he found them to be quieter than his work
shoes when he moved about behind the set. He was also the voices behind King
Friday XIII and Queen Sara Saturday (named after his wife), rulers of the
neighborhood, as well as X the Owl, Henrietta Pussycat, Daniel the Striped
Tiger, Lady Elaine Fairchild (named for Fred's sister, Elaine) and Donkey Hodie. The show won a Sylvania Award for best children's
show, and was briefly broadcast nationally on NBC.
For eight years during this period, he would leave the WQED studios
during his lunch breaks to study theology at the nearby Pittsburgh Theological
Seminary. Rogers, however, was
not interested in preaching, and after his ordination
as a Presbyterian minister in 1962, he was specifically charged to continue his
work with children's television. Rogers is among a
string of entertainers (including Jackie Mason, Hugh Beaumont, Clifton Davis,
and Ralph Waite) who have a formal theological background. He had also done
work at the University of Pittsburgh's Graduate
School of Child Development.
In 1963, Rogers moved to Toronto, where he was
contracted by the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC) to develop a 15
minute children's television program: MisteRogers
(sic), which would be his debut in front of the camera. The show was a hit with
children, but only lasted for three seasons on the network. Many of his famous
set pieces, such as Trolley, Eiffel Tower, the 'tree',
and 'castle' were all created by designers at the CBC. While on production in
Canada, Rogers brought with him his friend and understudy, Ernie Coombs, who
would go on to create "Mr. Dressup," a very
successful and long running children's show in Canada which, in many ways, was
similar to Mister Rogers' Neighborhood. Mr. Dressup
had also used some of the songs that would later go on Rogers' later
program.
In 1966, Rogers acquired the
rights to his program from the CBC, and moved the show to WQED in Pittsburgh, where he had
worked on The Children's Corner. He developed the new show for the Eastern
Educational Network. Stations which carried the program were limited; they
included educational stations in Boston, Washington, DC and New York
City.
After returning to Pittsburgh, Rogers attended and
participated in activities at the Sixth Presbyterian church in the Squirrel
Hill neighborhood of Pittsburgh.
Distribution of Mister Rogers' Neighborhood began on February 19, 1968. The
following year, the show moved to PBS (Public Broadcasting Service). In 1971, Rogers formed Family
Communications, Inc. (FCI), and the company established offices in the WQED
building in Pittsburgh. Initially,
the company served solely as the production arm of Mister Rogers' Neighborhood,
but now develops and produces an array of children's programming and
educational materials.
Memorial
Rogers died from
throat cancer on February 27,
2003, not long after his retirement and less than a month
short of turning 75.
The Rev. William P. Barker presided over a public memorial, and
attendees included Teresa Heinz Kerry, former "Good Morning America"
host David Hartman, Elsie Hillman, PBS President Pat Mitchell, Arthur creator
Marc Brown, and The Very Hungry Caterpillar author-illustrator Eric Carle, as
well as about 2,700 other people stuffed into a near-capacity Heinz Hall.
Speakers remembered Rogers' love of
children, devotion to his religion, enthusiasm for music, and quirks. Teresa
Heinz Kerry said of Rogers, "He
never condescended, just invited us into his conversation. He spoke to us as
the people we were, not as the people others wished we were." Cellist
Yo-Yo Ma, on a concert tour overseas, played on video, and violinist Itzhak Perlman and organist Alan
Morrison played in person.
Fred Rogers' remains are entombed in a family crypt in Latrobe, Pennsylvania.
Recently, Pittsburgh has planned a
$3 million Statue of Rogers set to be unveiled in 2008.
Overview of
Mister Rogers Neighborhood
Mister Rogers Neighborhood began airing in 1968; the last set of new episodes were taped in December 2000, and began
airing in August 2001. Mister Rogers Neighborhood has the distinction of being
the longest running program on PBS.
Each episode begins the same way, with Mister Rogers coming home and
singing his theme song, "Won't You Be My Neighbor?" and changing into
sneakers and a zippered cardigan sweater. The sweaters he wore on the show were
hand knit by his mother.
In an episode, Rogers might have an
earnest conversation with his television audience, interact with live guests,
take a field trip to a nearby place such as a bakery or music store, or watch a
short film.
Typical video subject matter includes demonstrations of how inanimate
objects, such as bulldozers and crayons , work or are
manufactured.
Each episode includes a trip to Rogers'
"Neighborhood of Make-Believe," which features a trolley that has its
own chiming theme song, a castle, and the kingdom's citizens, including King
Friday XIII. The subjects discussed in the Neighbor of Make-Believe often allow
further development of thematic elements discussed in Mister Rogers'
"real" neighborhood.
Mister Rogers often fed his fish during the episode.
Typically, each week's episodes explore a major theme, such as going to
school for the first time. Most of the episodes end with Mr. Rogers singing the
song "It's Such a Good Feeling."
Visually, the presentation of the show was very simple; it did not
feature the animation or fast pace of other children's shows. Rogers composed all
the music for his series. He was concerned with teaching children to love
themselves and others. He also tried to address common childhood fears with
comforting songs and skits. For example, one of his famous songs explains how
you can't be pulled down the bathtub drain—because you won't fit. He even once
took a trip to the Children's Hospital of Pittsburgh to show
children that a hospital is not a place of which to be afraid. During the Gulf
War in 1990-91, he assured his audience that all children in the neighborhood
would be well cared for, and asked parents to promise to take care of their own
children. The still timely and reassuring message was aired again by PBS during
the media storm that preceded the military action against Iraq in 2003.
Fred Rogers and Yo-Yo Ma discuss
how music can be used to deal with angry feelings. On the eve of the
announcement that Mister Rogers' Neighborhood would cease production of new
episodes, TV Guide interviewed Rogers and led the
story with an anecdote. Apparently, Rogers had been
driving the same car for years, an old second-hand Impala. Then it was stolen
from its parking spot near the WQED studio. Rogers filed a
police report, the story was picked up by local news outlets, and general shock
swept across town. Within 48 hours, the car was back in the spot where he left
it, along with a note saying, "If we'd known it was yours, we never would
have taken it!"
Emmys for
Programming
Mister Rogers' Neighborhood won four Emmy awards, including one for
lifetime achievement.
During the 1997 Daytime Emmys, the Lifetime Achievement Award was
presented to Rogers. The
following is an excerpt from Esquire Magazine's coverage of the gala, written
by Tom Junod:
Mister Rogers went onstage to accept the award — and there, in front of
all the soap opera stars and talk show sinceratrons,
in front of all the jutting man-tanned jaws and jutting saltwater bosoms, he
made his small bow and said into the microphone, "All of us have special
ones who have loved us into being. Would you just take, along with me, ten
seconds to think of the people who have helped you become who you are. Ten
seconds of silence."
And then he lifted his wrist, looked at the audience, looked at his
watch, and said, 'I'll watch the time." There was, at first, a small whoop
from the crowd, a giddy, strangled hiccup of laughter, as people realized that
he wasn't kidding, that Mister Rogers was not some convenient eunuch, but
rather a man, an authority figure who actually expected them to do what he
asked. And so they did. One second, two seconds, seven seconds — and now the
jaws clenched, and the bosoms heaved, and the mascara ran, and the tears fell
upon the beglittered gathering like rain leaking down
a crystal chandelier. And Mister Rogers finally looked up from his watch and
said softly, "May God be with you," to all
his vanquished children.
Advocacy
Mister Rogers
and the VCR
During the controversy surrounding the introduction of the household
VCR, Rogers was involved
in supporting the manufacturers of VCRs in court. His 1979 testimony in the case
Sony Corp. of America v. Universal
City Studios, Inc. noted that he did not object to home recording of his
television programs, for instance, by families in order to watch together at a
later time. This testimony contrasted with the views of others in the
television industry who objected to home recording or
believed that devices to facilitate it should be taxed or regulated.
The Supreme Court considered the testimony of Rogers in its
decision that held that the Betamax video recorder
did not infringe copyright. The Court stated that his views were a notable
piece of evidence "that many [television] producers are willing to allow
private time-shifting to continue;" and even quoted his testimony in a
footnote:
Some public stations, as well as commercial stations, program the
"Neighborhood" at hours when some children cannot use it ... I have
always felt that with the advent of all of this new technology that allows
people to tape the "Neighborhood" off-the-air, and I'm speaking for
the "Neighborhood" because that's what I produce, that they then
become much more active in the programming of their family's television life.
Very frankly, I am opposed to people being programmed by others. My whole
approach in broadcasting has always been "You are an important person just
the way you are. You can make healthy decisions." Maybe I'm going on too
long, but I just feel that anything that allows a person to be more active in
the control of his or her life, in a healthy way, is important. Frederick
Rogers
The Home Recording Rights Coalition later stated that Rogers was "one
of the most prominent witnesses on this issue."
Rogers had been a
supporter of VCR use since the very early days of the VCR. In his final week of
episodes of the original run in 1976, Rogers used a U-Matic VCR to show scenes from past episodes, as a way to
prepare viewers for repeats that would begin the following week.
Mister Rogers
and PBS funding
In 1969, Rogers appeared
before the United States Senate Subcommittee on Communications. His goal was to
support funding for PBS and the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, in
response to significant proposed cuts. In about six minutes of testimony, Rogers spoke of the
need for social and emotional education that public television provided. He passionately
argued that alternative television programming like his Neighborhood helped
encourage children to become happy and productive citizens, sometimes opposing
less positive messages in media and in popular culture. He even recited the
lyrics to one of his songs.
The chairman of the subcommittee, John O. Pastore,
was not previously familiar with Rogers' work, and
was sometimes described as gruff and impatient. However, he reported that the
testimony had given him goosebumps, and declared,
"Looks like you just earned the $20 million." The subsequent
congressional appropriation, for 1971, increased PBS funding from $9 million to
$22 million.
Speeches,
Memberships, Awards, and other Recognition
In 1969, Mr. Rogers appeared before Congress to oppose Richard Nixon's
budget cutbacks for Public Broadcasting Service.
In 1972, Rogers was the
commencement speaker for the graduation ceremony at Eastern Michigan University in Ypsilanti, Michigan.
In 1987, Rogers was initiated
as an honorary member of Phi Mu Alpha Sinfonia Fraternity, the national fraternity for men of
music.
In 1992, Rogers received a
George Foster Peabody Award "in recognition of 25 years of beautiful days
in the neighborhood."
In May 1992, Rogers gave the
commencement speech at Indiana University of Pennsylvania, an hour outside of Pittsburgh, PA.
On May 11, 1996, Rogers gave the
commencement speech at North Carolina State University.
In 1999, Rogers was inducted
into the Television Hall of Fame.
On May 8, 1999, Rogers gave the
commencement address at Westminster Choir College. In
particular, he told the graduating musicians about his early career as a
composer. At this time he was bestowed the honorary degree Doctor of
Humanities.
In May 1999, Rogers gave the
commencement address at Marist College.
In May 2000, Rogers gave the
commencement address at Old Dominion University in Norfolk, Va.
In May 2001, Rogers delivered the
commencement address at Middlebury College.
In May 2001, Rogers delivered the
commencement address at Marquette University.
In 2002 Rogers gave the
commencement address at Dartmouth College.
Rogers meeting with
President George W. Bush in 2002.On July
9, 2002, Fred Rogers received the Presidential Medal of Freedom
for his contributions to children's education. "Fred Rogers has proven
that television can soothe the soul and nurture the spirit and teach the very
young," said President George W. Bush at the presentation.
In January, 2003, a month before his death, Rogers was a grand
marshal of the Tournament of Roses Parade, serving with Art Linkletter
and Bill Cosby.
On March 4, 2003, the U.S.
House of Representatives unanimously passed Resolution 111 honoring Rogers for "his
legendary service to the improvement of the lives of children, his steadfast
commitment to demonstrating the power of compassion, and his dedication to
spreading kindness through example."
On March 5, 2003 the U.S.
Senate unanimously passed Resolution 16 to commemorate the life of Fred Rogers.
"Through his spirituality and placid nature, Mr. Rogers was able
to reach out to our nation's children and encourage each of them to understand
the important role they play in their communities and as part of their
families," Santorum said. "More importantly, he did not shy away from
dealing with difficult issues of death and divorce but rather encouraged
children to express their emotions in a healthy, constructive manner, often
providing a simple answer to life's hardships."
The 215th (2003) General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church (USA)
approved an overture "to observe a memorial time for the Reverend Fred M.
Rogers".
"The Reverend Fred Rogers, a member of the Presbytery of
Pittsburgh, as host of Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood since 1968, had a profound
effect on the lives of millions of people across the country through his
ministry to children and families. Mister Rogers promoted and supported
Christian values in the public media with his demonstration of unconditional
love. His ability to communicate with children and to help them understand and
deal with difficult questions in their lives will be greatly missed."
The asteroid 26858 Misterrogers is named
after Rogers. This naming,
by the International Astronomical Union, was announced on May 2, 2003 by the director of the Henry
Buhl Jr. Planetarium & Observatory at the Carnegie Science Center in Pittsburgh. The science
center worked with Rogers' Family
Communications, Inc. to produce a planetarium show for preschoolers called
"The Sky Above Mister Rogers' Neighborhood,"
which plays at planetariums across the United
States.
In September of 2003, Saint
Vincent College (Latrobe, Pennsylvania) announced it
would establish The Fred M. Rogers Center for Early Learning and Children's
Media.
A sweater worn by Rogers, on display
in the Smithsonian Institution's Museum of American History. The Smithsonian Institution displays one of Mister
Rogers' sweaters, which was knitted by his mother.
Singer/Songwriter Loudon Wainwright III sang tenderly of his grief upon
hearing the news of Rogers' death in the
song "Hank and Fred" from the 2005 record Here Come the Choppers.
Facts and
Figures
Pittsburgh Magazine dedicated their April 2003 issue to
commemorate Rogers' life and mourn his passing. Included in the
magazine is a table of information that measures the impact Rogers had.
Among
the items cited:
1: Number of times Rogers appeared on
television as someone other than himself (he played a preacher on Dr. Quinn,
Medicine Woman)
4: Number of Emmys that Rogers won
5: The age at which Rogers began playing
piano
8: The percentage of households tuned in to Mister Rogers' Neighborhood
at its ratings peak, in 1985.
10 ˝: Fred Rogers' shoe size
24: The number of cardigans Rogers had over the
course of his career
25: Number of pages the magazine would have had to use to print every
award and recognition that Rogers had received
33: Number of seasons that Mister Rogers' Neighborhood produced new
episodes
40: Number of honorary degrees awarded to Rogers
60: Number of seconds of silence that Rogers would ask for
at speaking engagements; he would instruct the audience to use the minute of
silence to remember those who helped them become who they were.
200: Number of songs Rogers wrote during
his career
998: Number of episodes of Mister Rogers' Neighborhood
References
Eugene Garfield (September 25, 1989). Mister Rogers on the Roots of Nurturing and the Untapped Role of
Men in Professional Childcare (pdf). Current Comments. Retrieved on 2006-09-24.
Roger's 1963 CBC show was Misterogers
[sic]. See Williams, Suzanne. Fred McFeeley Rogers, U.S.
Children's Television Host/Producer. The
Museum of Broadcast
Communications. Retrieved on
2007-04-02.
McNulty, Timothy. "A statue of Mister Rogers
will adorn the North Shore",
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, May 24, 2007. Retrieved
on 2007-06-12.
Video of Life Time Achievement
Award presentation.
Sony Corp. of Amer. v. Universal City Studios,
Inc., 464 U.S. 417 (1984) n27
Video of Mr. Rogers
testimony before Congress (1969). Retrieved on 2006-11-17.
"Family Communications -
Fred Rogers - Awards and Degrees".
NC State University (May 11, 1996). Mister Rogers Offers NC State University Grads Words
of Support. Press release.
"Fred Rogers Addresses Marist College
Graduates", MaristScope, Marist College, May 22, 1999.
"Old Dominion University
magazine", Summer 2000.
"Fred Rogers to deliver
commencement address May 6 at Foreman Field", The Courier, Old Dominion University, Volume 29, Issue 17.
Retrieved on 2006-12-02.
Rogers, Fred. "Commencement Address, Middlebury College" Middlebury College, Middlebury, Vermont (May 2001).
Rogers, Fred. "Commencement Address, Marquette University" Marquette University, Milwaukee, WI (May 2001).
"Fred McFeely
Rogers 2002 Commencement Address at Dartmouth College", Dartmouth News, Dartmouth College, Hanover, NH, June 9, 2002.
House Resolution 111 honoring Fred Rogers
Senate Resolution 16 honoring Fred Rogers
Presbyterian Church (USA) 215th
General Assembly Overture 03-36. On a Memorial Minute for Fred Rogers
Urban Legends Reference Pages: Mister Rogers
External
Links
Fred Rogers at the Internet Movie
Database
PBS Kids: Official Site
The Fred M. Rogers Center
Fred
Rogers' testimony before the US Senate
Fred Rogers
Biography
About his Presidential
Medal of Freedom
