-I do remember him tackling some stuff.
When I was -- I watched him all the time with my sister.
And we grew up. Loved him so much.
And just him putting his sneakers on and his sweater.
And I just looked forward to the whole thing.
And in the documentary, you go, "Oh, he thought about it.
He did that on purpose because that set the tone for the show
and the speed of the show. -Yes. Yes.
-It's like, "No, I'm going to take my time."
-Yes. -"I'm going to put my --"
And it set the tempo of the show.
And it was just so friendly.
But then, he -- he talked about stuff
that was adult stuff to -- to children.
He talked about divorce. -Hard things.
-Hard things, absolutely. -Hard things.
-He talked about war.
-Death. -Death.
-Divorce.
-Assassination is in the thing. -Yes.
That was a -- That was a part of the documentary, as well.
-It's just -- I -- -Yes.
-Explain -- what is this picture here, this photo here?
Do you have the story for this one?
-That is the -- the policeman on the -- on the program.
-Yeah.
-Officer Clemmons. -That's right.
-And he came by on a hot day, and Fred was out,
just soaking his feet
in a little kiddie tub -- kiddie pool.
-Yeah. -And he had -- he had the hose,
and he was just putting water in.
And he said this to François --
"Come -- It's a hot day.
Sit down with me and get your feet cool."
And he said, "No, oh, I don't --
I didn't bring a towel or anything."
"You can use my towel." -Yeah.
-And at that time in history, white people
didn't want African-Americans in their swimming pools.
-Yeah.
-And so they were putting acids in,
pouring acid and all kinds of bad things in
to keep them out.
And Fred knew about that.
This was having to do with that.
-And it bothered him. -Yes.
-And he said, "I'm gonna --" -Yes, yes.
-"I want to do something about this."
So he invited the officer on the show to come in,
and their feet were together in the pool.
-Yes, exactly.
-And then he said, "You can use my towel,"
and he dried his feet off.
-And then, it's a very basic Christian...
-Thing to do. -...rite, as well.
-Yeah. It's just -- You can't stop crying during this.
[ Laughs ] I feel so great watching this documentary.
You just feel like, "Yeah, we should be nicer to each other,
and there's a smarter way to -- to do all this."
Him testifying against some senator
that was trying to stop the funding to PBS,
to -- to public television?
And he was a tough-looking guy, and his face was...
-Senator Pastore. -Yeah, man.
Tough face on him, like, mean face.
And he was like, "No one's getting this $20 million,
and that's it -- it's over."
And they go, "One more person would like to talk to you,
and that's Fred Rogers."
And he talked to him.
He said, "Well, I sing a song on my show
that says, you know, you should be proud to be who you are,
and you are who you are."
And -- And you saw this mean face
turn from mean to kind of like happy.
[ Laughter ]
And he goes, "You just got yourself $20 million."
[ Laughs ] Right there, and everyone clapped.
-[ Laughs ] [ Cheers and applause ]
-Oh, I love him so much. I wanted to --
Let's take a look at a clip from "Won't You Be My Neighbor?" --
now playing in select theaters.
♪♪
-A little boy came up to him and said,
"Mr. Rogers, how did you get out?"
And so he talked to the little boy
and explained what television was all about.
And the little boy's just taking it all in, going,
"Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. Mm."
And he -- when Fred finished, he said -- the little boy said,
"How are you gonna get back in?"
[ Laughter ]
[ Cheers and applause ]
[ Both laughing ]
-I'm gonna write this down for you here.
[ Applause continues ]
[ Applause fades ]
Do you see what this says?
That means, "We love you." -Aww!
-[ Laughing ] And thank you so much for coming on the show.
-That -- That's wonderful. [ Laughs ]
-Ms. Joanne Rogers, everybody. [ Cheers and applause ]