Won''t You Be My Neighbor

[Thumper]

Mrs. T and I caught the new Fred Rogers documentary, Won't You Be My Neighbor. It was fantastic. I even got to hear him say and talk about my signature quote. We saw it in a small boutique theatre with only about 25 people, but when the movie ended, nobody moved. When the credits stopped rolling, there was quiet conversations beginning but nobody stood up. The lights came up, the usher was politely waiting at the door to vacuum up our spilled popcorn, and finally we started to get up and leave.

Unfortunately, as we walked back to the car, we both admitted that we were overcome with feelings of melancholy. Maybe it was because no matter how sincere, compassionate, and caring he was his entire life, the world still sucks alot. Children are still in danger. Walking back into the real world, where ignorant, manipulative people actually blamed Mr. Rogers for the ills of the world. WTF??! Then I told her about one scene in the movie: There was a brief clip where Daniel Tiger rose out of a castle window in front of a clock face with no hands. He turned and slowly looked at the camera and then started to wave. I had an almost uncontrollable urge to wave back. Like OMG, I almost waved at that puppet, like I surely did 48 years ago.

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[SciFiFisher]

I must admit that I am aware of the phenomena that Mr Rogers was/is but it sort of passed me by. And it missed my children too. Part of the reason is that I grew up and lived in an area that did not have reliable broadcast public television until well into the 1980's. And I did not have cable TV until the early 1990's. And by then I was mostly at work during the day when Mr Rogers would have been on. I know that he was a gentle person and probably one of the better forces for good in the last century.

[Thumper]

This movie did a great job of showing how and why he got his start in Pittsburgh. It was unlikely and it shouldn't have worked. And the kids just ate him up. Then he testified before Congress to help secure funding (at least for a while) for the fledgling PBS. Nixon was trying to cut everywhere he could to pay for the war. There was some real brilliance there. But he never used his influence in aggressive or manipulative ways. He just laid his heart out there and people figured out what you saw was what you got.

The Kid was going to see it with us but picked up an extra shift at work. I told her she should see it sometime even though she's never seen an episode. The two scenes in the doc with Jeffrey Erlanger alone make it worth seeing.

[Rommie]

I saw the international premiere here in Toronto a few months back- think I mentioned it at the time!

Yes, just a lovely film- I grew up liking Mister Rogers, who is definitely a Pittsburgh legend even today, and it's utterly charming and touching. What I found fascinating is it was a sold out crowd and I had a spare ticket, so I sold my spare to someone in the rush seats line, and it was a British woman who'd never seen Mister Rogers, but thought it sounded interesting enough to stand a few hours in the bitter cold, and still loved it.

Everyone lol'd when they said that in the first week ever of the show King Friday XIII wanted to build a wall around the castle. I'm sure there were some other ones too but that's the biggest reaction I remember.

[Thumper]

Ha, yeah. I remember the quote in the movie last night from one of the producers, "Yeah, and that was our first week."
He was talking about the number and gravity of topics they covered just in their first few episodes.

[Thumper]

They're having it at the Toronto Documentary film festival starting at the end of next month. I'm a member of the documentary film house here and am totally getting tickets ASAP once they get online! (They have quite a few I'm eager to see, ranging from a doc about Bill Murray to the women in the secret astronaut program for women in the 60s.)

Also, I heard several weeks ago that Tom Hanks is going to play Mister Rogers in a film about him. I dunno if Tom Hanks can pull it off, but I think if anyone could it would be Hanks.

(I told you guys before how Mister Rogers is from Pittsburgh, and I literally had cousins and classmates who grew up in his neighborhood, right? He's a pretty dear person to my heart, and I sing some of his songs to my niece.)

This was your quote when I posted about a celebrity filled PBS TV documentary we watched in March. That one was called, "It's You I Like." Last night was a different show, a theatrical release that featured more his family and talent and crew from the show.

I don't know which show you saw in Toronto, but both are totally worth it in my opinion.

[Rommie]

Won't You Be My Neighbor was 100% the one I saw. Didn't know you were talking about the other.

[Thumper]

Well, it's not your fault. Who in the world would have thought I'd have started two different threads about two different Fred Rogers' documentaries.
I guess I'll start a third one if the Tom Hanks movie makes it out.

[Thumper]

For those of you unable to watch either of the documentaries, here are the Jeffrey Erlanger clips:

This is his first visit to the Mr. Rogers' Show. They had met a couple years before. Jeffrey was soon to undergo a dangerous surgery and his parents asked him what he wanted. He said he wanted to meet Mr. Rogers. After receiving a letter from the family Fred Rogers visited with them when he was visiting Milwaukee. This episode aired in 1981.

When Fred Rogers was being inducted into the Television Hall of Fame in 1999, Erlanger made a surprise appearance. A completely surprised Fred Rogers jumps out of his seat, scrambles up onto the stage and gives him a hug.