Fred Rogers was an inspirational television personality who inspired countless children…and
his long-running program Mister Rogers' Neighborhood will continue to educate young people for
many generations to come.
Here's the amazing truth about Mister Rogers.
For much of his career, Mister Rogers was in high demand as an interview subject.
But he was also considered a rather tough person to interview.
Why?
Well, he was just so gosh-darned nice.
"You don't set out to be rich or famous.
What you set out to do is to be helpful."
You see, the friendly and curious demeanor we saw on Mister Rogers' Neighborhood wasn't
an act.
He was literally that friendly, onscreen and off.
That made him nearly impossible to interview...because he'd often steer the conversation wildly off
course while trying to befriend the person interviewing him.
Getting Rogers to open up and talk about himself was exceptionally hard...because he was always
more interested in how his interviewer was doing.
Rogers often had a profound effect on the people who interviewed him.
He would end the conversation by telling the interviewer that he'd enjoyed meeting them…and
then give them a little photo album of the time they'd literally just spent together.
"What I love to take are people, pictures of people's faces."
Rogers was even known to call up interviewers years after the fact just to see how they
were doing.
Fred Rogers took exceptionally good care of himself.
He didn't smoke or drink, and he adhered to a strict vegetarian diet, and not just for
health reasons.
He would often say that,
"I don’t want to eat anything that has a mother."
Rogers also had an exercise regimen that would be punishing for a young man, let alone a
guy in his 60s and 70s.
He'd wake up every morning at 5 a.m. and swim for several hours before praying and starting
work.
Rogers' morning ritual involved looking at his bathroom scale, seeing the number 143,
and smiling to himself.
Mister Rogers thought 143 was a very special number because he found a special pattern
in it.
As Won't You Be My Neighbor? director Morgan Neville explained to CNBC,
"To him, 143 pounds was a kind of private numerology that meant: one, four, three: 'I
love you.'"
That's because, as Fred Rogers explained,
"It takes one letter to say 'I,' and four letters to say 'love,' and three letters to
say 'you.'
One hundred and forty-three."
As the story goes, Rogers woke up one morning, saw that he weighed 143 pounds, and decided
he'd do everything in his power to be reminded of love every morning.
He apparently succeeded: According to the Fred Rogers Center, he kept his weight at
143 pounds for 30 years.
At the height of his fame, Mister Rogers received a lot of fan mail...and he wanted to answer
it all.
It's often claimed that he answered every single piece of fan mail he ever received...which
is rather hard to believe.
After all, he must have received thousands of letters in his lifetime.
How could such a busy man possibly answer each one?
But it sounds like he really did write back to each and every letter.
And far from being generic niceties or canned responses, his replies were deeply heartfelt
and personal.
He let his fans know just how much their messages meant to him, making sure to say he was proud
of them and very happy that they were friends.
Francois Clemmons played the resident cop in Mister Rogers' Neighborhood.
He was initially hesitant to take on the role after being approached by Rogers.
As he told NPR:
"I grew up in the ghetto.
I did not have a positive opinion of police officers...I really had a hard time putting
myself in that role.
So I was not excited about being Officer Clemmons at all."
Clemmons eventually accepted the role and became one of the first African-American men
to have a recurring role on a children's television show.
In the 2018 documentary Won't You Be My Neighbor?, he says:
"There were black kids watching the show.
They needed a black figure who would not let them down."
In one early episode, Mister Rogers invited Clemmons to soak his feet in his pool alongside
his own.
Today, that doesn't sound like a big deal, but this episode aired in 1969, back when
segregated swimming pools were still very much a thing.
Clemmons was moved by the gesture and the symbolism of showing a black man and a white
man as equals.
Rogers and Clemmons remained friends for life, and Rogers even revisited the scene in Clemmons'
last episode in 1993.
Asked by Clemmons what he was thinking about all those years ago as they were soaking their
feet, Rogers smiled and said,
"I was just thinking of all the different ways people say I love you."
Do you love being able to record your favorite shows so you can watch them when it's convenient?
If so, you should give thanks to Fred Rogers: He played a pivotal role in making that happen.
When VCRs and Betamax broke onto the scene in 1984, a big selling point was that they
could record live programming.
Unfortunately, network execs freaked out: They felt that taping shows using this technology
constituted copyright infringement.
The ensuing lawsuit escalated all the way to the Supreme Court of the United States.
Experts and witnesses were called to testify, and among them was Fred Rogers.
While huge production studios and television networks duked it out over a perceived loss
of proceeds, this public TV man, who comparatively made very little, said he had "absolutely
no objection" to viewers recording episodes of his show.
As he put it:
"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."
Rogers' words definitely made an impact, and his testimony was considered instrumental
in making the landmark decision.
Ultimately, it was determined that taped recordings fall under "fair use," and that the manufacturers
of those devices couldn't be held liable for copyright infringement.
Well, this is a surprising one.
When you think of Mister Rogers, you probably imagine him wearing one of his favorite sweaters
on a cozy couch somewhere reading a book.You probably don't picture him him hunkering down
to watch a spine-tingling zombie film.
When the late director George A. Romero was just starting out, he was having a hard time
finding someone willing to give him a chance…until he met Mister Rogers, that is.
Recognizing that the aspiring filmmaker needed some camera experience, Rogers offered him
a job on the Mister Rogers' Neighborhood crew.
"Most of the people that are working professionals in media today from Pittsburgh worked for
Fred.
All of us started with Fred."
Fun fact: Michael Keaton was also a crew member on Mister Rogers' Neighborhood early on in
his career.
Anyway, it's one thing to give someone a job, but did Fred Rogers ever watch any of Romero's
scary movies?
The answer is yes.
He reportedly watched Night of the Living Dead and Dawn of the Dead, and he apparently
loved them both.
When Romero asked what Rogers thought of his work, he reportedly said:
"It's a lot of fun, George."
Fred Rogers was born just outside of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, so it's not too surprising that
residents would want to honor his memory.
In 2016, a Change.org petition started circulating: The hope was to raise enough signatures to
inspire the Allegheny County Airport Authority and the City of Pittsburgh to officially name
their airport the Fred Rogers International Airport.
The online document explained that:
"Pittsburgh is still an active transit hub and, for many people, our airport will be
their first experience in Pittsburgh.
We wish to welcome everybody to our neighborhood."
Unsurprisingly, 15,216 neighbors agreed.
Bob Kerlik, vice president of media relations for the Airport Authority, assured Pittsburgh
magazine that,
"We appreciate the interest in the airport and creative ideas from travelers, and we
know that Fred Rogers occupies a special place in the hearts of Pittsburghers and people
around the world.
Because of that, Mr. Rogers is already part of the experience here."
Sounds like a missed opportunity to us.
Fred Rogers thought it was important to equip kids with the tools they'd need to navigate
life's most difficult moments.
He covered a wide range of topics on Mister Rogers' Neighborhood, and he wasn't afraid
to touch upon some of life's darker twists and turns.
In one episode, Prince Tuesday runs away from home.
People correctly assume it's because he just can't deal with his parents' constant fighting
at home.
"Oh, Prince Tuesday.
Have you been here for a long time?"
"I've been here long enough!"
The story arc lasts for several episodes, with people continuing to search for Prince
Tuesday.
"I guess you know we're looking for the prince."
"Yes I know.
That's why I thought I'd come and help."
And once he's found, a classmate even tells him that she feared the worst.
"I thought that you were lost, or maybe far, far away.
And maybe even dead."
Kids at home were probably worried about the same thing.
Instead of skirting around the issue of death, Fred Rogers faced it head on.
Throughout the show, he taught kids how to cope with difficult emotions like fear, shame,
and anger.
He understood that kids needed to learn how to live in the real world.
And he taught them how to be open and brave…and own their feelings.
Fred Rogers was honored with many awards in his lifetime, and was deservedly inducted
into the Television Hall of Fame in 1999.
In 2002, just a year before his death, he was presented the Presidential Medal of Freedom
by President George W. Bush.
"Fred Rogers has entertained and educated children for more than thirty years through
his extraordinary public television program, Mister Rogers' Neighborhood."
David Newell played Mr. McFeely on Mister Rogers Neighborhood and acted as an associate
producer on the show.
He once mentioned to Rogers that many children were terrified of The Wicked Witch of the
West from The Wizard of Oz, portrayed by the late actress Margaret Hamilton.
Newell proposed bringing her onto the show so that kids could see she was neither wicked
nor a witch in real life.
Rogers loved that idea.
He immediately reached out to Hamilton, asking if she'd like to appear on the show to explain
to children that the Wicked Witch was just a character she played in a movie.
Hamilton accepted the offer without a moment's hesitation.
In her 1975 appearance on the show, she even wore her old costume one last time.
"Very nice to see you [witch laughter]."
"Oh that would be fun to be able to talk [witch laughter] like that."
In 2003, generations of fans mourned Fred Rogers when he died from stomach cancer at
the age of 74.
And incredibly, the fine people at the International Astronomical Union found the perfect way to
honor his memory.
They named an asteroid after him.
Discovered on March 21st, 1993, the Mars-crossing asteroid now known as 26858 Misterrogers includes
the following passage in its online description:
"Fred McFeely Rogers (1928-2003) was a passionate advocate for children who taught that everyone
is unique and deserving of love and respect 'just the way you are.'
For more than 30 years he used his public television program Mister Rogers' Neighborhood
as a vehicle of service to the youngest members of the human family."
After becoming an ordained minister in 1963, Fred Rogers gave up on living his life for
the church and began pursuing a career in the arts.
He was hired to make theme music for several shows on NBC, and he probably would've been
quite comfortable living the rest of his life on that salary.
But something about the job just didn't feel right to him.
He reportedly felt that the network's reliance on ads and merchandise influenced the programming.
He also felt like the things he was seeing on TV were contrary to his personal beliefs.
He once said:
"I saw people throwing pies at each other's faces, and that to me was such demeaning behavior.
And if there's anything that bothers me, it's one person demeaning another.
That really makes me mad!"
He decided to use that anger productively…and left the job to focus on developing programs
for children.
He believed that television geared towards younger audiences should be free of advertising…and
he believed programs should address real issues, teaching kids how to cope with everyday situations
and emotions.
He had to travel to Canada to get his first big break with the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation.
It was there that he created Misterogers, an early version of the show.
Eventually, he moved back to the States, where Mister Rogers' Neighborhood debuted on February
19th, 1968.
Back in 1969, PBS was struggling to get off the ground.
The concept of public television was new, and people were skeptical of its worth.
Fred Rogers appeared before the United States Senate Subcommittee on Communications and
was directly questioned by Rhode Island Senator John Pastore, a man who was known for his
gruffness.
"This is what I give.
I give an expression of care every day to each child to help him realize that he is
unique."
After just over six minutes, Pastore admitted that he had "goosebumps" listening to Rogers
speak about his show...and then he readily agreed to give PBS the requested funding.
"I think it's wonderful.
I think it's wonderful.
Looks like you just earned the 20 million dollars."
Pastore was so enamored with Rogers, he even requested a copy of the show, because he wanted
to watch it himself.
In one particularly powerful moment, Rogers explains that drama doesn't have to involve
people bopping one another over the head.
It can simply show how scary it can be for a kid to get a haircut.
"I'm very much concerned, as I know you are, about what's being delivered to our children
in this country."
True drama, he argued, could be as simple as watching two men work out their anger in
a constructive way.
Check out one of our newest videos right here!
Plus, even more Grunge videos about your favorite stuff are coming soon.
Subscribe to our YouTube channel and hit the bell so you don't miss a single one.