FRED ROGERS‘Mister’ Fred Rogers, who died on 27 February, 2003, aged 74, was a television presenter whose Emmy-winning programme on American television provided a moral safe haven for children for 33 years.Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood ran from 1968 to 2001 and was the Public Broadcasting Service’s longest-running show. It in Mr Rogers would talk to the audience about important childhood issues, illustrating his themes with puppets and a model town that came to life.He was also a clean-living minister with firm ethics and a belief in the power of television to change the lives of young people for the good. "The whole idea," he once told an interviewer, "is to look at the television camera and present as much love as you possibly could to a person who might feel that he or she needs it."Frederick McFeely Rogers was born on 20 March, 1928, in Latrobe, Pennsylvania. His grandfather, Fred McFeely gave him his interest in puppetry while his mother Nancy was responsible for sparking his passion for music by teaching him to play the piano.He studied music at Dartmouth College in New Hampshire and Rollins College in Florida. Study of theology, however, was postponed after he got his first taste of television at his parent’s home in 1951. "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," he said.His degree helped him get a production job with NBC and he worked in New York for three years. After becoming disillusioned at the commercial side of the medium, he moved to WQED, a public station in Pittsburgh, where he operated puppets on his first show, The Children’s Corner. Many of his famous characters first aired here.His first presenting role was a 15-minute children’s show on CBC in Toronto called MisteRogers, effectively an early version Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood. In 1966 he acquired the rights to the format and moved back to Pittsburgh. In 1968 he began broadcasting nationally on National Educational Television and his show was acquired by PBS when that station stopped broadcasting in 1971.Residents of Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood included delivery men, police officers and other neighbours of Mr Rogers’, portrayed by real actors. The show also featured the distinct ‘Neighborhood of Make-Believe’, inhabited by more fantastical characters, a mix of human actors and puppets in a similar format to Sesame Street (which began the year after Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood). The programme was also noted for its use of jazz-style songs, of which Mr Rogers wrote more than 200.Mr Rogers, in the show and real life, was a thoroughly wholesome character who had been ordained as a Presbyterian minister in 1962 after completing his theology degree. He didn’t smoke or drink and took regularly exercise. Nevertheless, he didn’t shy away from tackling difficult issues such as death and war on his show. Other topics ranged from love to superheroes.He was also known for his passionate advocacy of publicly-funded broadcasting and testified in favour of new VCR technology when Sony was taken to court by Universal for copyright infringement, speaking of how essential it was for his programme to be available to as many families as possible.Inevitably he was a subject of frequent lampooning by American comics and also the subject of urban myths about a murky past in Vietnam, but he took all of this in good spirits. Celebrities of the day made guest appearances on his programme and he also made cameos as himself in other American shows, reinforcing his popularity in the States.As well as four Emmy awards, including one for lifetime achievement, Mr Rogers’ accolades include a place in the Television Hall of Fame and several Honorary Doctorates. His death from stomach cancer in 2003, two years after his retirement, saw America mourn one of its great educators.
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