Our two children, born nearly five years apart in the 1960s, were dedicated "Sesame Street" and "Electric Company" kids. But that was long enough ago that every once in a while they'd catch an episode or two of "Mister Rogers' Neighborhood" as well. And while I, too, tended to prefer the blinkin' lights, in-your-face constant action of those first two, I admit that the calmness and serenity that Fred Rogers brought to his show was very welcome. Whether or not it was our favorite, though, there's no denying the positive impact that Rogers and his show had on millions of children. For that reason alone, I was delighted to get my hands on a copy of this book.
Through interviews and tons of other records, the author does an outstanding job of pulling together an inside look not only at the development of the TV shows in which Rogers was involved (yes, there's more than one), but also of the man himself. I already knew he was from an hour or so across "my" Ohio border in Pennsylvania, for instance, but I didn't know he was an only child of very wealthy parents, nor that his trademark cardigan idea came because his mother knitted him a new one every year for decades. I was also impressed to learn that he earned a degree in music and has written something like 200 songs and, most surprisingly, 14 operas.
For the record, there's a substantial amount of information here about people who played instrumental roles in Rogers's life - sometimes more than I really cared to know - and there's a fair amount of repetition throughout the book. But overall, it's an interesting, well-laid-out portrait of a man who to me, at least, is an educational television icon. Thanks for the memories!
The Good Neighbor: The Life and Work of Fred Rogers by Maxwell King (Abrams Press, September 2018); 320 pp.
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