Fred Rogers

Today, as I do every Monday, Wednesday and Friday, I took bus routes 60 and 23 to arrive at my job at Germantown high school. Despite the extreme cold, it was a beautiful afternoon. Between gazing out of the bus windows at the sharp, slanting, yellow afternoon light and being distracted by the bewildered ramblings and raspy, plaintive singing of a 250-pound retarded gentleman sitting a few seats away, I didn't get a whole lot of the usual reading done. However, one thing that I did discover from my book on Henri Nouwen is that he and Fred Rogers were good friends.

This evening I (naturally) turned to Wikipedia in order to read up on Fred Rogers. What follows are five excerpts from the article which I consider worthy of passing on:

1. "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 what the medium was capable of. '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.' ...Ultimately [after working for NBC in New York], while he did want to remain in children's television, Rogers decided that commercial television's reliance on advertisement and merchandising undermined its ability to educate or enrich young audiences, and quit NBC."

2. "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, and developed 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... 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."

3. About 2,700 people were present at his public memorial service in Pittsburgh, his hometown. "Outside, a number of members of an anti-gay organization protested over his teachings about tolerance and acceptance, while about 150 supporters of Mr. Rogers from gay rights and peace groups marched in counter-protest, singing songs from Mr. Rogers' Neighborhood."

4. In an interview with TV Guide, Fred related the following anecdote: "[He] 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!"

5. "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, one minute to think of the people who have helped you become who you are. One minute 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, three 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."

Read more about Fred Rogers (about his upbringing, his support of VCR technology and more) in the full Wikipedia article. And/or check out his Wikiquote page.