The Good Neighbor Discussion Page

I don’t know about any of you, but regretfully I was a little too old to be an audience member by the time Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood was available nationally on television. As an adult I watched a few episodes of the show with the kids in my life, but not that many. Getting started with The Good Neighbor, I’m finding that I’m kind of regretting that now, as Fred is already coming across as a pretty amazing person. One of my favorite parts of the prologue was from journalist Mary Elizabeth Williams in her 2012 Salon.com article, in which she describes Fred as “’…fearless enough to be kind’”. What does that statement mean to you? What is your first memory of Mister Rogers? Did you have any other favorite television shows as a kid?

I also enjoyed the description of the Oprah show production staff ignoring Fred’s request not to have children in the audience for his interview with the then local talk show host in 1985, and then not sure how to handle it when he focused almost totally on the kids in attendance. Thought you might enjoy a clip from that interview, provided by OWN: 

I also had no idea that Fred came from such an amazingly wealthy background! It was mind-boggling to me that in 1922 the estate of his mother’s maternal ancestor Thomas Givens was valued at approximately 5.5 million dollars. Were you surprised to learn about Fred’s wealthy lifestyle? And his mother Nancy really comes across as a fascinating person—with all of her community activism and charitable works, etc. What kind of impact do you think her actions and activities had on Fred? Nancy Rogers is depicted as an overprotective mother as well, perhaps understandably, which seems to have resulted in creating a shy son who missed a lot of school due to asthma. The resulting loneliness and occasional bullying was not really surprising to me, sadly. Was it to you? What about Fred’s upbringing helps you to you understand his focus on kindness as an adult?

As is often the case with grandparents, Fred apparently had some good ones to help relieve the intensity of his parents. I loved that his maternal grandfather McFeely was always encouraging Fred to challenge himself and explained often to his daughter Nancy the power of learning through experience. It seems that concept was something Fred definitely took to heart. Can you think of an experience in your own life (or perhaps with your own kids) where your parents allowed a negative outcome to occur in order to teach you something?

I enjoyed the story of 10-year-old Fred, with his grandmother’s encouragement, going downtown and picking out a restored Steinway concert grand piano for himself (cost then: $3000) after trying all of the instruments in the store! I thought it was touching that he kept that piano with him for the rest of his life.  It’s kind of fun to take a look at the Steinway & Sons company website today to see the options and specs for a ‘Model D’ concert grand piano—just in case you’re in the market for a new one.

It was not surprising to me to find out that Dartmouth wasn’t a good match for Fred. Author King assumes that Fred’s parents probably felt slightly disappointed that he chose to transfer to a small Florida school. Would you agree with that assumption? Why? It was during his senior year that Fred came across the new medium of television. It seems amazing to me that Fred had the foresight to see the value of television for education. Do you think that vision stills hold true today?

Learning that Fred’s family connections gave him a leg up in getting started as an intern at NBC out of college made me wonder if his career would have gone in the same direction if that first job hadn’t come so easily. It was interesting to read about Sylvester “Pat” Weaver, then head of NBC and someone I had already heard of before in the context of the “golden age” of television in the 1950s. (Just FYI, Pat also happened to be actress Sigourney Weaver’s father) Pat’s drive to have NBC and television in general provide the best possible cultural experience in those early years makes me think that recently contemporary television content since around 2000 has been referred to as a “second” golden age. Do you agree with that assessment of contemporary television? Why or why not? FYI, there’s a timely opinion piece, published last October on Slate, that discusses the impact current streaming options for content are having on television programming now.

Fred’s first children’s television show on WQED in Pittsburgh, The Children’s Corner, certainly seems to foreshadow the “neighborhood” that is to come in his future, especially with the development of several familiar puppet characters. I had a sense that his then co-star, Josie Carey, felt a little bittersweet about the whole experience. What do you think of her work experience with Fred Rogers? This is also the time period where we see Fred developing his principles about children’s television and advertising along with his particularity about how storylines were presented to children. What did you think of Fred’s stance of no advertising aimed at children for the show?

I hope you will check back next week as we discuss the next reading section, chapters 7 -13. Before you go, I thought you might enjoy watching an episode of WQED’s The Children’s Corner :


I’m looking forward to hearing from you in the comments section!

Whew, I’m exhausted! We spend a lot of this section of the book on Fred’s post-college training and study. Mr. Rogers certainly seems to be able to multi-task, deciding to attend the Pittsburgh Theological seminary after all while continuing to work on The Children’s Corner and raising two young sons. Interesting to learn that wife Joanne put her musical career “…on the back burner” after the birth of first son James, which for me explains how Fred managed to keep all his irons in the fire. This is also where we learn of two people who had a huge impact of Fred’s life and, it seems, his personal philosophy. One was Dr. Bill Orr, a professor at the Seminary, whose concept of “guided drift”, where one is “…guided by our principles but are also free to embrace the flow of life…”, Fred definitely embraced. What does this concept mean to you? Can you see how this philosophy impacted Fred’s decisions regarding his life’s direction?

Another person we come across in this section who seriously influenced Fred and became one of his lifelong collaborators was Dr. Margaret McFarland, a leader in early childhood development through her work at the Arsenal Family & Children’s Center in Pittsburgh that had been started by Dr. Benjamin Spock. Apparently Dr. McFarland’s teaching style of using storytelling as a central device to teach a concept was something Fred admired and adopted. Personally, I also enjoy the storyteller approach to education, no matter the age. If an instructor loves the subject that they are sharing and can make it entertaining, I think it is infectious. Fred definitely seemed to follow that style on his show. Something Dr. McFarland was quoted as saying about Rogers jumped out at me: “’Fred can recall—and can afford to recall—his own childhood.’” What do you think she meant by that comment?

I did find it interesting that Fred embraced child development theory so seriously in creating his show’s content. Author King states that it was Fred Rogers who taught generations of parents how important the early childhood years are and that social and emotional development during this time period was more important than learning numbers or letters. If you were a parent (or grandparent) raising children watching Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood, do you agree with that statement?

Who knew that Fred had introduced the early version of the neighborhood called Misterogers on Canadian public broadcasting? That was news to me. It was also fascinating to learn that this is where Fred was coaxed to come out from behind the camera.  Also, a lot of the familiar props from Mister Rogers Neighborhood got their start here thanks to generous funding—such as the trolley and the castle. The Fred Rogers Center put together an interesting short video on the CBC years that I thought I’d share:

Next comes the Rogers’ move back to the States with their visas expiring. It seems like this was a time in Fred’s life where having money made this a simple decision. I kept thinking during this section that yeah, money doesn’t buy happiness, but it sure does make life easier. Simple enough for the Rogers to come home to Pittsburgh, buy a palatial home according to the book’s description and enroll the boys in private school. Probably not everyone working in public television could have made such a move. Interesting that Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood started on a commercial station but got back to public television thanks in some part to Fred’s family connections. Fascinating to see the fan support when funding was threatened and Fred’s business acumen come to the forefront. I also enjoyed the chapter on the Senator Pastore congressional hearings on public television funding in 1969. Author King’s discussion of Fred’s testimony seems almost reverential, but then I took a look at video of the hearing, which you can see here:

 Do you agree with KIng that this is some of the most powerful testimony ever offered before Congress?

Finally, at the end of this reading section we start to see the evolution of Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood as we think of it today. I found the whole description of “Freddish”, the rules for grammar created by scriptwriters for the show, to be quite funny. I also thought it was interesting that Fred didn’t want others to get screenwriting credits; that one of the writers, Eliot Daley, said “’…he [Fred] was uncomfortable with having a viewing child think somebody was putting words in his mouth—which I understood”. Do you understand that concern?

I was wondering when Sesame Street might finally come into the conversation, as to my mind it operated on such a different plane. Interesting fact that Fred appeared on Sesame Street in 1974, and never apparently felt much concern about competition, but stuck to his guns for his quiet, contemplative style. Where do you fall: Team Sesame Street or Team Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood? Or both? Why?

I thought it would be fun to take a look at Mister Rogers’ iconic sweaters. Were you surprised to learn that his mother was making them every year? There’s a fascinating article on the Smithsonian Magazine website about trying to find a replacement source for sweaters on the show when his mother’s work wore out. Also, in case you have amazing knitting skills and want to try recreating the famous cardigan yourself, designer Amy Herzog created a knitting pattern in honor of Maxwell King’s book that we’re reading, and it’s available to purchase.

I hope you will check back next week as we discuss the next reading section, chapters 14 -20. Before you go, I thought I’d share a clip of my favorite’s children’s show growing up, Captain Kangaroo!

 
What was your favorite TV show as a kid? I’m looking forward to hearing from you in the comments section!

Puppetry is one of those unique arts. In my experience, adults seem to either really enjoy a good puppet show or act or they lean towards grouping them with clowns as entities to be totally avoided. However, almost all kids react positively to puppets (with the exception perhaps of those traditional ventriloquist dummies that regretfully have a somewhat creepy look about them.) Fred certainly had a quite a number of puppet characters! There’s a great list with photos of all Fred’s puppet characters available on the Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood website. I found it interesting that Fred used them not only in the show, but in other aspects of work and home. What did you think about Fred using his King Friday XIII voice to express displeasure with his sons or Daniel Striped Tiger calling NPR’s Susan Stamberg to persuade her to do a series of PBS specials with Mr. Rogers?  Do you have a favorite Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood puppet character?

Author Maxwell King also provides some background and history on Jim Henson and the Sesame Street Muppets. King says that parents watched Sesame Street’s “fast-paced, hip messaging” with their children because the humor appealed to them as well, but parents watched Mister Roger’s Neighborhood because they understood the value of sharing this important experience with their children. Do you agree with that conclusion?

In this reading section we also learn about Fred’s foray into adult television, particularly with his PBS documentary series Old Friends…New Friends. I was not aware of this series or that Fred had abruptly taken a break from creating and producing Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood in 1975. According to author King, Fred was simply out of his element trying to relate to adults and couldn’t seem to move away from his childlike style and persona and as a result the programs didn’t work. In case you’d like to judge for yourself, you can view a clip of one of the episodes of Old Friends…New Friends on the Seldom Seen Productions website. This is the website for Elizabeth Nadas Seamans, who you may remember from the book was a scriptwriter for Fred and played Mrs. McFeely.

I enjoyed learning that Fred always advocated for a non-commercial approach to the Christmas holiday, and I found especially appealing the story of his Hallmark Christmas holiday window display at the Manhattan store in the early 1970s. It seemed so quintessential Mr. Rogers, in the midst of all these over the top Christmas display windows by other celebrities, to have just a simple pine tree in a clear pot so that the roots showed, with the words “I like you just the way you are”. Does Fred’s simple approach appeal to you?

As I mentioned back in week 1’s discussion, I didn’t spend a lot of time with Mister Rogers while the show was originally running. In reading this book, I have found the descriptions of how children were completely absorbed by Fred’s slow and gentle approach and were totally focused and engaged during the program just fascinating. I’ve read interviews of fans in other sources or noticed comments on YouTube clips where people mention how they felt Fred was talking to them personally and would respond to the TV screen or they remember feeling calm and safe during the show. Author King proposes Fred was on the cutting edge of the never-ending debate between emotional/social learning versus cognitive learning for young children, falling firmly on the former side thanks to his work with Dr. McFarland. Public libraries are currently focusing on the ages 0 to 5 for early literacy development and introducing creative play experiences such as MADL’s new Storyville villages to help little people create strong foundations for the cognitive skills to be built upon once formal education begins. On which side of this debate do you find yourself?

It was also interesting to read about how the show was put together and brought to life behind the television screen, along with some of the practical jokes played on the set. Fred seemed to have a good sense of humor, and I enjoyed the story of his meeting with Eddie Murphy, who in 1984-85 was doing his “Mister Robinson’s Neighborhood” satirical parodies on Saturday Night Live. I do remember those skits as being hilarious and always felt they were done with a sense of fondness for the real Mister Rogers. It was nice to find out that Fred apparently felt the same way. If you haven’t seen one of those Eddie Murphy skits or it’s been awhile, here’s one to watch to see if you agree with me (viewer note: mature content): 

Fred Roger’s musicianship was another area of surprise to me, and it obviously played a huge role on the show. All the amazing staff musicians, along with the incredibly talented musical guests like Wynton Marsalis and YoYo Ma. Plus all the operas Fred wrote for the show. It almost seems to me that not only did Fred see the educational opportunities of the new medium of television when he graduated from Rollins, but also a format where he could really engage his musical abilities as well. Do you agree? There is a great review of the operas from Mr. Rogers’ Neighborhood available on the Mister Rogers website.

I found it fascinating to learn that along with his strong stance against advertising directed towards children connected with anything he produced, Fred also wasn’t very good at marketing any product that he or Family Communications Inc. did decide to create and sell. Why do you think that was? How do you think Fred would feel about the marketing tie-ins with the PBS legacy show Daniel Tiger’s Neighborhood? You can see some of the Daniel Tiger merchandise for sale via PBS as one example.

It was intriguing to get the background about the extremely positive 1998 Esquire interview of Fred by Tom Junod, who was a writer known for usually skewering his subjects. This is the event that the 2019 Tom Hanks film, A Beautiful Day in The Neighborhood, is based on. Author King provides several other examples of situations where individuals who attempted to mock or didn’t seem to understand Fred either weren’t successful or turned into admirers upon interacting with him. Why do you think that happened?

I hope you will check back next week as we discuss the final reading section of The Good Neighbor, chapters 21-Epilogue. Don’t forget, there will also be a live book group discussion on Tuesday, June 30 at 6:00PM via to talk about the book in person, sort of! Before you go, I thought I’d offer up a jazzy version of the song Won’t You be My Neighbor performed by Johnny Costa:


 I’m looking forward to hearing from you in the comments section!

It’s week 5 and we’ve arrived at the end of The Good Neighbor.  Some reviews of the book have described it as “boring” or “slow moving” and find the many tangents the narrative takes irritating. While overall I found the book interesting, I will say that I thought it was a little odd that author King decided to dedicate an entire chapter, albeit a short one, on Fred Roger’s passion for swimming.  I wasn’t really sure about the purpose of this chapter—how about you? It was sweet to learn of the Pittsburgh Athletic Association’s long-time locker room attendant, who had a special relationship with Fred, advocating for keeping Fred’s locker with his nameplate on it as a memorial after his death.

I confess I did enjoy the tangent about Fred’s interaction with Koko, the gorilla who communicated with sign language. Koko became well known in the 1980s, right about the time I was starting my career as a youth services librarian. Books about Koko and her kitten, All-Ball, were very popular with the kids and families I worked with. I loved learning that Koko was drawn to Fred and his program in the same way as his human audience, and I thought you might like to see a clip from 1998 when Fred visited Koko at her home with the Gorilla Foundation.

One of the theories that author King proposes is that people just didn’t believe that the public persona of Fred Rogers was authentic. Fred was just too nice and kind to be believed. I do feel that the book does not make Fred out to be an angel—he certainly was a perfectionist and expected coworkers to be the same. And I think that the author somewhat disingenuously ignored the ease family money added to Fred’s life and enabled him to make certain career decisions. After completing the book, what are your feelings about Mr. Rogers? Do you think he was for real? I thought I’d share an interesting short interview with Joanne Rogers that was done in conjunction with the release of the feature film A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood last November 2019, where she talks about how she feels Fred was not a saint.

I came away from this book with a really strong sense of Fred Roger’s integrity. Fred’s act of planning the delivery of personal presents to all of his friends after his death revealed to me someone who continued to be caring and concerned about others despite much personal pain. And I loved the fact that Fred’s Steinway that he picked out back when he was almost 10 years old was donated by his wife (and is still being played!) to the Fred Rogers Center for Early Learning and Children’s Media at Saint Vincent College in Latrobe, PA.

It was interesting to learn that historian and author David McCullough had referred to Fred Rogers as the greatest teacher of all time in 2017, while back in 1996 Professor Lynn Cofer of the University of New Mexico was regretting that Fred’s approach of calm and detailed children’s programming wasn’t appreciated. Do you think Fred Rogers’s legacy of innovative early childhood educational programming is recognized today… or still underappreciated?

What I always like to ask at book club, whether online or in person, is: did you enjoy the book? Overall, I did enjoy The Good Neighbor – I found Fred Rogers to be a complex individual and someone I now admire and respect even more than before. Plus, it was fascinating to see the evolution of Fred’s creative work and all the details that went into creating every episode of Mr. Rogers’ Neighborhood and its previous incarnations. I did find the organization of the book sometimes confusing and did feel that there was more detail than necessary at times.  If you are interested in knowing more about author Maxwell King, there’s a biographical article published in December 2019 available on the Pittsburgh Magazine.  Interesting to learn that Maxwell King was Director of the Fred Rogers Center for a while.

Don’t forget, there will also be a live Zoom book group discussion on Tuesday, June 30 at 6:00PM for The Good Neighbor. Register on the madl.org calendar to attend this Zoom event. MADL will send you a reminder email as well once you’ve registered. Hope to see you there!

Thanks for joining the MADL Online Book Club for The Good Neighbor! Don’t forget to leave a comment to let me know how you enjoyed the book. Mark your calendar for July’s Online Book Club when we will be reading the new novel The Water Keeper by Charles Martin. I look forward to hearing from you in the comments section!