Comments on: Saturday Afternoon Awww

By: Richard

Richard — Wed, 21 Jul 2010 22:48:35 +0000

I’d like to add that I spent my early childhood living in Squirrel Hill and Mr. Rogers attended the church that I went to. (He was an ordained minister but never led his own church.) As I child, I remember having many wonderful conversations with him.

I returned to Pittsburgh many years later for college and again met him at church functions and also while I was volunteering at KQED/KQEX.

He was indeed, just as nice in “real life” as depicted in the show.

-Richard

By: Araxie

Araxie — Tue, 20 Jul 2010 18:39:40 +0000

Nobody’s mentioned the excellent article that mental_floss.com did on him? http://www.mentalfloss.com/blogs/archives/5943

After I read that I wanted to make shirts w/ the letters “WWMRD” printed on them: “What Would Mr. Rogers Do?”.

By: Blinky the Wonder Wombat

Blinky the Wonder Wombat — Mon, 19 Jul 2010 14:35:31 +0000

Even National Lampoon’s spoof of Mr. Rogers captured his gentle nature:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QJTb130GR0E

By: jjmcgaffey

jjmcgaffey — Mon, 19 Jul 2010 00:54:41 +0000

Zino (10) - see the caption in the comic. It’s from an audio recorder, so there is no video - sometimes you see stuff on YouTube that’s just audio, and they show it as a black screen with a note of [no video] on it while the audio plays.

By: Proginoskes

Proginoskes — Sun, 18 Jul 2010 20:39:57 +0000

Derf (who writes the comic “The City”) told about a real-life encounter with Mr. Rogers, when he was hitching a ride:

http://www.derfcity.com/images/comix/fred/fred1.gif
http://www.derfcity.com/images/comix/fred/fred2.gif
http://www.derfcity.com/images/comix/fred/fred3.gif
http://www.derfcity.com/images/comix/fred/fred4.gif

By: Chuck

Chuck — Sun, 18 Jul 2010 18:37:15 +0000

I feel like the word choice is because it’s a modified actual quote from an episode.

By: Jeff S.

Jeff S. — Sun, 18 Jul 2010 16:30:15 +0000

mitch4, the “have you in my family” part just means he’s glad they are married. He brought her into his family.

By: Feelin Old

Feelin Old — Sun, 18 Jul 2010 16:25:53 +0000

Having grown up with the Friendly Giant (Look up, Look Way Up) and later on Mr Dressup, I never saw Mr. Rogers till I was an adult and found him cloying and thought he was a fraud but what I’ve heard since makes that doubtful. I suppose if I went back and looked at the other two with and open mind I’d think the same about them.

By: EmpressPenguin

EmpressPenguin — Sun, 18 Jul 2010 13:02:40 +0000

My mother grew up in Pittsburgh and I live there now; Mr. Rogers was a dear family friend when she was growing up, and although I’ve never met him she has told me that his on-air persona was not an act at all. He was genuinely that caring and gentle. He knew that children are little people with genuine, legitimate emotions and he encouraged them to explore those emotions and attain a level of self-awareness that people often don’t attribute to the little ones.

By: mitch4

mitch4 — Sun, 18 Jul 2010 12:59:45 +0000

Yes, as I have heard it, there is really not much gap between the image and the reality. I’ve heard him interviewed on “Fresh Air” or the like, and he’s clearly not quasi-childlike all the time — but apparently is truly firendly and even-tempered.

In this quoted conversation, I’m just a little puzzled by the “have you in my family” bit — the asymmetry or direction of that.