Mister Rogers

A man whose smile was recognized by millions of toddlers for at least two generations, Fred Rogers used his reassuring voice to bring simple and heartfelt music to young children across America. Between 1968 and 2001, Rogers used his public television series, Mister Rogers' Neighborhood, as a venue for his soothing and sometimes humorous songs, while establishing an equally successful career with books and recordings for children. By the time of his death in 2003, Rogers had become a beloved American icon with fans around the world. His legacy was celebrated in the critically acclaimed 2018 documentary Won't You Be My Neighbor and in the 2019 Hollywood biopic A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood. Fred McFeely Rogers was born in 1928 in LaTrobe, Pennsylvania. He graduated from Rollins College in Florida with a degree in music, but soon turned his attention to television. In 1953, he was hired by WQED in Pittsburgh, the nation's first public TV station, to produce and star in a local production called The Children's Corner. During his spare time, Rogers attended the Pittsburgh Theological Seminary, and became a Presbyterian minister in 1962. In 1966, Rogers created a half-hour program called Mister Rogers' Neighborhood. It became nationally distributed two years later, and went on to become the longest-running program in public broadcasting. A mixture of live-action stories and puppets, the program showcased Rogers' simple, reality-based songs, and the jazz interludes of music director Johnny Costa. Rogers' sincerity was the key to his songs' listenability. Every part of his personality on air (and off) showed his love and respect for children. And his ever-positive yet insightful lyrics of songs such as "You Can't Go Down the Drain" and "Everybody's Fancy" ("Some are fancy on the inside, some are fancy on the outside...your body's fancy, and so is mine") showed a sensitivity unaddressed by previous artists. Although his quiet, almost lethargic style was often ridiculed, the fact was that young children liked his music because it was so understandable and trustworthy. Rogers developed his own company, Family Communications, and began releasing his original children's music on his own label. Many of his albums are still in print, including You Are Special and perhaps his most famous, Won't You Be My Neighbor. His Bedtime album was among the Top Ten picks of Child magazine in 1992. Rogers slowed down in the late '90s, and after almost six decades on the air, the last episode of Mister Rogers' Neighborhood was broadcast in 2001. He remained busy with public appearances, as well as book and video projects, until his death in February of 2003. Mister Rogers' Neighborhood remained in syndication for many years after his death, and his creative legacy lived on in children's television programs like Arthur and Blue's Clues. In 2018, 50 years after his show debuted, Rogers was subject of filmmaker Morgan Neville's award-winning documentary Won't You Be My Neighbor. Widely hailed by critics, the film revived interest in Rogers' work and became the highest-grossing biographical documentary of all time. A year later, Omnivore Records compiled an anthology of his music, titled It's Such a Good Feeling: The Best of Mister Rogers. In November of 2019, Rogers was portrayed by actor Tom Hanks in the Hollywood biopic A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood. ~ P.J. Swift