The "I Like You Just The Way You Are!" Story

I passed this sign on a sidewalk in Manheim, PA.

It was an ordinary day.  A beautiful day in the neighborhood as I walked pass a sign that wished Mr. Rogers a Happy Birthday.  Need I say anything more?  Well, just in case you didn't know, it was Mr. Rogers who always said, "Won't You Be My Neighbor?"  Mr. Rogers, for those who have never heard of him, was Fred McFeely Rogers who immediately after graduating from Rollins College in 1951 was hired by NBC television in New York as an assistant producer for The Voice of Firestone and later as floor director for The Lucky Strike Hit Parade, The Kate Smith Hour and the NBC Opera Theatre.  Mr. Rogers was born in Latrobe, Pennsylvania, so in 1953, after being asked to return to  nearby Pittsburgh station WQED, which was the nation's first community-sponsored educational television station, he moved back to his home state of Pennsylvania.  

Mr. Fred Rogers in the late 1960s.

Mr. Rogers was asked to develop the first program schedule for the TV station.  Shortly after he produced "The Children's Corner" which was a daily, live, hour-long visit with music, puppets and host Josie Carey.  Rogers served as puppeteer, composer and organist.  Two years later his program won the Sylvania Award for the best locally produced children's program in the country.  It was on "The Children's Corner" that a few of Mr. Roger's Neighborhood regulars first made an appearance.  Anyone remember Daniel Striped Tiger, X the Owl, King Friday XIII, Henrietta Pussycat or Lady Elaine Fairchilde?  They would become regulars on his famous show, "Mr. Rogers Neighborhood."  

A shot from his TV set.  This was Mr. Rogers' Neighborhood.

During Mr. Rogers free time he attended Pittsburgh Theological Seminary and the University of Pittsburgh's Graduate School of Child Develop- ment.  In 1963 he became an ordained Presbyterian minister with a charge to continue his work with children and families through the mass media.  Later in 1963 he developed a children's program for CBC in Canada that was called MISTEROGERS.  He moved from behind the scenes to the show's on-camera host.  

Mr. Rogers Memorial Statue in Pittsburgh, PA.

He returned to Pittsburgh three years later with his wife and two sons to begin "Mister Rogers' Neighbor- hood" on National Educational Television and in 1968 on the Public Broad- casting Service (PBS).  A few years later my family discovered his show on PBS.  I actually enjoyed watching the show with all three of my children.  The show offered a safe haven for kids, not like many of the crazy cartoons and animated shows did.  His quiet demeanor presented him as an adult in a busy world with time for every child who viewed the show.  I can still remember my kids staring at the TV screen as he said, "I like you just the way you are!"  

Mr. Rogers' sweater now is in the Smithsonian Institution's
Musuem of American History in Washington, D.C.

The iconic sweater that he wore on just about every show is now on display in the Smithsonian Institution's Museum of American History.  He even has a memorial statue in Pittsburgh!  Mr. Fred McFeely Rogers died in 2003.  I also remember Jimmy Kimmel last year, after the mass shooting in Las Vegas, looking nervously at the TV camera and saying "look for the helpers."  Something that Mr. Rogers would say often.  

2018 is the celebration of the 50th anniversary of "Mister Rogers' Neighbor- hood."  A new Mr. Rogers documen- tary called "Won't You Be My Neighbor?" is scheduled to be released on June 8th.  I hope you will be able to watch it.  Also, this month the U.S. Postal Service is going to release a Mr. Rogers' Forever Stamp.  If only he could have lasted "Forever" to help influence generation after generation of children in this troubled world.  Maybe, just maybe, we really could have all been friends and neighbors.  It was another extraordinary day in the life of an ordinary guy.