Misterogers of TV Land
When Presbyterian clergyman FredRogers '50 meets with his congregation of a million or more, it's like a visit between close friends. He is creator, writer, producer, and host of Misterogers' Neighborhood, a half-hour weekday show on educational television for three-to-seven-year-olds which hooks their older siblings and mothers as well. Like other shows for children, it features puppets, songs, interesting objects and visitors, but unlike the others, purposely aims to help children express and understand their own feelings.
Rogers' appeal for young viewers lies in his philosophy of the dignity of the child. "I like you as you are/I wouldn't want to change you/Or even rearrange you/Not by far," goes a Neighborhood song, and children get the message. His low-keyed, wry humor shines through the whole show. The puppet characters, working out child-sized problems, are apt to say, "Anyone who thinks he'll always be first has a second thought coming," or "If at first you don't succeed, stay as sweet as you are." Real people who visit range from interesting unknowns, like the telephone repairman, to Van Cliburn arriving to play a command concert at the Make Believe castle.
Rogers takes seriously the fears that parents often overlook, of going down the bathtub drain, getting a haircut, and visiting the doctor; and on occasion he suggests ways for grownups to recognize and deal with the consequences of violent events, as he did in a special program following Robert Kennedy's assassination.
Neighborhood, winner of Sylvania and Peabody awards, originates in Pittsburgh and is picked up by some 200 stations. Each half-hour color segment costs $6000, roughly equal to the cost of two minutes of the cartoon fare Rogers deplores. Fund drives by enthusiastic supporters and grants from the Sears-Roebuck Foundation, which so far have totaled more than $700,000, have kept it on the air.
When he testified at Senate hearings a few years ago, Fred was described as an expert in child psychology. He considers himself a teacher. A member of the Class of 1950 at Dartmouth, he finished his undergraduate work at Rollins College in Florida (where he met his pianist wife Joanne) and then spent several years as an assistant producer for NBC in New York. He left to help set up WQED, Pittsburgh's educational station, and to enter Pittsburgh Theological Seminary. He was ordained in 1962 and charged to work with children through TV. Neighborhood originated the following year while he was with the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation in Toronto.
The Rogers' live in a Pittsburgh townhouse with their children, James 11, and John 9, but, like the puppets, have their "Someplace Else" (the playground named for where busy parents tell children to go play)—a weekend cottage where Fred can work on scripts. At their summer home in Nantucket, Fred retreats to a garage to work. His is a low-budget ministry requiring some 80-hour weeks and total dedication to his flock.
Fred Rogers '50
