The Mr. Rogers you saw pay a television visit to your house was the same Mr. Rogers in real life should you ever have run into him. On the night of writing this we lost Fred Rogers who passed away at the age of 74 years of age. His show took the basics of 1950's TV production and stayed with it even since. It was all about having a conversation with his TV friend. In broadcasting you may speak to many people, but speak as only one person was talking to you.
His first show was the Children's Corner (1953-61) which featured a woman by the name of Josie Carry. Although he got hosting credit, he never appeared in front of the camera, but rather was the puppeteer. The Children's Corner developed most of his puppet characters including Daniel Stripped Tiger, Henrietta Pussycat, X the Owl, and King Friday XIII. The Children's Corner was done live at Non-Commercial TV station WQED in Pittsburgh. It was a fun show if anything, and Josie and the puppets talk about Mr. Rogers a lot.
After Children's Corner he moved to Canada and did a show simply called Mister Rogers (1962-64), and it was first time he was on camera. The show was 15 minutes but it developed something which we know now as the Neighborhood of Make-believe. This Neighborhood was the majority of this short show, but Fred Rogers would appear at the beginning and ending of the program, and he would show off a few things before he had "make-believe" with the viewers. Usually it was some kind of vehicle that takes us to the Make-believe world.
In 1966 Fred returned to WQED and all that he developed would come together and Mister Rogers Neighborhood signs on the air for the first time. Fred wrote and sang shows for the show, and he showed fun things to the audience. His trips to the Neighborhood of Make Believe incorporated storylines about how people (and puppets) no matter how hard they try they should just try to be themselves and deal with live life issues in the fantasy world. Mr. Rogers also took us around the TV neighborhood on soundstages at first but the post 1979 shows took us to actual places in the real world.
Fred Rogers never liked TV for himself, but he knew how to use it to make an impact on people, and impact he did. He did most of the writhing on the show, nobody would dare tell him what to do, not saying they would. I would have loved to meet him myself, but I will never get that chance. He didn't care about being a celebrity. Just someone who cared about people and try to a "neighbor" to them.
Rest In Peace.
