Fred Rogers

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Fred Rogers (1994)
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Fred McFeely Rogers (born March 20, 1928 in Latrobe , † February 27, 2003 in Pittsburgh ) was an American television presenter , musician , puppeteer , writer , producer and Presbyterian pastor . He gained widespread fame as the creator, showrunner, and host of the preschool television series Mister Rogers' Neighborhood , which aired between 1968 and 2001.

Life

Fred Rogers was born to James, a successful businessman and head of the McFeely Brick Co., and Nancy Rogers, and was named after his maternal grandfather, who was an entrepreneur. Rogers grew up in a three-story brick mansion with his parents and sister, Elaine, who was adopted by the family at age 11. He spent much of his childhood alone, playing with puppets, starting to play the piano at the age of 5 and spending time with his grandfather. Rogers had a difficult childhood. He was shy, introverted, overweight, and had asthma. He was bullied as a child and given the name Fat Freddy . According to Morgan Neville , director of the documentary Won't You Be My Neighbor? , Rogers had a lonely childhood. He attended Latrobe High School where he could control his shyness; he was president of the student council, member of the National Honor Society and editor-in-chief of the school yearbook. He later attended Dartmouth College a year before moving to Rollins College in Winter Park , Florida ; There he completed his dissertation in 1951 with a degree in music composition . He then graduated from the Theological Seminary in Pittsburgh and was ordained pastor of the United Presbyterian Church in 1963 .

Through an ancestor from Schöneck in Germany, Johannes Meffert (1732–1795), Rogers is 6th cousin of the American actor Tom Hanks , who embodied him in the film The Wonderful Mr. Rogers ( A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood ).

Career

Early years

Fred Rogers while filming Mister Rogers' Neighborhood in the late 1960s.

Rogers wanted to go to a seminar after college but went to television instead after encountering a television in his parents' house during his senior year at Rollins College in 1951. In an interview with CNN , he said that he went to television because he hated it, and he thought there was some way to use this fabulous property to promote those who would watch and listen. After graduation, he worked for NBC in New York City as a hallway attendant on Your Hit Parade , The Kate Smith Hour and Gabby Hayes's children's show , and as an assistant producer on The Voice of Firestone .

In 1953, Rogers returned to Pittsburgh to work as a program developer for the public television broadcaster WQED-FM. Josie Carey developed the children's show The Children's Corner with him , which Carey hosted. He also worked off-camera developing puppets, characters, and music for the show. He used many of his developed doll figures from this period in his later work, including Daniel the Striped Tiger , named after WQED station manager Dorothy Daniel, King Friday XIII , Queen Sara Saturday (named after Rogers' wife), X the Owl , Henrietta or Lady Elaine . Children's television entertainer Ernie Coombs was Rogers' assistant. The Children's Corner won a Sylvania Award for Best Locally Produced Children's Program in 1955 and was broadcast nationwide on NBC .

Rogers was commissioned by the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC) in 1963 to develop and run the 15-minute children's program Misterogers , which was broadcast from 1963 to 1967. CBC's program director for children, Fred Rainsberry, insisted that Rogers also be involved in his own projects. Between 1964 and 1967 he worked on the children's show Butternut Square in Toronto. They acquired the rights to Misterogers in 1967 , so Rogers returned to Pittsburgh with his wife and two sons despite a potentially promising career at CBC and no job prospects. Coombs stayed in Toronto and developed the very successful Mr. Dressup children's program , which ran from 1967 to 1996. Rogers' work for CBC helped shape and develop the concept and style of his eventual program for Public Broadcasting Service (PBS).

Mister Rogers' Neighborhood

Mister Rogers' Neighborhood (also called The Neighborhood ), a half-hour educational program for children, began broadcasting nationwide in 1968 and ran for 895 episodes. The program was recorded in the studio of WQED and broadcast on National Educational Television (NET), which later became the Public Broadcasting Service (PBS). The first season consisted of 180 black and white episodes. Each subsequent season shot in color and funded by charities consisted of 65 episodes. Production of The Neighborhood ended in December 2000, the last original episode aired in 2001, but PBS re-aired regularly; In 2016, it was ranked 3rd among the longest running programs in PBS history.

Honors

Web links

Commons : Fred Rogers  - collection of pictures, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. Mister Rogers: 'Won't you be my neighbor?' fans can check out Fred Rogers Trail. Retrieved November 23, 2019 .
  2. ^ Early Life. In: Fred Rogers Center for Early Learning & Children's Media. Retrieved November 23, 2019 (American English).
  3. 7 items that tell the story of Mister Rogers, America's favorite neighbor. Retrieved November 23, 2019 .
  4. ^ WQED Multimedia: Pittsburgh Magazine. January 3, 2005, accessed November 23, 2019 .
  5. Maddie Capron and Christina Zdanowicz CNN: Tom Hanks just found out he's related to Mister Rogers. Retrieved November 23, 2019 .
  6. Fred Rogers. October 22, 2017, accessed November 23, 2019 .
  7. Sopan Deb: 'Mister Rogers' Neighborhood' at 50: 5 Memorable Moments . In: The New York Times . March 5, 2018, ISSN  0362-4331 ( nytimes.com [accessed November 23, 2019]).
  8. Highlights in the life and career of Fred Rogers. Retrieved November 23, 2019 .
  9. Fred Rogers | People | Pioneers of Television | PBS. In: Pioneers of Television. Retrieved November 23, 2019 (American English).
  10. ^ Early Years in Television. In: Fred Rogers Center for Early Learning & Children's Media. Retrieved November 23, 2019 (American English).
  11. ^ The Fred Rogers We Know. June 26, 2018, accessed November 23, 2019 .
  12. ^ Culture, Television: How Mr. Rogers and Mr. Dressup's road trip from Pittsburgh to Toronto changed children's television forever | National Post. July 11, 2018, accessed November 23, 2019 (Canadian English).
  13. ^ Mister Rogers' Neighborhood and Beyond. In: Fred Rogers Center for Early Learning & Children's Media. Retrieved November 23, 2019 (American English).
  14. Mister Rogers pic in development with 'Little Miss Sunshine' directors. Retrieved November 23, 2019 .
  15. Children's TV Host Fred Rogers Dies At 74 February 27, 2003, accessed November 23, 2019 (American English).
  16. Mister Rogers Is Coming Back To Your Neighborhood, On A Stamp. Retrieved November 23, 2019 .
  17. Louie Estrada: Children's TV Icon Fred Rogers Dies at 74 . In: Washington Post . February 28, 2003, ISSN  0190-8286 ( washingtonpost.com [accessed November 23, 2019]).
  18. GEORGE FOSTER PEABODY AWARD WINNERS . University of Georgia, George Foster Peabody Award.