Timesuck with Dan Cummins - 446 - Who Was The Real Mr. Rogers?

Episode Date: March 17, 2025

Today we examine the beloved host of the long-running children's television show, Mr Rogers' Neighborhood. Was Fred McFeely Rogers truly as wholesome as he seemed? Could anyone be that good? Or was it all just an act? When the cameras turned off, did a completely different emerge, and who was that person? Merch and more: www.badmagicproductions.com Timesuck Discord! https://discord.gg/tqzH89vWant to join the Cult of the Curious PrivateFacebook Group? Go directly to Facebook and search for "Cult of the Curious" to locate whatever happens to be our most current page :)For all merch-related questions/problems: [e-mail] (copy and paste)Please rate and subscribe on Apple Podcasts and elsewhere and follow the suck on social media!! @timesuckpodcast on IG and http://www.facebook.com/timesuckpodcastWanna become a Space Lizard? Click here: https://www.patreon.com/timesuckpodcast.Sign up through Patreon, and for $5 a month, you get access to the entire Secret Suck catalog (295 episodes) PLUS the entire catalog of Timesuck, AD FREE. You'll also get 20% off of all regular Timesuck merch PLUS access to exclusive Space Lizard merch.

Fred Rogers was the face of children's television for almost half a century not just in the United States But syndicated and aired in nearly 200 countries around the world in his hand-knit sweaters and white tennis shoes on Screen mr. Rogers appeared to be a genuinely compassionate honest wholesome and kind man The type of man you would love to have as your neighbor But looking at his squeaky clean image so many of us haven't been able to help asking ourselves, was Fred Rogers really who he said he was? Was he the same person off screen as he was on? Or as soon as the cameras stopped rolling, did all that soft spoken tenderness and benevolence simply vanish into thin air? Was he, as a lot of people have claimed over the years,

the head of a satanic coven of witches and warlocks. A coven who engaged in unspeakable acts of bestiality involving mostly puppies and the human trafficking of Filipino children. Since Mr. Rogers' Neighborhood first came on TV in 1968, people have been asking these questions of its titular character. Which makes sense. After all, isn't that what we're taught to do? Part of becoming an adult is learning one of life's most disappointing lessons. titular character, which makes sense. After all, isn't that what we're taught to do? Part of becoming an adult is learning one of life's most disappointing lessons. People

are so often not who they say they are. Sincerity, we come to find out, can be pretty scarce. And because of that, many of us grow suspicious of others, especially those with a reputation for being pure and decent. Take previous Time Suck subject Bill Cosby, for example. He was America's dad. A respectable, seemingly respectable, well-mannered fella with traditional values who was fun for the whole family. He was someone we thought should be admired, looked up to. You know, that's what everyone thought. Little did they know America's dad, the most wholesome appearing man in all of Hollywood, was a big fan of raping women he had tricked into thinking he was trying to help them. Take Priest for another example.

These guys are supposed to be the most pious of us all, yet somehow millions of children have been sexually abused by them. Scandal after scandal after scandal have been coming to light for decades now all around the world. So many that I think most of us aren't even remotely shocked by them anymore. It almost feels expected or some perverse version of normal. And I could go on and on, illustrating why it's hard to not be suspicious of anyone who appears to be so totally and completely good and wholesome. So today we're doing a deep dive

into the life of Mr. Fred Rogers to find out if he was who he appeared to be. We'll investigate his childhood in Latrobe, Pennsylvania, a childhood that many might be surprised to find out was filled with luxuries of all kinds, including a personal chef, his own chauffeur, lavish trips abroad with his millionaire parents. We'll learn about his dream of becoming a Presbyterian minister and figure out why he abandoned that dream for a career in public television or perhaps used TV to subtly do his Christian preaching. We'll check out his many many awards and honors and why he got them, talk about

why he inspired so much satire and explore all the different conspiracy theories around him. Today we're looking at the life and legacy of Mr. Fred Rogers. To try and answer the ultimate question, who was he really? A warlock who orchestrated secret orgies with young witches which is bathed in the blood of super cute puppies and Filipino kids or Exactly who he appeared to be on mr. Rogers neighborhood all that more and another puppeteering little diddy singing self-confidence boosting Ku Klux Klan suing edition We've actually never had an edition of any show that fits the descriptions before of time suck This is Michael McDonald, and you're listening to Time Suck.

Well happy Monday and welcome to the Cult of the Curious. I'm Dan Cummins, the master sucker. Cock Choc owner and proprietor. Rabble Rouser and you are listening to Time Suck. Double Hail Nimrod, Double Hail Lucifina, extra praise for Good Boy Bojangles and a little extra glory for Triple M. They're pissed. I did not honor them last week. Another quick reminder I will be in Nashville, Tennessee, April 11th and 12th. Coming up quick, doing some stand-up as part of the Nashville Comedy Festival. And again, very probably the last stand-up I'll be doing in quite some time. Just don't have time for the schedule. And that's it. Now, won't you be my neighbor?

Fred Rogers was many things. Of course, he was mostly known as the creator and host of the long-running and beloved children's TV show, Mr. Rogers' Neighborhood. But he was also an ordained Presbyterian minister, a researcher for the Department of Child Psychology at the University of Pittsburgh, lifelong Republican, devoted vegetarian, and the reason that the VCR was not allowed, or excuse me, was not outlawed, was allowed, in 1979. For his work in educational programming, he was honored with the Presidential Medal of Freedom, a Peabody Award, and a Lifetime Achievement Emmy. He was also the recipient of over 40 honorary degrees from universities around the nation. He was included into the television Hall of Fame, recognized by two congressional resolutions and even has an asteroid named after him.

Asteroid 26858 Mr. Rogers, named by the International Astronomical, international astronomical, oh my gosh, International Astronomy, Astronomical Union. Jesus, some of these words. I'm like, I read them and I'm like, yeah, I know what that is. Astronomy. No, it's astronomical. Astronomical. Fucking whatever. To honor his memory. I like to picture that asteroid populated by little puppets like Lady Elaine, King Friday, Henrietta Pussycat, the neighborhood of make-believe hurdling through space.

Today we're going to explore the life and legacy of Mr. Rogers, try and get to the bottom of who he really was. Almost all of today's episode is going to take place in our Time Suck Timeline. Starting with how Fred's great-grandma accrued millions and millions of dollars that would be passed down from generation to generation over to descendants and following all the way until Fred Rogers' death in 2003. But before we get into all that, we're going to briefly go over some of the most bonkers urban legends and rumors about everyone's favorite neighbor in order to separate fact

from fiction. So let's begin. You may have heard this first one from a friend growing up or maybe read it online at some point that Fred Rogers was a sniper for the US military with over 150 confirmed kills. He was battle-hardened while serving in either World War II, the Korean War, or the Vietnam War, depending on the message. And according to one email chain from the early 2000s, he is quote, a master in small arms and hand-to-hand combat, able to disarm or kill in a heartbeat. According to that legend, every time Fred

Rogers killed somebody, he got a new tattoo. And that was why he wore his trademark sweaters to conceal his arms, which were completely covered in hardcore ink from his many, many kills. Even had a large tattoo across his chest, big old chest plate saying, born to kill. Ha, holy shit, I kinda actually want that one to be true. Mr. Rogers being a fucking lethal killing machine, but also a force of good. Some kind of mashup of Rambo, holy shit, I can actually want that one to be true. Mr. Rogers being a fucking lethal killing machine, but also a force of good.

Some kind of mashup of Rambo, John Wick, Liam Neeson from the Taken movies, and a sweet gentle soul who loved fucking wearing Mama's cardigans, and doing a little ditty on the piano singing for the kids. That's very fun for me to be thinking about. Nothing is over! Nothing! You just don't turn it off! for me to be thinking about. Another rumor is that Fred Rogers started working in television because he was a registered sex offender. After a child molestation conviction he was sentenced to do community service for the local public TV station and that is why there weren't ever any actual kids on the set of Mr.

Rogers' Neighborhood even though there were. According to that rumor, that was also why some characters had suggestive names like Mr. McFeely, Uncle Secret Strokes, Auntie Stinkfinger. Okay, maybe there was never a Mr. Rogers character called either Uncle Secret Strokes or Auntie Stinkfinger, but Mr. Mc McFeely that's a real one. So are those are these rumors true? As fascinating or entertaining as they might be most urban legends about Mr. Rogers pretty easily you know debunked. Fred Rogers was not a sniper in the military he was actually deemed unfit

for military service after failing his physical exam on October 12th 1950 when he was preparing for the draft for the Korean War. Fred Rogers also had no tattoos. One of his favorite things to do was swim. So he was often photographed in pools, not wearing much. And in none of these photographs does he have any ink. I mean, so maybe his dick was tattooed. Maybe his butthole was tattooed, but that would be about it.

Fred Rogers was also not a registered sex offender, was never convicted or even accused of child molestation. And the reason Mr. McFeely is named that is because McFeely is Fred's mother's maiden name and also his middle name. Other rumors about Mr. Rogers, you know, harder to debunk or at least harder to find evidence for. You know, like the one about him being the head of Warlock of a Satanic covenant, witches and warlocks who cut the heads off of so many fucking puppies and also fucked those puppies and also sacrificed at least a couple thousand Filipino children to the devil. There's no evidence of this rumor being true but also Fred never publicly said it wasn't true, you know? And the greatest trick the devil ever pulled was convincing the world he didn't exist. So

maybe chew on that, you know what I mean? Anyway, because of his effeminate gentle demeanor, it's also long been speculated that Fred Rogers was homosexual. And it was and is thought that because he was a Republican and religious, he was deeply closeted and unable to come out. It is true that Fred was a registered Republican for his entire adult life. He was also incredibly socially progressive. Contrary to popular opinion, you can be Republican and also socially progressive. You can also be Republican and gay. The hardcore MAGA crowd does not, despite what many of those radicals think, actually speak for all Republicans or those who identify as conservative. Not at all. Fred Rogers was Republican and he was also a dedicated pacifist and very anti-war.

When his show first aired to a national audience in 1968 during the height of the Vietnam War, the first five episodes were all about justice, non-violence, the importance of building bridges instead of bombs. Two decades later, 1987, Fred demonstrated his objection to certain aspects of the Cold War by flying to Russia to appear on a Soviet children's show called Good Night, Little Ones. Additionally, Fred was a strong supporter of racial equality and women's rights. And though those views were not always overtly stated on the show, the message was clear. In 1975, Fred cast Maggie Stewart to play the Mayor of Westwood in Mr. Rogers' Neighborhood. This was a very intentional decision.

He wanted his young audience to see a black woman in a position of power and authority. Maggie became the mayor of Westwood 14 years before a black woman was elected mayor of any major U.S. city. On top of that, a decade before Sally Ride became the first American female to go to space, Fred wrote an episode where the character Lady Elaine Fairchild became an astronaut and flew to Jupiter. And two years before Barbara Walters became the first female news anchor in America, Lady Elaine was anchoring the news at the neighborhood's local TV station. Fred was also definitely not homophobic.

As we'll see in the timeline, one of his closest friends and co-star on the neighborhood was an openly gay man, and Fred was always supportive of him. This man said he never once suspected Fred of being gay. There's no evidence, none, that Fred ever had a sexual or romantic relationship with another man. However, while talking with one of his closest friends, Dr. William Hirsch, who himself openly was gay, he said that if sexuality was measured on a scale from 1 to 10, quote, well, you know, I must be right smack in the middle because I have found women attractive and I have found men attractive. So maybe he was bisexual.

And I truly wish we lived in a world where that news was met with the resounding cry of, okay, who cares? What's your point? Who gives a shit what gender he was attracted to? Why should that matter? It should not. Only his character and actions should matter and his character and actions were fan-fucking-tastic. If the Satanic Warlock stuff isn't true of course. All right finally it is time to embark on today's you're very special just the way you are. Time Suck Timeline. Shrap on those boots soldier. We're marching down a Time Suck Timeline. On June 10th, 1903, a little girl named Nancy McFeely, such a creepy real ass name, almost as bad as McHandy or McGropey. Was born into a family of astounding wealth. And one day, a few decades down the line, much of that wealth will be inherited by her only son, a boy named Fred Rogers.

But we're not quite there yet. Nancy's father, Fred Puskoblin McFeely, I mean, Fred Brooks McFeely, McFeely was somewhat of a business magnet. And by somewhat, I mean a lot. At an early age, he built his ownely, McFreely, was somewhat of a business magnet. And by somewhat, I mean a lot. At an early age, he built his own company called McFreely Bricks. It was based in Latrobe, Pennsylvania and specialized in the manufacturing of, you guessed it, bricks.

Specifically bricks made out of secrets and lies. McFreely style bricks. No, that's absurd. They were made of silica and clay. The success of the company not only allowed the McFreelys to live a very comfortable lifestyle, it was also the reason that the town of Latrobe itself turned from a scarcely populated borough into a thriving industrial city. Made a lot of bricks. They were one of the top employers in Latrobe in the early 1900s. And in addition to

the fortune they made in the thrilling world of brick manufacturing, the McFeelys also had generational wealth, which originated from Nanty's maternal ancestors. A quick side note before we go forward, Nancy McFeely's mom was also named Nancy McFeely. That makes describing their family tree a little confusing. So to avoid some confusion going forward, we're going to call Nancy senior by her middle name of Donkey Tits. Nancy Donkey Tits McFeely. Now her middle middle name was Morgan. We're gonna call her that. Morgan was born in 1875. Her birth name was Nancy Morgan Kennedy. Her father, William Kennedy, was a salesman in Pittsburgh,

and her mom, Martha, was a maid for an affluent financier named Thomas H. Given. Morgan also had one sister named Elizabeth. During Morgan's childhood, Pittsburgh was undergoing a phase of major industrial expansion. The city's rapid economic growth created an abundance of new opportunities and many entrepreneurs were taking advantage of the changing times and Thomas H. Given was one of them. In broad terms, Martha's boss Thomas Given was an investment banker, financier, and venture capitalist.

More specifically, he was the president of Farmers Deposit National Bank, president of American Window Glass Company, president of Suburban Rapid Transit Railway Company, vice president of Reliance Life Insurance Company, director of Crucible Steel Company of America, director of Gulf Oil, Incorporated, director of Prest Steel Car Company, and president of Baragua Sugar Company, a business based in Cuba. Dude was big deal. Thomas Given also owned two newspaper publications, president of Baragua Sugar Company, a business based in Cuba. Dude was big deal. Thomas Given also owned two newspaper publications, the Pittsburgh Post and the Pittsburgh Sun. He was a fucking magnet. So clearly Morgan's mom worked for a man who wore a lot of hats and made a fuck ton of money.

The very same year that Morgan gave birth to Nancy, her parents Martha and William got a divorce and in 1904 shortly after the divorce was finalized Martha remarried this time too drumroll please I bet you can guess Thomas Given. Oh yeah. Fucking hit the jackpot. So much money. And it gets even better. Because Given had no biological children of his own, when he married Martha he made her two daughters the heirs to his fortune upon his death. Unfortunately for stepdaddy Given, but fortunately, at least financially for his heirs, his demise happened sooner than expected.

He died suddenly in 1919 from what the newspapers at the time simply called a short illness. When his estate was finally settled a full three years later, his fortune was valued at roughly $5,509,000 which is equal today to about $105 million. So holy shit, nine figures. And that jumped from eight to nine figures. Oh, that's such a big one. The wealth that Morgan inherited from her stepfather plus all that her husband made with McFeely Bricks accrued into a massive family fortune. We don't know how much that will be passed down

from generation to generation. Okay, now that we know a bit about Mr. Rogers ancestor, let's actually back up here, jump into the next important stop on the timeline, which is the pandemic. Hopefully not the one you're thinking of. On March of 1918, the first American case of influenza A subtype H1N1 is documented in Kansas,

making the beginning of what will become one of the deadliest pandemics the world has ever seen. Within two short years, a little over a third of the entire global population, about 500 million people, will become infected by the flu strain, and 50 to 100 million of those infected people will die. When the epidemic first broke out, Nancy McFeely, daughter of Morgan and Fred McFeely, step-granddaughter of the late Thomas H. Given, immediately felt

like she needed to do something to help. When she was younger, Nancy had dreamed of being a doctor but now at the wise old age of 14, she had come to the harsh realization that that was an impossible ambition for a girl in western Pennsylvania. Still, all Nancy wanted to do in life was heal people. And if she couldn't do that by working in a hospital, she would do it by volunteering at one. So one day, the young girl approached her father, Fred McFeely of McFeely Bricks, maybe you've heard of him, and asked if he could do her a teeny tiny favor.

She explained that she wanted to get her driver's license so she could volunteer at the local hospitals, which were desperately understaffed and overrun with flu patients. There was just one small problem at 14 years old. She was still two years away from being eligible for a license in the state of Pennsylvania at the time. Luckily, that small problem had an easy fix.

All her dad needed to do was sign a document certifying that she was 16. Her father agreed to tell this little fib but on one condition. He would only sign the paper if Nancy could prove to him that she could rebuild a broken down automobile engine all on her own. Didn't expect that. I feel like proving she could fix a flat tire, maybe replace the tire would have been sufficient. But he clearly held his kids to higher standards than I hold mine. He said he wanted her to learn the skill just in case something were to happen to the truck when she was out driving all alone.

But really he thought the intimidating task of asking her to show him that, you know, she could rebuild a fucking engine would deter her from wanting her license at all and it would save him from actually having to say no to her noble, but dangerous request. Unluckily for Freddie McFeely, his daughter had an unfaltering resolve and with the help of some local mechanics she learned the ins and outs over the engine and was soon able to demonstrate to her father that she could rebuild one from scratch, which is insane. Her dad shocked I'm sure. Now stayed true to his words, signed off on the paperwork and young Nancy got her

license. And she'll spend the next year transporting much-needed supplies to hospitals and hauling away their used medical waste, and somehow while doing that, she will never contract the flu herself. Or if she did, which is pretty likely, she just didn't get perilously sick. This endeavor coincided with some other charitable work young Nancy was doing. Since she was 10 years old, she'd been knitting sweaters for American soldiers from Pennsylvania who were off fighting in the Great War. Clearly, Fred Rogers not the first incredible fucking meat sack in the Rogers family tree. But also, why are things working out so well financially for this family? Hmm? Hard work and some luck?

Or deal with the devil? Was the price for this fortune to be paid by Fred in the blood of adorable little Labrador Retriever puppies who make cute little whimper sounds when they're laying on a blanket and dreaming? And also the blood of Filipino children with long eyelashes, perfectly tan and blemished skin, silky wavy long hair and names like Gabriel and Sophia? We might never know for sure! For the rest of her long life. Nancy will live to the age of 78. Until physically unable to do so, she will continue volunteering at hospitals doing charity work for those in need and

knitting her precious sweaters. Sweaters her son will one day make famous. Okay now let's jump ahead a decade. Meet everyone's favorite neighbor. March 20th, 1928, 24 year old Nancy, her new husband James, a man who would go by Jim, welcomed into the world their first child, a fat baby boy named Fred McFeely Rogers. They just couldn't let go of that McFeely name. Had to keep it, okay? Fred was born at his grandparents house located at 705 Main Street in Latrobe, Pennsylvania. When she first got pregnant, doctors had warned Nancy that her labor was going to be especially difficult and possibly

crippling for her because she was so tiny. Didn't have those child-bearing hips. Though she was ecstatic to become a mom, the prospect of being in immense pain really freaked Nancy out. So to calm her fear, she chose to give birth at the place she felt the most safe. The house she grew up in. The McFeely House. Which for sure sounds like the name of a strip club where you are definitely allowed if not encouraged to touch the dancers. It was first built in 1900 and is actually still around today. Currently the house is privately owned so it's hard to find new photos of the

interior but according to many sources it has remained virtually unchanged since the McFeely sold it in 1998. According to Zillow the house has five bedrooms and five bathrooms, a total of a 3,500 square feet of interior livable space, and sits on a lot of 10,400 square feet. Definitely nice, but not some, you know, massive opulent mansion either, even though they certainly could have afforded to buy something massive and opulent. The three-story structure is a quintessential example of the American craftsman home, an architectural style that is considered to be one of the most timeless types of home designs. American craftsman homes, still very popular today. I personally love them. I would love to live in a craftsman someday.

They're popular especially in the Midwest, the mid-Atlantic regions of the U.S. With the winding stone stairs that lead up to the large front porch, the V-shaped shingle roof that overhangs bay windows, and the red brick pillars flanking out of the side of the entrance, the house that Fred Rogers was born in looks almost identical to hundreds of others in the sprawling Latrobe suburb. However, back in the beginning of the 19th century, a house like that was a luxury that very few people could afford. The same can be said about the mansion-esque house Fred Rogers will grow up in on the other side of Latrobe, which we'll get into later. One weird side note before getting back into the nitty-gritty delivery of baby Fred Rogers, did you know

that he is not the only national treasure born in Latrobe, Pennsylvania? The town is also the birthplace of the Banana Split, my favorite dessert for a few years when I was a kid before it was replaced for a while by lemon meringue pie and then also by German chocolate. German chocolate cake specifically. According to the world's chief authority on American history, the Dole Corporation, in 1904, David Strickler, a 23-year-old soda jerk at a Latrobe drugstore, cut a banana lengthwise, added vanilla, chocolate, and strawberry ice cream, and topped it with syrups, marshmallow, chopped nuts, whipped cream, and a maraschino cherry.

Delicious! And made banana and dessert history. Within a few years, the banana split had become a national phenomenon and Strickler, an ice cream industry legend. Wilmington, Ohio and Davenport, Iowa also both claimed that the banana split was invented in their towns. But those people are disgusting, untrustworthy scumbags who should be burned alive after first being skinned for their pathetic attempt at stealing important Latrobe history.

Anyway, what Nancy's doctors predicted was correct. Giving birth to her son was a horrific, long, painful ordeal. For hours and hours and hours, the exact number is unknown, the massive house was filled with the sound of Nancy's agonized screams, mixed with the equally ear-splitting sound of her parents' pet Pomeranian who was freaking the fuck out. According to the good neighbor, the life and work of Fred Rogers by Maxwell King, one of our main sources, for the entire time that Nancy was pushing old Freddy out the front gate, the small dog was huddled under her birthing bed, yapping its little heart out,

and it refused to leave. What a scene. Wish I knew that dog's name. Let's pretend it was Squealy McFeely, a dog who somehow escaped the family's rumored practice of brutally murdering puppies to appease their dark lord. Eventually Fred was born. For a long time, Fred was a cherished only child, the sole recipient of his parents' attention.

His birth had taken such an enormous toll on Nancy's body that the doctors warned her that if she had another baby, it would likely kill her. So for the rest of her marriage, Nancy and her husband Jim, obviously in the interest of her health, only had anal sex. For the next four decades, Nancy's power bottom will be one of the few butts in the entire world to take in more packages than it would deliver or drop off. Another piece of incredible Latrobe trivia. The birthplace of Fred Rogers. The banana split and one time home to one of the world's most durable rectums. I have no fucking idea

how they made sure that Nancy didn't get pregnant again to be clear. The birth control pill was still what two decades away and I doubt they went with only condoms. Maybe Fred's you know dad's pull-out game was legendary. I don't know. When he was a 11 years old, Fred's parents adopted a little girl named Elaine who they called Lainey. They thought it would be good for Fred to have a sibling because he was somewhat of a recluse who had a hard time making friends and that's actually pretty sad that they adopted little Fred, a sister, in part. So he would have a, you know, a friend.

Because of their age gap, Nancy once said that she thought of her older brother as a very grown-up playmate. Fred and Lainey were raised in a brick red colonial style mansion at 737 Weldon Street in Latrobe, Pennsylvania. Just a four-minute walk from his grandparents' house on Main Street. Sounds like an idyllic childhood. Back in the early 20th century, the neighborhood the Rogers and the McFeelys lived in was known to locals as The Hill, a place where only the elite resided. And the Rogers and the McFeelys were the elite of the elite. Fred's childhood home had three main floors plus an attic. Kind of looks like a smaller version of the house from Home Alone. going back to the point of him not having any friends though Fred's

childhood was an extremely lonely one and this is for a couple of reasons for starters since he was a baby Fred had suffered from severe asthma at that time respiratory issues were becoming more and more prevalent in children throughout Western Pennsylvania due to the air pollution caused by the rapid industrialization of the region air pollution that by the rapid industrialization of the region. Air pollution that I'm sure a lot of people back then denied. No, that's bullshit. Not true. This people's lungs are fucking black. Because asthma was the worst in the summer, the doctors instructed his mom to keep him inside as much as possible until the fall.

Pennsylvania is a very humid state and during the hot months the average temperature in the day is around 90 degrees. So to keep Fred from basically sweating to death cooped up in his room all summer and the days before modern HVAC systems had the kind of air conditioning that most of us take for granted today, his mom did at least buy him a window air conditioning unit. He was actually one of the first people in Pennsylvania to get one as they had only recently been invented. Which brings us to the next factor that led to Fred's childhood isolation his mother's overprotectiveness. Nancy Rogers was a hundred percent devoted to her son. She wanted to safeguard him from anyone or anything that might do him harm. He was her first and only biological child and both she and her husband were so protective of little Fred or part of the

reason that both she and her husband were so protective little Fred was because they feared he might one day be kidnapped at the time. This was a fear shared by wealthy families all across America. And before I share why many wealthy families feared their children being kidnapped back then, time for this week's first of two mid-show sponsor breaks. If you don't want to hear these ads, if you want to help us with donations each month, sign up to be a Patreon and you know Space Lizard on patreon and get the entire catalog ad free and more. Okay, now let's head to 1932. Find out why Nancy Rogers worried about someone taking her son.

On March 1st 1932, the 20-month-old son of famed aviators, Anne and Charles Lindbergh, have been kidnapped from a second-floor nursery in Hopewell, New Jersey. On the windowsill of the nursery, the abductor left a handwritten ransom note that was riddled with errors that said, Dear sir, have $50,000 Reedy, $25,000 in $20 bills, $15,000 in $10 bills, and $10,000 in $5 dollar bills after two to four days we will inform you were the delivery the money We warn you for making any ding public or for notify the police the child is in gut care Okay

May 12 1932 over two months later The poor baby's dead body is found on the side of the highway in Mercer county, New Jersey About four and a half miles from the Lindbergh estate. He'd been partially buried about 50 feet from the road and was found when a passing truck driver happened to spot him. The baby's skull had been crushed, some of his limbs were missing, the coroner's examination showed he'd been dead for two months, so he'd either been killed shortly after he was taken or possibly while he was being taken. Might have to do an episode on the Lindbergh baby kidnapping one of these days. It was huge, huge, huge news. Coverage of the kidnapping and the

murderer's trial dominated the news so much that the whole ordeal was described as the biggest story since the resurrection by one source. Oh okay, hyperbole much. Nancy and Jim Rogers were deeply affected by the story of the little boy's kidnapping. They were of a relatively similar status as the Lindberghs in terms of wealth, and their son was only a few years older than the murdered baby. The prospect of what happened to the Lindbergh child happening to Fred was overwhelming, and they dealt with it by doubling down on supervision. If little Fred wasn't in their house or at his grandparents' house, he was being constantly

monitored. Instead of eating in the cafeteria with the other kids, Nancy and Fred's personal chauffeur, Grant Ross, would pick him up from school, drive him home for lunch, and then drive him back. And instead of taking the bus home with the other kids, Fred was driven home by Ross at the end of every school day. So no wonder he didn't have any friends. I mean, I get it. But his parents, you know,

kind of set him up to be envied and ostracized. Luckily, Fred really liked Ross and enjoyed spending time with him. During their car rides, Ross would play jazz music, tell them about all the musicians and the songs and the history of jazz, but still being constantly separated from his peers took a toll on him. But more than anything else, what isolated Fred the most was the fact that his family was wealthy and everyone in town knew it. The Rogers were not only one of Latrobe's richest residents, if not very likely the richest,

they also employed the majority of the workers in the town. At that point in time, Fred's dad, Jim Rogers, owned multiple manufacturing firms in the area, including the McFeely Brick Corp Company, which was passed down to him by his father-in-law, but also La Trobe die casting. In addition to the influence they had because of their businesses, what made the Rogers stick out was just how disproportionately wealthy they were in comparison to other people in the area. Pennsylvania, specifically western Pennsylvania, had been hit real hard by the Great Depression, but the Rogers largely unaffected. While some people, a lot of people, were living in abject poverty, they were living in luxury. All of this, of course, made Fred stand

out like crazy amongst his peers and an easy target for bullying. He was also pretty overweight as a young child so that didn't make the whole bullying situation any better. In elementary school his nickname amongst his classmates was Fat Fred. Little kids, oh often so clever and kind aren't they? Ironically while his family's wealth and influence made the kids in town dislike Fred, it made a lot of the adults very fond of the Rogers. This is because the Rogers were incredibly generous with their money, and they did a lot to help their neighbors. They were modest people who valued humility and philanthropy above all else,

and they drilled those same values into their son. According to Fred's childhood classmate, Anita Lavin-Manoli, his mother and father were millionaires who were not pretentious at all. Of course they lived in a beautiful home. Of course they had servants. Of course they went to Atlantic City in the summer. But they were not pretentious people. They were simple, down to Earth. And just as she did when she was a teenager, Nancy Rogers regularly volunteered at the Latrobe Hospital. Her presence there was greatly appreciated by staff. One former nurse and longtime friend of Nancy's recalled,

She would come into the nursery and just work. If a baby were crying, she wouldn't hesitate to assist with the feedings or tenderly rock them in her arms in the nursery rocking chairs. She wouldn't leave until she was certain that all was secure, and that included making sure the staff had time for dinner, usually at her expense. In addition to donating time, Nancy and her husband also donated a fuck ton of money through both organized philanthropy and random acts of kindness. The Rogers were devoted members of the Latrobe Presbyterian

Church and Nancy was always on the lookout for other parishioners who needed help. According to friends of the family, the residents of Latrobe and the families of financial records, for two decades, the Rogers wrote on average one check a week to donate to those in need. That's incredible. And for anyone thinking some variation of, yeah but I mean they had so much money, that was nothing to them. True. But also remember they could have easily not given anyone a dime. That would have been the easiest choice they could have made. Nancy and Jim Rogers were also strong believers that everybody no matter where they lived or what religion they practiced was deserving of kindness. So in order to teach more people than just

those who are in their immediate community, not teach, excuse me, reach, in order to reach more people, Nancy created a network of volunteers and ministers from the town surrounding La Trobe. And this group is called FISH. The name derived from the Christian Icthys symbol which is literally a line drawing of a fish. The symbol has a long complicated history dating back to the Greek Hellenistic period but in general the Jesus fish as it is sometimes called represents a public declaration of Christianity. Founded by Nancy her FISH group function mostly like an

intelligence network where information about people in need was gathered by the volunteers and then relayed back to the group. How fucking cool is that? Together fish would meet and figure out what they could do to help and sometimes that meant finding housing for someone who couldn't afford to pay rent, gathering a team to rebuild somebody's you know caved-in roof or whatever, getting somebody's grandpa the medical help that he desperately needed, making sure a recently widowed father had some home cooked meals for the next few months, or throwing a birthday party for a little kid

whose parents couldn't afford to do that. Fish also organized fundraising events for certain causes, but the Rogers were always the primary source of funding for whatever needed to be funded. Nancy also gathered information about how she and her group could help from her children's school and her husband's work. For example, one day Fred overheard some of his peers discussing a classmate whose parents couldn't afford to buy new shoes for him. Fred mentioned that to his parents. Very next day, he returned to school, quietly handed the boy multiple pairs of brand new shoes

purchased by his mom. So cool. And you know, this might have been some kid that fucking bullied him like a lot of the kids. Still do that. At work, Jim Rogers was known to quote put a chew in his cheek loose in his tie and walk through the rows of manufacturing machines addressing each employee by name Inquiring about their work and about their welfare And when he caught wind that the family of one of his factory employees was in financial trouble Jim and his wife were known to quietly step in and give them some money as a gift Jim was also more than happy to provide cash loans to his employees for other reasons.

Come payday each month, the factory employees would pick up their envelope of cash wages at a little pay window outside Jim's office. According to Fred's biographer, once in a while some employees would return to that pay window the very next day to quote, take out loans from Jim Rogers because part of their wages had disappeared in the many taverns and bars that lined the streets between the steel mills and other manufacturing plants. These loans were all chronicled in a great ledger book. When Jim Rogers died, the book recorded thousands of loans that were never collected. At Christmas time, the Rogers were known to be especially generous.

Fred's sister, Lainey, remembered that each year when the holidays rolled around, her father would have a gigantic turkey delivered to each of the families of his employees. She also recalled that, quote, all year long they would send food baskets to families they'd heard were short of food. Fucking incredible. And I hope there are still a lot of wealthy company owners doing this kind of thing today. If you do this kind of thing for your employees or your boss doesn't for you, let me know. I would love to hear it. Who doesn't like good news? Fred's childhood friend, Rudy Prochaska, whose family barely survived the Great Depression, remembered every year on the day before Christmas Eve, the Rogers family's chauffeur, Grant Ross,

would visit his house with a basket full of presents from the Rogers. Prochaska said, The first time I knew I had a Santa Claus, he was black. Grant would come down on Christmas Eve with a yellow convertible, a Packard, and my dad and him would unload presents from the Rogers family. It's crazy. Each year the Rogers family also hosted a gigantic Christmas party that everyone in La Trobe was invited to. Like literally everyone.

The Rogers had an open door policy so everyone from the tool and die workers employed at Jim's factories to some of the wealthiest people in America this time, including R.K. Mellon, the patriarch of the Mellon banking family, showed up. Although it seemed like the entire town was in attendance, there was one person who was notably missing from these festive parties, and that would be little Fred Rogers. More often than not, Fred would sneak away from the pressing crowd into the upstairs attic where he would retreat from all the noise and play with his puppets in a little homemade theater his grandpa constructed for him. A little theater that would inspire the set he would later build for Mr. Rogers' neighborhood, the neighborhood of

make-believe. Safely tucked away in his sanctuary, Fred would also listen to the music coming from the phonograph downstairs and try to memorize the melodies to practice on his piano later. Melodies similar to the ones he would later compose for Mr. Rogers' Neighborhood. All the seeds for his future children show they've been planted in his childhood. Very cool to learn that. According to many of his childhood friends, his family and especially his parents made a huge impact on who Fred Rogers became, but not just for the reasons you might think. Of course, his parents instilled in him the altruistic values that he would go on to demonstrate on TV, and as an adult, Fred constantly reiterated how thankful he was for that.

He was also extremely appreciative of the privilege he had growing up in a wealthy family, though it seems he was a bit embarrassed by it in moments, which, you know, fair. His sister Lainey remembered that when his parents got him a car in high school, Fred would park it a few blocks away from the campus so that other kids wouldn't find out, because few of his peers also had one, and probably none of his peers had as nice of a car. Many of what few childhood friends he had said that Fred seemed to always try to distance himself from his parents' wealth. Anita Manoli, in particular, speculated that part of Fred's lifelong embrace of simplicity

and his rejection of grandeur was a reaction to his disdain for growing up wealthy. As well-meaning and kind and altruistic as his mother was, Nancy also contributed pretty heavily to Fred's internal struggles growing up. Fred was naturally a very reserved, very shy kid. And his mom's overprotectiveness seemed to exacerbate these traits in him. Like I went over a bit earlier, Nancy shy kid. And his mom's overprotectiveness seemed to exacerbate

these traits in him. Like I went over a bit earlier, Nancy was constantly trying to shelter him from the world and well into high school, she would intervene in his life to try and rescue her little boy whenever she thought he needed it. And this not only made Fred uncertain and self-conscious, it also made it extremely difficult for him

to try and figure out who he was. And although he appreciated her unconditional love for him, Fred hated how little independence he was given. Luckily, Fred's maternal grandparents, the McFeelys, provided a gentle reprieve from Nancy's overprotectiveness. They encouraged Fred's independence, always telling him to pursue what he wanted, not what his parents wanted for him, which was to one day take over the McFeely brick company

from his father. Fred's grandfather in particular made a huge impact on him. Every time he saw him, Fred's grandfather would make sure the little boy knew how much he enjoyed his company. He would tell his grandson quote, Freddy you make my day very special. I like you just the way you are. Those words sound familiar? They do if you watched Mr. Rogers' Neighborhood Grown Up. 1942, Fred began attending La Trobe High School with the help of his granddad, and by pushing back against his own parents' overprotectiveness, he transformed into a very confident young man,

and into a young man who was not going to take over the family brick business. In 1946, after graduating high school, Fred Rogers began attending Dartmouth College, a private and prestigious Ivy League research university in New Hampshire, to study French. According to his biographer, quote, almost no one in Fred Rogers' family can remember exactly why he picked Dartmouth College. Fred's ambitions were ordered around his idealism, not any hopes for his success in the sort of business world that might have prized an Ivy League degree. When Fred started out there as a freshman, Dartmouth was known as a hardcore party school and his roommates were hardcore partiers. Both of his freshman roommates were on the football team and in frats, and Fred on the

other hand not interested in drinking, though he lost a bunch of weight since childhood he was also still very unathletic. He felt very out of place in Dartmouth and that sinking feeling of not fitting in returned. However, he didn't cry or complain. He simply immersed himself in his first passion, which was music. He was so into music that on his Easter break his freshman year, he decided to fly out to Winter Park, Florida and visit Rollins College, a place he was considering transferring to. While not Ivy League or as well known by name as Dartmouth, Rollins is an incredible school.

They've kicked out some of the most Fulbright scholars of any American university or college for years. And they consistently rank as one of the top 10 academic institutions in the Southern States year after year after year. And back then, they had one of the best music programs in the nation. One of Fred's mentors at Dartmouth is a skilled cellist named Professor Arnold Cavum,

connections at the Conservatory of Music at Rollins, called him up before Fred arrived to tell them about how the potential transfer from Dartmouth and how talented of a piano player he really was. And the current students at the Conservatory caught wind of that and spontaneously decided to pile in one of their cars to pick them up from the airport. And one of the students in the car was Joanne Byrd from Jacksonville, Florida, the future Mrs. Fred Rogers. No relation to Dick Byrd, the infamous Las Vegas strip strangler from what I can tell. Also fucking adorable.

Joanne was so adorable. Good egg. Look up some pictures of her. She had this big goofy toothy smile that looks like it would just light up any room. She entered she was apparently very quick to laugh Had one of those infectious laughs that just warmed up everybody around her And later interview Joanne recalled the day she met her husband saying we piled into the antique Franklin that lots of room We were hanging out of the windows of the car when he came out of the airport We grabbed him took him right with, and made him one of us.

He blended in so well. At Rollins, we took him first to the music department and to the practice rooms. He sat right down and started playing. And we were so impressed because none of us could do that. We couldn't just sit down and play jazz, but he could. He could do it all. Finally, Fred is embraced by his peers. In 1948, he officially transfers to

Rollins College not to major in French but in music composition. Unlike in the cold hard party and hyper masculine environment at Dartmouth, Fred felt at home in Rollins. He also felt at home with Joanne. They both felt a very strong connection to one another but never actually got around to Dayton while they were students. Because not all of his credits transferred from Dartmouth, Fred was a year behind Joanne in school now and she graduated a year before him in 1950 and then she moved 200 miles away to get her master's in music composition from Florida State University. The two kept in contact during

their year apart sending dozens of letters back and forth. Joanne never dated anyone else but apparently Fred did and she knew about that and she was actually okay with it. She said she felt in her heart that when the time was right they would just end up together. Hmm, she was less jealous and more patient than I've ever been. I admire that. At the age of 20 while Fred Rogers was studying at Rollins he registered for the military draft in Greensburg Pennsylvania when the Korean War broke out. Initially he was given the classification of 1A which meant available for military service. However, after failing an Armed Forces physical

exam October 12, 1950, likely due to his asthma, his status was changed to unfit for military service. 1951, Fred graduates from Rollins College with the bachelor's in music composition. Joanne attends the ceremony, sits with Fred's parents, even though they still were not dating. Since the Rogers vacation in Florida, they had already met their sons, how is she not your girlfriend? A few times and they adored her. Upon receiving his bachelor's, Fred still does not ask Joanne out and instead moves to New York City to start his career, not in music, but in television. And that came as quite a surprise for those who knew him for two reasons.

One, Fred's most recent plan had actually been to become a minister after graduation, Presbyterian minister. And two, he hated TV. When Fred first saw television earlier that year, he was totally disgusted by the programming. What he saw, by the way, was just a TV show where two men were throwing pies at one another. Just some simple slapstick comedy. And it wasn't necessarily that seeing someone blast pie into another person's face was distressing for Fred. He just thought it was kind of stupid. He thought it was a waste of this great new invention. In that moment, Fred saw what amazing potential TV had for helping the world. It could do so much more than just provide a gimmicky source of laughs or profit

for some big wigs in New York City and LA. It could be a powerful educational tool. During an interview with CNN decades later in 1999, Fred said, I went into television because I hated it so. And I thought, there's some way of using this fabulous instrument to nurture those who would watch and listen. The whole idea is to look at the television camera and present as much love as you possibly could to a person who might feel that he or she needs it. Why was this man such a treasure?

Damn, I kept having random allergy attacks going over all this info while preparing it for this recording and thinking stuff like, why was he so good? Unless of course he wasn't. More on the warlock rumors later. On October 1st, 1951, Fred started a job as an apprentice at the National Broadcasting Company, better known as NBC. He was able to land the gig with the help of his father. Those family connections, you know, for sure helped him. Helped him get a job. Also took financial pressure off of him when he was looking for a job. He didn't have to just grab something because, you know, for sure helped him, helped him get a job, also took financial pressure off of him when he was looking for a job. You didn't have to just grab something because, you know, bills needed to be paid. NBC was then a division of the Radio Corporation of America, RCA, a corporation at which the

Rogers family was actually a major stockholder. Fred's first apartment in New York was a one-bedroom at 9 East 75th Street in an affluent neighborhood on the Upper East Side. Upon his arrival, Fred had the concert grand piano that his grandma had bought for him 15 years earlier shipped to New York and installed in his apartment. That's pretty cool. Over the two years he spent at NBC, Fred learned a lot about TV. He quickly became a floor director for the shows, Your Hit Parade, The Kate Smith Hour, and became an assistant producer for

The Voice of Firestone. Fred was off in New York, Joanne was still in The Kate Smith Hour, and became an assistant producer for The Voice of Firestone. While Fred was off in New York, Joanne was still in Florida getting her Masters, and they still were not dating. Still was lucky he didn't lose her. During her final year of post-batches work, Joanne rented a room in the home of her piano professor, Ernst von Donani, an accomplished composer from Hungary, and at one point while she was living there her professor's grandson, Christoph Donani, a young man about her age, came from Germany to visit and they became friends. Uh-oh! In April of 1952, Joanne and Christoph von Donani attended a music

conference together in St. Petersburg, Florida, and by happenstance, Fred's parents were staying in St. Petersburg at that time. Since she was still close with the family, Joanne arranged a visit with the Rogers. Joanne and her German companion met Jim and Nancy at the large vacation rental they were staying in at the Bellevue Biltmore Hotel in Bel Air, which is I think just near Clearwater, Florida. And throughout the entire visits, Joanne noticed that Fred's parents seemed to be very curious about the nature of her and Christophe's relationship. They were like, fuck, Fred is blowing it. Come on, son, get a sack already. You so sweet but soft as baby shit boy.

She would never find out for sure, Joanne was pretty certain after the visit Fred's parents promptly reached out to him to say that he better get his shit together, because she might be taken soon, real soon. And sure enough, two weeks later, Joanne received a letter from Fred in the mail the prince of the shy guys asked her not to date but to marry him well all right he just really fucking went for it as soon as she read that Joanne literally ran to the nearest phone booth she could find and dialed Fred's New York number she was so nervous that when he picked up on the first ring the first thing she blurted out was shit and then all she could find and dialed Fred's New York number. She was so nervous that when he picked up on the first ring, the first thing she blurted out was, shit! And then all she could hear on the other end of the line was Fred's warm laugh.

The next thing out of her mouth was, yes. And just like that, the two were engaged. And the engagement did not last long. Just three months later, Fred and Joanne got married in July of 1952. The couple had wanted to have their ceremony at the New York Presbyterian Church, which Fred had been attending since he moved there, but the minister was out of town and they needed to fuck now or something like that. So they tied the knot at the high Episcopal Church of the Resurrection on East 74th Street. The wedding reception was held at the famous Carlisle Hotel located at the corner of 76th and Madison Avenue. The Carlisle had become one of the most luxurious apartment hotels in all of the country. The art deco design of the Carlisle is reminiscent of all the glitz and glamour of Manhattan

in the 30s. It's furnished with gleaming black marble floors, ornate chandeliers, custom-made upholstery, intricate crown moldings, and hand-painted murals of New York's landscape, which were actually painted by the creator of the Madeline Children's books, Ludwig Bemlemans. Each suite is individually designed with bespoke furniture and commissioned artwork. Nowadays, you can rent their cheapest room for a single night for around 1,500 bucks.

Their most expensive room, however, costs about six grand per night. About a month after Joanne and Fred had the reception at the Carlisle, President John F. Kennedy leased an apartment there on the 34th floor, which he continued to lease throughout the entirety of his presidency. Who the hell knows how many women the notorious womanizer snuck on over there. After returning from a honeymoon in Europe, or was it the Philippines, Joanne moved into Fred's one-bedroom apartment with him in

Manhattan. And now before we find out what happens next in this young couple's lives, time to take today's second of two mid-show sponsor breaks. Thanks for listening to those sponsors. Now let's return to 1953, where Fred Rogers gets an incredible opportunity. Less than a year later, in 1953, Fred's father called him up with some exciting news. Apparently a company down in Pittsburgh was trying to create the first ever community based public TV station in the US and

Pittsburgh less than 40 miles from Latrobe. Love how supportive his dad is by the way. He wanted Fred to take over his business. But when Fred wanted to go in a different direction, he didn't begrudge him. He pivoted, supported his son, great dad move. Though he was actually doing very well at NBC, Fred was immediately interested in the fledgling station in Pittsburgh, which was called, uh, or to be called, WQED. He later said, When I heard that educational television, which is now called public television, was going to be starting up in Pittsburgh only 40 miles from where I grew up, I told some of my friends at NBC that I thought I would put my name in and apply for the station. They said, you're nuts.

That place isn't even on the air yet. And you're in line to be a producer or a director or anything you want to be here. And I said, no, I have the feeling that educational television might be at least for me, the way of the future. Good on him for following his gut, right? Taking a risk. So much easier said than done. So near the end of 1953,

the newlywed Mr. and Mrs. Rogers leave Manhattan for Pittsburgh so Fred can help start WQED. The channel's name comes from a Latin phrase which roughly translates to that which was to be demonstrated. Also throughout history, the abbreviation QED has been placed at the end of written philosophical arguments or mathematical proofs to indicate that they are complete. The more you know.

Fred and Joanne purchased a two-story home on Northumberland Street in Pittsburgh's affluent East End. The house was built in 1921, has five bedrooms, four bathrooms, two sets of French doors, two wood-burning fireplaces, and its own library. The home recently went up for sale in 2021, was purchased by a family for a cool $860,000. In the last four years the house's estimated value has shot up to about 1.2 million. Though Fred knew he would be given up, or knew he had given up a lot in New York to come to Pennsylvania, he was confident he made the right decision saying,

I knew that the decision to leave New York and to come to Pittsburgh and launch in this place nobody had ever heard of was the correct one for me. It gave me a chance to use all the talents that I'd ever been given. You know, I loved children. I loved drama. I loved music. I loved whimsy, I loved puppetry. On April 1st, 1954, WQED officially went on air. It was the nation's fifth public TV station, but the nation's first community-sponsored public TV station. The night before they were scheduled to film their very first episode, the station's manager, Dorothy Daniel, held a party for the WQED. Why are those letters hard for me to say quickly in succession? And on each of the stairs around the dinner table,

she placed personalized gifts for each member of the staff. And on Fred's chair, there was a small tiger puppet, Daniel Tiger, one of the Neighborhood of Make-Believe's most famous and beloved puppets, named after the station manager who gave him to Fred. At WQED, Fred first worked on a show called The Children's Corner hosted by Josie Carey. He and Josie had a budget of only about 150 bucks a week to develop five one-hour episodes and pay for both of their salaries. Unable to invest in intricate sets or costumes or plots, they had to rely heavily on their imaginations to produce the show.

Fred and Josie's original idea for The Children's Corner was to play a short royalty-free film for the viewers, which would be introduced by Josie at the beginning of the episode. In an interview for the Television Academy, Fred later recalled, I combed the country for free films we could put in. All we had planned to do was have Josie sing some songs. I would play the organ for her to sing, then she would introduce these films. We had things like, How to Grow Grass in New Hampshire. No one had any idea how hard it would be

to fill an hour of programming a day. During their first episode, Josie stood in front of a model of a massive clock that was to serve as the primary backdrop for the show. Their intention had been to find a stuffed bird that they could have burst out of the clock and talk to the audience but they couldn't find one. So Fred took out the tiger puppet he had been given, crouched behind the clock instead with it. And when the program began, Daniel the tiger popped out and exclaimed,

It's 502 and Columbus discovered America in 1492. Woody probably didn't sound like Woody. Sounded a little better. From then on, at the start of each episode, Daniel the Tiger would pop out, say the time, and give a little history fact. In addition to Daniel the Tiger, other puppet characters Fred would later incorporate into Mr. Rogers' neighborhood were also born on the children's corner,

including King Friday, Ex the Owl, Henrietta, and Lady Elaine. Less than a year after taking his new job in 1955, Friday, Ex the Owl, Henrietta, and Lady Elaine. Less than a year after taking his new job in 1955, Fred enrolled as a part-time student in the Pittsburgh Theological Seminary to become an ordained minister. Josie Carey remembered Fred coming into the station early in the mornings to get a head start on programming for the day, then rush over to the seminary to attend his midday classes, then rush back to film that afternoon's live broadcast. Dude did not just rest on his parents' money. He was motivated to be good, to do good,

to make the world a bit better. Didn't have to do any of this shit. About halfway through his studies at the seminary, his mentors asked what type of ministry he would be interested in doing after graduation. They were somewhat shocked to hear that Rogers hoped to find a way to use television to minister to children. No one in the Presbyterian faith had ever pursued such an endeavor, and Fred's teachers were unsure on how to guide him. Eventually, someone suggested that if he wanted to work with children, then Fred needed to

study both religion and child development. So Fred was now sent to work under Dr. Margaret McFarland of the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine. Each week, Fred went to her research facility at the university to work with children, learn from her expertise, and bounce ideas off of her about his show. Margaret later recalled that Fred was the one to introduce puppets to the facility, and that it was an astounding success. She said there was a little girl at the facility whose bird died.

And when Fred came with his puppets and she told Fred about the death of the bird, when he got the puppets out of his satchel she found it urgent to tell each of the puppets about the death of the canary. The children confided to Fred and to his puppets many important things and you know what? I'm not crying, you're crying. Stop fucking looking at me so I can tell the rest of the story now. This was the beginning of a three decade long friendship for Margaret and Fred. Long after he graduated from the seminary, Fred continued to work at the research center and the two spoke on the phone almost daily. It was actually Margaret who was the basis of one of Fred Rogers most defining features.

Instead of relaying information through lectures, Margaret used parables and narratives to convey her lessons. And not just with the children at the research center, but with their graduate students at the University of Pittsburgh. She was also the first one to tell Fred that attitudes are not taught, they are caught. Her belief was that one of the greatest gifts you can give a child is to do what you love in front of them, so that they can witness and catch the feeling of real enthusiasm and joy.

According to Fred, Margaret once invited a sculptor to the center not to teach sculpting but to simply demonstrate his passion for sculpting in front of the kids. I love that so much. Fred later recalled, and that's what the sculptor did. He came once a week for the whole term, sat with the four and five-year-olds as they played, and he loved his clay in front of them. The children caught his enthusiasm for it and that's what mattered. Like most good things, teaching has to do with honesty. In the midst of studying at the Pittsburgh Theological Seminary, conducting research at the University of Pittsburgh, writing songs, building sets, producing, puppeteering for the

children's corner for WQED, Fred also became a father. On September 4th, 1959, Joanne gave birth to their first child, a little boy named Jim. And then two years later, on June 18th, 1961, Father's Day incidentally, Fred Rogers and Joanne welcomed their second child, another boy named John Byrd Rogers. Jimmy and Johnny! The Rogers Ruffians. These kids would grow up to be some real terrors. Jimmy, after he will drop out of high school his freshman year and run away from home will get arrested for dealing heroin of all things, go to prison. Then while he is in prison he will join the Aryan Brotherhood prison gang.

He will kill another prisoner in a gang initiation ritual. Then once in the gang he will kill three other members of the other prison gangs and end up on death row where he remains to this day. Johnny will move to the Philippines after he does graduate high school and he has been a suspect in over a dozen cases of missing Filipino kids. But he never seems to get arrested. That's fucking weird right? It's almost like someone or something is watching over and protecting him. What the fuck is going on? None of that was true by the Rogers boys We actually don't know a lot about friends kids Sadly not my bullshit now John in 2002 was booked

For aggravated battery and domestic violence in Winter Park, Florida Had his mugshot taken after a fight with his soon-to-be ex-wife Mary. He allegedly hit and choked her while she was pregnant after a fight with his soon-to-be ex-wife Mary. He allegedly hit and choked her while she was pregnant. Then in 2018, John had to call the police because his own 15-year-old son was tripping on LSD and stripped himself naked while being transported to a mental health facility. James would attend Rollins College like his dad, get married and have a son, and hasn't seemed to have gotten any trouble. Both James and John have stayed pretty much out of the spotlight, at least tried to. Back to 1961 now. By this point, in addition to all his other responsibilities, Fred was also traveling

to New York City every weekend with his co-producer, Josie, to do a live episode of The Children's Corner for his former employer, NBC. And they fucking loved it. And they wanted to buy the full rights to the show. But Fred and Josie actually refused. They insisted they had to keep local programming with WQED back in Pittsburgh. Then unfortunately in 1961, also NBC canceled the show

due to internal conflicts at the studio. And not long after it was canceled at WQED as well. So they fought for it for nothing. But that cancellation will turn out to be quite the blessing for Fred, according to his wife. Near the end of the show's programming, Fred was actually getting pretty frustrated with the children's corner. He felt he could produce a stronger, more effective program for kids if he had more control over his creation and less restraints placed on it by NBC and WQED. He wanted to, you know, take everything he had learned from Dr.

McFarland and put it into practice. But with the direction the show was heading, he was not able to. So now in 1962, a year after his show's cancellation, after eight years at the seminary and four years under the tutelage of Dr. McFarland, Fred Rogers graduates magna cum laude from the Pittsburgh Theological Seminary with a bachelor's degree in divinity. As he had previously expressed after graduation, he intended to work in ministry for children through television. However, now the elders of the Pittsburgh Presbytery, they disagree. They tell him that the traditional path of a minister is what is right for him. Work as an assistant pastor for a couple of years

at some church, then work your way up to becoming the top dog and being the one to deliver the sermons on Sundays. Fred is devastated, but determined not to give up on his dreams. He has no intention of taking over a church, no desire to preach from a pulpit. He doesn't want to preach at all in the traditional sense. According to his former classmates at the seminary, when Fred was assigned to give a sermon at some local church or another as part of his studies, he got very uncomfortable, very tense. He was not at all like the man you would see on TV. Luckily, Fred's friend Bill Barker was willing to go to bat form. Barker had graduated from the

seminary a few years before Fred. The two had grown close. Barker was now teaching part-time at the seminary and decided he was risk his own position within the church in order to fight for his friend. According to Barker, the church elders were very conservative. They lacked imagination when it came to how ministry could be used in the world. He said, I had to convince the Pittsburgh Presbyterian eventually. They had this traditional idea that if you're going to be ordained as a Presbyterian minister, you are going to be in a pulpit. You are going to wear a black robe and you are going to stand up there at 11 on Sunday

morning, you know the whole routine. During one of Fred's meetings with the elders of the Presbyterian to negotiate his desired position, Barker showed up uninvited and made a plea on his behalf. He said, look, here's an individual who has his pulpit proudly in front of a TV camera. His congregation are little people from the age of about two or three on up to about seven or eight. And this is a whole congregation of hundreds of thousands, millions of kids. And this is a man who has been authentically called by the Lord as much as any of you guys sitting out there.

Barker's plea worked. Fred was ordained the following year by the Pittsburgh Presbyterian of the United Presbyterian Church with the unique vocation of ministering to children through the medium of television. And Fred will honor this vocation throughout his entire life, regularly appearing before the church to renew his ordination. This might come as a surprise to people since Fred Rogers never seemed to really preach on air because he didn't. Not again in any traditional sense. Fred wanted his show to be inclusive to all children of all backgrounds and he felt that

teaching by example was just as powerful as preaching the Word of God. He once said, you don't need to speak overtly about religion in order to get a message across. Love it. I have ragged on televangelists here many times before. I did not think there was a televangelist that I really liked, but as it turns out, my favorite celebrity from my early developmental years was preaching to me five days a week for years. And he was wonderful. Pastor Fred Rogers. The very day after his ordination Fred got a call from the head of the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, the CBC. Dr. Frederick Rainsbury was inviting him to come develop his own

children's show up in Toronto and according to Fred this was his response. You can't imagine what a voice from heaven you are to me right now because I really didn't know what I was going to do. I could have accepted a parish ministry job, but I felt this was a ministry itself. So I did the daily program. Fred was aware of Dr. Rainsbury long before they actually

spoke as he was a fairly well-known figure in the world of children's TV at the time. Like Fred, Rainsbury was a scholar at heart who sought to apply his own education and research into what he produced on TV. Also had a doctorate in philosophy and like Fred he believed that if managed properly TV could become one of the most powerful educational tools in the world for children. And finally like Fred, Rainsbury believed that effective educational TV should not solely deal with cognitive learning. Like teaching kids you know like how to tell time or count

or what sounds different animals make or how rain works. Instead, he believed that it was imperative for education television to address the social and emotional needs of children, teaching kids that whatever they were feeling was normal and giving them tools for dealing with those feelings. According to one source, Rainsbury was a fierce foe of schlock

and a guardian against children being seen as another market segment for consumers, or of consumers. Canadian children's television in the 1950s and 1960s was kinder, gentler, and usually a lot more fun and emotionally connected than its American counterparts because Fred Rainsbury was committed to that philosophy. It was because Rainsbury shared so many of the same values as himself that Fred

agreed to come join his network up in Canada. With his new program in Toronto, Fred was to be given much more control over the content and production process than he had had back at WQED, as well as a significantly larger budget. However, he would still be doing much of the same stuff he did back in Pittsburgh, using puppets to sing songs and impart valuable lessons to the children watching. Or at least that's what he thought he would be doing. It wasn't until Fred actually got to Toronto that Dr. Rainsbury told him his real plan for Fred.

That he wanted Fred to be the face of the TV show, not just the invisible hand controlling some puppets. Rainsbury told him, quote, I want you to be on camera. I've seen you talk with kids. I want you to look into the lens I've seen you talk with kids. I want you to look into the lens and just pretend that's a child. And we'll just call it Mr. Rogers.

Let's just do that. So in 1963, Fred Rogers made his first appearance on screen with Mr. Rogers. And the show was an instant success. Each episode was 15 minutes long, taped daily in black and white. It was essentially a mini version of what would later become Mr. Rogers' Neighborhood. More than he ever did with the children's corner, with his new show Fred was able to dive into the issues that really mattered to him because he knew they mattered to kids. This too would become a hallmark of Mr. Rogers' Neighborhood. Each episode had a

different theme or message that Fred wanted to get across. Most often the theme revolved around common childhood fears like feeling insecure, being left out, trying new things, feeling irritated with your family. Each week Fred would talk to Francis Chapman about the issues he wanted to address in the upcoming episode. Chapman was a producer for children's programming at the CBC and will eventually become one of Fred's closest friends. And he said that even though he was technically supposed to approve or disapprove the themes, it was 100% Fred's instincts that were the deciding factor on everything.

And that's awesome that he trusted Fred that much. That's what any creative would hope for. And how fun for Fred to have that much support for his creative vision. Chapman also later said that most, if not all, of the childhood fears they addressed in each episode came from Fred's own experiences. Quote, ultimately it all sprang from his own childhood recollections and I suppose his sufferings as a child even though he had good parents. He was extremely sensitive and now it was his turn to help other children come through. Before they actually began filming Fred was pretty apprehensive about getting in front of the

camera almost as much as he was about giving sermons in a church pulpit. However, as time went on and the show became more fully formed, his fears about performing slipped away, because in the end, he wasn't performing. He was just being himself. Francis Chabon said regarding that, Fred was so totally honest, a naturally honest person. I don't mean that acting is not honest. He just couldn't be anything but himself. He managed that very, very comfortably and easily once he found that what he did was accepted by the people around him. The studio people found it difficult at first. Fred seemed almost too good to be true, but they very

quickly discovered that he was as true as he seemed. He was so focused on doing the right thing by his audience that he wasn't anxious. Chapman also noted, as everyone in the studio did, is how seriously Fred took his work. Fred felt very strongly that he had a duty to do right by the kids watching the program, and he wasn't going to let them down. Over time, the profound, the intense dedication that Fred had for his work at the CBC, all the self-imposed pressure, began to negatively impact his own mental health, and to deal with the stress of work he began seeing psychiatrist Dr. Albert V. Corrado and will continue to see him throughout the majority of his adult life. Fred kept this aspect of his life very private,

shared very little regarding his mental health struggles with anyone except for his wife and a few of his closest friends. According to Joanne, Fred mostly saw the psychiatrist in order to get a little perspective on things. It's very cool that he was just doing that at all, decades before it became a widely accepted thing to do. Fred was intensely focused and deliberate in every single thing he did, both in the studio and outside of it. To him, every tiny detail of his work mattered, and sometimes that meant he got overly bogged down in the minutia of things. Dr. Carotto helped him take a step back and see the big picture. Francis Chabon also recalled that once in a while Fred Sessions with the psychiatrist

revolved around the topic of his parents and the quote concept of the Oedipus Complex. We actually covered the Oedipus Complex in episode 430, Sigmund Freud, the sex crazed father of psychoanalysis. But as a quick refresher in psychoanalytical theory, the Oedipus complex is a desire for sexual involvement with the parent of the opposite sex and a sense of rivalry with a parent of the same sex. According to Fred a child who develops the complex is typically one whose mother gets too close to her child and tries to involve herself in his life to an unhealthy and overbearing degree. As one source put it, when the Oedipal mother attempts to protect

them she undermines them and alters their development into proper adults. When children are over sheltered and over protected they turn into grown children and not proper adults. This is the curse of the overprotective mother. Well, we all have our own struggles. You know, being a human is inherently difficult and Fred clearly struggled with his relationship with his mom. There's an interesting song about Fred and his mom's relationship from Mr. Rogers' Neighborhood. In episode 1544 of Mr. Rogers' Neighborhood, Fred arrives with some photos of his parents and a few of him and his wife from their wedding day. He then talks about how when he was a

little boy he thought he was going to grow up to marry his mom. You know, common thing for a kid to believe. My niece actually was obsessed with my sister, her mother, who could maybe be you know a bit overbearing, a pretty intense parent moment. Wonderful parent but very protective. And she was just obsessed with Donna until she was about six or seven years old. She talked a lot about how you know she only wanted to be with Donna. She wanted her dad and brother to go away so just be her and mom. She was gonna marry mom. She was insanely clinging with Donna until the point that my sister got fucking pretty worried about it for a while and just run down, just perpetually exhausted by her daughter's just obsessiveness,

just powerful neediness for hers, for her for years. Now I think my niece is 12. She has a very healthy social life. Loves spending time with both parents equally. You know, doesn't want her brother to go away. Doesn't act like she wants to wear my sister's face for a fucking mask. It all worked out. It would all work out for little Fred.

Fred sang a little ditty on his show titled, Going to Marry Mom. These are the lyrics. One day I said, I'm really going to marry my mom. I told my mom, I'm really going to marry you. She smiled, didn't laugh, said, hope you will marry maybe someone like me. But you see she said I'm already married. I'm married to your daddy. And as you grow more and more like your daddy you'll find a lady like me and she'll love you as I love your daddy and she will marry you.

Then she will be the wife and the mother of your own family. And I hope you will have little children and they will be like you. Because mothers and dads have special love for children, especially children like you. That's what mom said when I told her I would marry her. I'm glad I told her because I really often wondered who my wife would be. Now I'll just wait and look for my lady. And I'll just wait and see. And I will grow up just like my daddy and my wife will be looking for me

And when I get married my mom will be the granny the prettiest granny in town It all works out if you talk and you listen and your mother cares about you It all works out if you talk and you listen cuz someone cares about you. Yes, someone cares about you Okay, so like I said, Fred loved Mommy. He loved Nancy. Not all of us want to sing that song about our moms, but that's okay. After three years, Mr. Rogers came to a close. In 1966, Fred enjoyed his time at the CBC immensely.

He had a bright future there. They wanted to develop a new show with him, but he no longer felt it was the right place for him to do that. Part of that was that he and Joanne's Canadian visas were set to expire. So back to America they go. Luckily, before leaving, Fred was able to negotiate with the CBC to allow him to retain the rights to Mr. Rogers, including the puppets, characters and songs.

Upon his return to Pittsburgh, he reaches out to the WQED producers, see if they have any plans to start any new kids shows anytime soon. And unfortunately, they don't. So now Fred's at a loss for what to do next. Luckily, he had the whole family fortune to lean on. So Fred didn't actually need to get back to work right away. Actually, Fred technically never had to work. He and Joanne could retire right then and there, never have to work another day in their lives,

and that would be just fine, more than fine, but he liked to stay busy. And he truly had a passion for working with kids. So while he waited for an opportunity to get back into children's television, he went to work at the University of Pittsburgh Research Center helping his mentor, Dr. Margaret McFarland, again and started volunteering with children at Bellefield Presbyterian Church Preschool. During this sort of kind of holding pattern period, Fred also devoted a lot of his time to cultivating a crystal

clear plan for the program he did want to make when and if he ever got the chance. He was not a big fan of socializing. Fred Rogers, no surprise, never exactly a life of the party kind of guy. So although he and Joanne were invited out constantly by Pittsburgh elites and their old friends in TV, in his free time he preferred to stay at home with his kids or to study language, most notably Greek and Latin. And then less than two years after leaving the CBC in late 1967 or early 1968, he worked out an agreement with WQED to try out Mr. Rogers' Neighborhood. Here it comes! On February 19th, 1968, the first episode of his iconic beloved show aired on TV. While the show was videotaped at WQED studios in Pittsburgh, it was broadcast around the

country by the National Educational Television, National Education Television Service. The organization later became the Public Broadcasting Service, PBS, the show initially primarily funded by the Sears Roebuck Foundation. And then soon donations would roll in from an enthusiastic audience. In total Mr. Rogers' neighborhood will run for 31 seasons. For each of its 912 episodes Fred Rogers would serve as the show's host, head writer, lead musical composer, and chief puppeteer. Each episode was approximately 30 minutes long and was accompanied live on set by musicians generally followed the same structure. The show began with Mr. Rogers entering his house, right his house on set by musicians generally followed the same structure. So it began with Mr. Rogers entering his house, right, his house on set,

taking off his jacket, hanging it up in the closet, then taking a sweater off of a hanger, sitting down, taking off his dress shoes, putting on his cardigan, some sneakers, all while singing the show's theme song. I guess most of you can picture it very clearly. I definitely can't. But have you heard that version of the Mr. Roger's neighborhood opening song with lyrics? I can't prove that he did sing this, but it's out there. Lyrics about him being the leader of a satanic coven of, you know, warlocks and witches. I don't know if this is legit, but you know, just check it out and decide for yourself.

Check it out and decide for yourself. Could you be mine? Could you be mine? I've always wanted to put a kid in a cage just like you I've always wanted to give a kid to Satan like you So let's make the most of this beautiful day Since we're together we might as well say Would you be mine? Could you be mine? Won't you be my sacrifice won't you please won't you please please won't you be my offering to the dark lord who's giving me great power to promote satanic virtues of racial mixing and acceptance hell Satan I mean have you have you have you heard that version I mean well now

you have you know pretty crazy right? Anyway like the shows on the original Canadian incarnation each episode dealt with a different issue the children dealt with Mr. Rogers covered everything from what to expect to the doctor's office to the dentists office you know how to handle yourself at the at the barbershop to dealing with the anxiety about the prospect of nuclear war, anger and sadness over your parents getting divorced, the importance of being patient with yourself when trying something new. Most of all, through his show, Fred Rogers sought to give kids the tools to deal with their emotions and to seek help if they needed it because, as he always said, if a feeling is

mentionable, it's manageable. Year and a half after launching, November 7th, 1967, Mr. Rogers' Neighborhood gets a big boost, as did all national educational television shows, when the Public Broadcasting Act was signed into law by President Lyndon B. Jumbo Johnson, ensuring federal funding for the public radio and television and establishing the corporation for public broadcasting, the CPB.

Since its inception each year, the CPB receives an annual appropriation from Congress to distribute to locally owned non-commercial media stations across the U.S. For the fiscal year 2025, the CPB received $545 million from the government. Not going to break down the entire thing, but according to their operating budget, which is available for anyone to check out online, this is how the money was allocated. 267.82 million dollars used for direct grants to local public TV stations. 96.78 million used for television programming grants and 83.33 million for direct grants to local public radio stations. And that money provides, in

addition to a lot of educational programming, kids all across the country can watch for free a lot of jobs. Currently, a lot of people are nervous that DOGE will completely defund both PBS and its sister organization NPR because that's a possibility, as Musk has stated. Why are they going to be possibly defunded? Well, I don't know. Maybe they're too woke. Maybe they're featuring too many non-white kids on Sesame Street or something. Maybe Big Bird is too gender neutral. Maybe Elon is mad that Oscar the Grouch is not telling kids to bully suicidal transgender kids.

Or who the fuck knows? Doge really does currently have both organizations in its crosshairs. Georgia Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene, head of the Doge subcommittee on the House, has called on the leaders of PBS and NPR to testify sometime in March, sometime this month, and I don't know, begged to keep their jobs. So that should go really well because she's very stable and a great example of what a true American patriot looks like. If you don't know who Greene is, she's a highly intelligent, compassionate, inclusive elected official from Georgia who is publicly supported. I wish I was making this shit up. Conspiracies like QAnon. She's claimed that quote the

government controls weather. That some California wildfires were in fact started by a secret Jewish space laser and that the Sandy Hook school shooting was staged. So that's not even a little bit embarrassing. Fuck me. So who knows what's gonna happen to PBS in the immediate future. Well, fucking how is this the fucking reality? In January of 1969, after serving six years as president, Lyndon B. Johnson left office. He started out in the White House in 1961 as John F. Kennedy's vice president. Unfortunately, we all know how that presidency turned out for JFK. So Lyndon took over as president in 1963 and then ran again in 1965. And in his last weeks as commander in chief, Johnson to his credit proposed the

corporation for public broadcasting should receive an annual appropriation of $20 million from the government, double what they were currently getting, which was 9 million. So thank you, LBJ. Mr. Rogers' neighborhood might not have survived long without a funding boost. LBJ's successor, tricky dick Nixon of Watergate, and war on drugs infamy, disagreed. He thought their funding should be cut in half. And why

would he think that? Well, possibly because Nixon may have actually been Satan in the flesh, the devil incarnate. But also because the time the US was spending a fuck ton of money on the Vietnam War, Vietnam conflict, technically, and the cost of it just kept rising and rising. In order to save some money, something needed to go on the chopping block, and Public TV, Nixon figured, would be an easy thing to get rid of. In 1969, Public TV was still a very new thing, so Nixon thought it couldn't possibly have the many powerful stakeholders to defend its importance and justify its funding. He was also inclined to defund Public TV because his predecessor, LBJ, had been such an

active supporter of it and he didn't like him. Fucking politics. Nixon was very vocal about how he thought LBJ played too fast and loose with the national budget. May 1st, 1969, a hearing before the U.S. Senate Subcommittee on Communications was held in D.C. The subcommittee was deciding whether to keep CPBs funding at $20 million per fiscal year as former President Johnson proposed, or if they should slice that number in half like the current president suggested. The hearing was led by the chair of the subcommittee, Senator John Pastore of Rhode Island. Pastore was the first Italian American to ever be elected as governor and sit in the

U.S. Senate. Gross. Dude was obviously a DEI spaghetti hire. Shameful. Maserati bugata linguine, Maseratue, chief boy, chef boy, Adiantone Banderas. Those of you who speak Italian understand what I just said there. Anyway, going into the hearing, many people, including President Nixon,

assumed Senator Pastore would be in favor of cutting funding to public television. Even though he was a Democrat, like former president Johnson, Pastore was a social conservative who had aligned himself with the Republican Party's intention to rein in the federal budget. Additionally, excuse me, Pastore was not a huge fan of TV in general. As chairperson of the Subcommittee on Communication, the Senator was always trying to crack down

on what he deemed to be inappropriate TV. Not a fan of the coarse language. Not a fan of people saying stuff like heck. Not a fan of the coarse language. Not a fan of people saying stuff like heck. Not a fan of actresses playing women who did gross shit like work outside the home or sometimes defy their husband's wishes. He was a good man who just fucking got it. He's one of you ladies sacks to finally do the right thing and submit 100% of the patriarchy and God I wish he was still around to help finally break my wife Lindsay's will which has been so much more challenging to crush than I ever expected. Anyway, though he was not a household name yet, as an expert in the field of public programming

Fred Rogers was asked to speak at the hearing to defend the importance of public broadcasting and explain why ample funding was necessary. When Rogers got up in front of the subcommittee, the speech he delivered went above and beyond all expectations. The testimony Mr. Rogers gave that day in Washington has gone down in U.S. history not only as literally one of the greatest speeches of all time in America, but as one of the most exceptional persuasive arguments ever given. I'm not even kidding. This is not hyperbole.

To this day, his testimony is taught in university level debate, rhetoric, and law courses around the world. This is because during the six minute long speech, whether or not he knew it, Mr. Rogers expertly demonstrated the three means of persuasion, ethos, pathos, logos. When Fred Rogers took the floor before the US Senate subcommittee,

he began by discarding the written statement he had prepared and explained, Senator Pastore. This, referring to his script, is a philosophical statement and would take about 10 minutes to read. So I'll not do that. One of the first things that a child learns in a healthy family is trust. And I trust what you have said that you will read this. It's very important to me. I care deeply about children. Right off the bat, Rogers, you know, used ethos to establish himself as a conscientious person of goodwill who wanted to be respectful of the senator's time.

Also by likening how he trusted that the senator would stay true to his word, how a child would learn to trust his family, Rogers also sets the tone of the conversation is one based in mutual understanding and familiarity. After that, Rogers demonstrates his credibility as an expert in his field. He briefly touches on a summary of his years of experience in children's TV and how the budget for his current show, Mr. Rogers' Neighborhood, is used. But it's really when Rogers starts expressing how he feels about kids' TV, how he wants to make a positive impact on children's mental health that his testimony turns from mildly convincing to completely persuasive. He said, I'm very much

concerned, as I know you are, about what's being delivered to our children in this country. And I've worked in the field of child development for six years now, trying to understand the inner needs of children. On Mr. Rogers' Neighborhood, we deal with such things as the inner drama of childhood. We don't have to bop somebody over the head to make drama on the screen. We deal with such things as getting a haircut, or the feelings about brothers and sisters, and the kind of anger that arises in simple family situations, and we speak to it constructively. And this is what I give.

I give an expression of care every day to each child to help him realize that he is unique. I end the program by saying, you've made this day a special day by just your being you. There's no person in the whole world like you, and I like you, just the way you are. And I feel that if we in public television can only make it clear that feelings are mentionable and manageable, we will have done a great service for mental health. I think that it's much more dramatic that two men could be working out their feelings of anger, much more dramatic than showing something of gunfire. I'm constantly concerned about what our children are seeing and for 15 years I've tried in

this country and Canada to present what I feel is a meaningful expression of care." After hearing that Senator Pastore stated, Well, I'm supposed to be a pretty tough guy and this is the first time I've had goosebumps for the last two days. Mr. Rogers replied, well I'm grateful not only for your goosebumps but for your interest in our kind of communication. Could I tell you the words of one of the songs which I feel is very important? This song has to do with that good feeling of control which I feel that children need to know is there and

it starts out with what do you care to what what do you do with the mad that you feel that first line came straight from a child I work with children doing puppets in a very personal communication with small groups Rogers then recited the lyrics that song and I'm just gonna let you hear the testimony now come straight from him because it's far more powerful than what I could do. What do you do with the mad that you feel? When you feel so mad you could bite. When the whole wide world seems oh so wrong and nothing you do seems very right.

What do you do? Do you punch a bag? Do you pound some clay or some dough? Do you round up friends for a game of tag or see how fast you go? It's great to be able to stop when you've planned a thing that's wrong and be able to do something else instead and think this song. I can stop when I want to, can stop when I wish, can stop, stop, stop anytime. And what a good feeling to feel like this and know that the feeling is really mine.

Know that there's something deep inside that helps us become what we can. For a girl can be someday a lady and a boy can be someday a man. I think it's wonderful. I think it's wonderful. I Think it's wonderful. That's past story there Looks like you just earned the 20 million dollars That's incredible

Senators tells you that right there. It's like you just earned that 20 million dollars Holy shit. What a truly beautiful moment. What a special human being to fight for a job he did not need to do. He did not need the money, not at all. He just thought it was important, worth fighting for. Six months after that testimony on November 3rd 1969 the CPB, they formed the Public Broadcasting Station, PBS, to distribute and provide national programming to local TV stations. I actually didn't know this, but PBS itself does not produce any of the programs we see

on their channel. Every program you see on PBS comes from an independently owned and operated TV station who have applied to have their show distributed on PBS. By showcasing shows from hundreds of different places all around the country, PBS is able to use media to quote, as it says on their mission statement educate inspire entertained and express a diversity of perspectives and now over the course of a year 58% of all US television households and over a hundred and thirty million people watch PBS and get that diversity of perspectives I'm not gonna be brainwashed into thinking diversity is a

is a bad word because it's not. 1969 Mr. Rogers' Neighborhood was incorporated by the PBS, by PBS, by the PBS, and on May 9th of the same year one of the most impactful episodes of the show aired on national television. It was an exceptionally hot day in the neighborhood and to escape the heat Mr. Rogers takes a plastic kiddie pool outside, fills it with water to soak his feet in. Officer Clemens, played by Francois Clemens, a black actor and singer from Birmingham, Alabama, stops by Mr. Rogers' house and joins him in the pool. Side by side, they soak their bare feet in the water. Afterwards, they use the same towel to dry off. Although this seems pretty benign by today's standards, back then this was a radical expression of racial acceptance. You see even though the Civil Rights Act had been passed

five years before, much of America, particularly in the South, still had deeply discriminatory policies in place. Segregation may have been outlawed, but it certainly did not disappear. Among other things, the country was still littered with segregated public pools, and it was believed by hateful racist fucks that black people were more likely to transmit diseases than whites. You know, because they're an inferior class of humans. And the black man would also be super predatory towards white women in bathing suits and do literally the exact same shit. Straight men, straight white men, you know, do stuff like sneaking glances of them sweet sweet

titties for shame. So it was imperative that black people were not allowed in the same pools as us fragile precious, conspiratorial whites. We must protect the whites! Who is looking out for the whites? Much like buses and restaurants and water fountains, public schools have become a site of protest during the civil rights movement. For example, in 1964, a group of protesters, consisting of both black and white people, dove into a segregated motel pool in St. Augustine, Florida. And you know what happened? A fucking hole opened up next to that hole, just fucking the earth ripped apart, and the devil and a bunch of demons poured forth onto the surface of the earth, shouting things

like, Blacks and whites, together, Satan has long wished for this. Black cocks, aka blocks and snowpusses will soon touch and the antichrist will be born. Chalk cocks and black pusses aka blaginas also shall soon touch and the white race will die and Satan will have won the war. But then, thank God, white Jesus floated down from white heaven. And he was like, get out here, blocks and vaginas. Go on, get. Stop frolicking. Stop splashing and laughing. You'll infect my precious chalk cocks and snowpusses. And then white Jesus, in his grace and mercy, smited the fuck out of all the black people in the pool. And no

black person has ever been able to swim since. And we whites are finally safe from their water terror. Thank you, white Jesus! Hopefully there's one person who listens to this show who doesn't understand sarcasm or satire. Just on any level. What a shocking episode this will be for them. But for real, whites and blacks swimming in the same motel pool, pissed off the fucking manager of the motel, a man with the brain the same size of a fucking squirrel's brain I imagine, so much he literally poured acid into the water while everyone was still in it.

Luckily the pool water diluted the acid enough so that no one was seriously hurt. Fucking moron. There's still those fucking morons today. Anyway, 1969, the type of behavior still going on. Black people still being forced out of community pools, sometimes through violence. 1969, not that long ago, as a strong believer in racial equality, Mr. Rogers wrote the scene with him and Officer Clemens in order to convey a very clear, deliberate message to his viewers. He wanted his audience, particularly the children in his audience, to see a black man not only as a friendly, beloved neighbor, but as

a respected figure of authority who they could trust to keep them safe. But most of all, he wanted them to see a white man and a black man as equal. In a later interview with NPR, Francois Clemens recalled filming that scene, saying, He invited me to come over and to rest my feet in the water with him. The icon, Fred Rogers, was not only was showing my brown skin in the tub with his white skin as two friends, I think he was making a very strong statement. That was his way. I still was not convinced that Officer Clemens could have a positive influence in the neighborhood

and in the real world neighborhood, but I think I was proven wrong. Francois originally joined Mr. Rogers' neighborhood in 1968, and he was the first black man in America to have a recurring role on a children's television show. He and Fred attended the same church. Francois also ran a singing and dance studio across the street from Fred's house in Pittsburgh. So they were running in the same circles and that was how they met. Possibly there are rumors

that the pair met in the Philippines. That they were warlocks in the same cove. That they both rose to power thanks to the blood of island children from the South Pacific. But back to documented history now. One Sunday after hearing Francois singing the church choir,, Fred approached him asked if he would like to play a police officer on a show. Initially Francois was not a big fan of Fred's

offer. He recalled quote, I grew up in the ghetto. I did not have a positive opinion of police officers. Policemen were sickening police dogs and water hoses on people and I really had a hard time putting myself in that role so I was not excited about being officer Clemens at all However, he still agreed to do it. He loved Fred and in the end it was the greatest decision you ever made in the 2018 documentary won't you be my neighbor? He said there were black kids watching the show who needed a black figure who would not let them down Over the 25 years that they worked together Fred and Francois grew incredibly close Fred became

Over the 25 years that they worked together, Fred and Francois grew incredibly close. Fred became Francois' mentor, role model, and in his own words, surrogate father. Fred was unconditionally loving and accepting, not only of the fact that Francois was black, but also of the fact that he was gay. Francois said, I can't even explain the depth of his embrace.

It was so unlimited, and I always kept it in my heart. However, the relationship was not without its complications. Although he personally was very accepting when Francois first came out to his boss, Fred advised him to keep his sexual identity under wraps for the sake of the show. Francois later said, it was not a personal statement of how he felt about me. It had to do with the economics of the show. Additionally, Fred also told him if he came out as gay, it might hinder his singing career and that he feared it might make him a target for violence. Fred was doing this, I don't think out of any homophobia.

He was doing it out of a type of fatherly concern, right? Violence against both black Americans and gay Americans. Very real. Black and gay American back then. Sadly, there were a lot of Americans who would have wanted to do him harm. Sadly, I think there are still a lot of Americans who would wish to do him harm. However, as more and more men came out as gay in the wake of the Stonewall uprising, a series of riots and demonstrations that took place in New York City in 1969, after an unjust police raid on the Stonewall Inn with gay bar in Greenwich

Village, Fred's attitude seemed to change. Although Fred still opposed Francois coming out as gay on the show, worried about the level of controversy he would bring and how that might actually lead to the show's cancellation, he encouraged him to be his true self everywhere he went. The advice he now gave Francois was that he needed to find a nice guy to settle down with so they could create a stable loving life together. Fred also welcomed open arms, Francois's gay friends, when they would stop by the studio in Pittsburgh. When Fred's boys now, switching gears, turned into teens in the 70s, Fred felt somewhat lost with how to deal with them. He specialized in working with little kids. Once they hit junior high, he was a bit out of his element. One of his most challenging parenting moments

came during the mid 70s. One day, Joanne noticed something strange in the basement of their house, a sliver of orange light coming from behind one of the walls. So she went to investigate. As it turns out there was a small portion of the basement that had been blocked off by the previous owners. That neither she nor Fred had even known was there. Over their sons Jim, John. They noticed it. They decided to take advantage of that secret space. I mean fuck yeah, they did. What couldn't, what kid in the right mind wouldn't? A secret basement space, you kidding me? When Joanne pushed herself inside the enclosure, I love this, she discovered a small crop of,

it actually might be scary for some of you, marijuana plants. The devil's lettuce, hippie fuel, sin grass. It was being cultivated under some indoor grow lights. My God! Miracle, she didn't also find a bunch of dead bodies in there since we all know weed and reckless murder go hand in hand.

Joanne was stunned and upset by her sweet boy's disobedience because she wasn't a total fucking dork. She was also kind of amused. She later joked that her first thought was, well, at least it shows they have some entrepreneurial spirit. Love it. Fred, not as amused. But he was an exceptionally calm and patient man and when he would get angry he didn't stay

angry for long. When Joanne Fitch, Fred from upstairs, brought him down to see the little harvesting operation, he was pissed at first. Joanne said he was furious. It was illegal for one thing. Many people would have loved to have that story out there about him. And he was very angry and he went up and got them. He chastised the boys, made them dispose of the plants in the backyard, and then clean up the entire basement. And then I imagine his boys went right back to smoke a weed, having a good laugh about it. February 18th, 1981, another one of the most famous episodes of Mr. Rogers' Neighborhood aired, the fourth episode of the show's 11th season.

After a visit to the neighborhood of Make Believe where Prince Tuesday talks to his friends about how angry and sad he is that his parents might get a divorce, back at the house Mr. Rogers is visited by a little boy named Jeff Erlinger, a 10 year old quadriplegic. Jeff's interaction with Mr. Rogers was completely unscripted, unrehearsed. Fred later said it was quote his most treasured time on the set. During their conversation Fred does not infantilize a little boy or be condescending or patronizing towards him in any way. He asked Jeff open and honest questions about the reality of his situation, doesn't shy away from how difficult it

must be for Jeff to be disabled. Excuse me however at the same time Fred allows Jeff to be seen by the world and other children is not all that different from them. In the episode while sitting on the porch next to the little boy, Mr. Rogers explains to the listeners, quote, this is my friend Jeff Erlinger. He's one of my neighbors here. And I asked him if he would come by today because I wanted you to meet him. And I wanted you to see his electric wheelchair. Happily, Jeff explains how his chair works, demonstrates how he's able to control it with his left hand. He also talks about how easy it is to learn how to use the machine since he'd been using wheelchairs since he was very little. Gee that's wonderful, says Mr. Rogers. Jeff

your mom and dad must be very proud of you. I know I am. Now can you tell my friends what it is that made you need this wheelchair? And Jeff responds, sure when I was about seven months old I had a tumor and it broke the nerves that tell my hands and legs what to do. And they tried to cut the tumor, but they couldn't get it. And I became handicapped. It just shows you, you have a lot of things happen to you when you're handicapped and sometimes it happens when you're not handicapped. Mr. Rogers nodded and says, of course, but you're able to talk about those things so well and help other people who might have the same kinds of things.

This episode is considered to be a pivotal moment for people with disabilities as they were and still are, you know, rarely seen on television, especially not TV for kids. I watched Jeff's portion of this episode and just to combat any possible rumors that might be out there about me, I didn't cry, okay, at all. My eyes didn't water up with emotion, all right, because I'm not, I'm not a still a little bit, you are! You fucking cry! I saw you cry, okay? You're fucking weak, not me! I'm stronger than you, I always will be. So shut the fuck up! Stop spreading that bullshit about me, just listen to this fucking episode, all right? Jeff and Fred Rogers. They'd actually met a couple years before the episode was filmed. Jeff was five at the time and about to undergo a spinal fusion surgery.

His parents Howard and Pam Erlinger were told that their son might not survive the surgery. So Howard and Pam decided to ask Jeff what he wanted more than anything in the world. He said he wanted to meet his TV neighbor, Mr. Rogers. Don't fucking cry right now. Stop it. Stop getting emotional. Be stronger. Jeff's parents wrote into the show for him. To their surprise, Mr. Rogers responded immediately. He was going to be in Milwaukee, just an hour and a half drive away from their hometown in Madison, and asked if they would come meet him for breakfast. After meeting Mr. Rogers for the first time, Jeff died. A surgeon performing a spinal surgery accidentally dropped his scalpel. It landed in Jeff's eyeball,

and then I got infected, and they had to take it out. But then the suction device they used to remove his eye was set to the wrong power. It sucked his brain out of his head. That's a true story. I just made up. No, he survived the spinal surgery. He stayed in contact with his TV neighbor, lived for many years. He actually went on to play a professional football. It was linebacker for the Eagles.

That's fucking insane. No, he was still paralyzed, but he did become an advocate, an advocate, act advocate. He was an advocate. He was an advocate and he was an activist What's that second word mean you look it up? But for disability rights five years after his appearance. Mr. Rogers reached out to the Erlingers again asked if he could bring Jeff into the show They asked that and then they were doing an episode that had to do with various types of vehicles And he wanted Jeff to come on and talk about his wheelchair shows producer and director had originally opposed the idea of bringing Jeff on is it's gonna cost quite a bit of money cost quite a

Bit of money to transport him and his family all the way from Wisconsin to the studio in Pennsylvania But Fred insisted I want Jeff he said and he came back on the show 1984 now in the case of the Sony Corporation of America versus Universal City Studios Incorporated the Supreme Court ruled in favor of Sony this decision was as the court itself declared Largely due to the testimony of one mr. Fred Rogers. This is that VHS stuff I mentioned at the early early in the show since 1976 Universal Studios and Walt Disney Productions had been fighting to get Sony to halt the sales of their new product a prototype videotape player recorder called Betamax unlike anything that had come before the Betamax had the capability to record a TV show right off the air to be viewed at a later date.

The entertainment giants claimed that this feature would lead to unauthorized duplication and distribution of their copyrighted content, costing them millions and millions of dollars. The case, nicknamed the Betamax case, went all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court. During the trial, one of the people to testify in favor of Universal Studios Inc. was Jack Valenti, the head of the Motion Picture Association of America. And before U.S. Congress, Valenti wailed, The question comes, well, alright, what is wrong with the VCR? One of the Japanese lobbyists has said that the VCR is the greatest friend that the American

film producer ever had. I say to you that the VCR is to the American film producer and the American public as the Boston Strangler is to the woman home alone. Okay, easy drama queen. One of the people to testify in favor of Sony, on the other hand, Fred Rogers. Before Congress, he said, some public stations, as well as commercial stations, program the neighborhood at hours when some children cannot use it. I think that it's a real service to families to be able to record such programs and show them at appropriate times. I've always felt that with the advent of all of this new technology that allows people

to tape the neighborhood off the air, and I'm speaking for the neighborhood because that's what I produce, that they then become much more active in the programming of their family's television life. Very frankly, I am opposed to people being programmed by others. My whole approach in broadcasting has always been, you are an important person just the way you are. You can make healthy decisions. Maybe I'm going on too long, but I just feel that anything that allows a person to be more

active in the control of his or her life in a healthy way is important Just when I thought I couldn't love that son of a bitch more I was a fan of mr. Rogers before this sucked Now maybe one of my favorite people ever the Supreme Court ruled in favor of Sony saying that making individual copies of TV programs for the purpose of watching later falls under Fair use and is not a form of copyright infringement of watching later falls under fair use and is not a form of copyright infringement. In the court documents, a testimony of Fred Rogers, president of the corporation that produces and owns the copyright on Mr. Rogers' neighborhood, was a major part of the reasoning

behind the ruling. So thank you Mr. Rogers for saving VHS tapes. My teen self thanks you big time, for I used to jerk off to pornos recorded onto VHS tapes a lot. Amen. In October of 1990, Fred Rogers sues the Ku Klux Klan for copyright infringement. Rogers had learned that three KKK members from Missouri, later identified as Adam Troy, excuse me, Adam Troy Mercer, Michael Brooks, and Leroy Jenkins, I mean Edward E. Stevens, have been

distributing a phone number to elementary and middle school children in Kansas City. Someone called the number, they would hear a tape recording of what sounded like a clip from Mr. Rogers' Neighborhood, complete with a very convincing Mr. Rogers impersonator, and the sound effects and songs from the program are so fucked. However, instead of espousing self-acceptance, equality, and kindness, the Mr. Rogers in the recordings encouraged white supremacy, racism, and bigotry. In one of the tapes, a Fred Rogers impersonator talks about a black child on a playground, calls him an N-word drug pusher. Tape ends with the sounds of the KKK lynching the child Jesus Christ while Mr. Rogers narrates. Those pieces of shit. I would be okay with them being fucking executed for that. In another recording, the impersonator says that AIDS is divine retribution against gay people.

Oh yeah, uh-huh. Get them, white Jesus! Tell them why they ain't never gonna float up to wide heaven. You don't love everybody. Immediately, Rogers and his team sprang into action, filed a lawsuit against the KKK members, alleging that the recordings infringed on the program's trademarks and copyrights. They won the lawsuit, the recordings were destroyed, and a restraining order was replaced against the KKK members to stay the fuck away from Mr. Rogers and anyone else on his team. Oh man, Mr. Rogers taking down some KKK clowns. Love that bit of info.

May 21, 1997. Now, Fred Rogers receives the Lifetime Achievement Award at the 24th Annual Emmys. Ceremony took place at Radio City Music Hall in Manhattan and the award was presented to Rogers by actor and producer Tim Robbins. At that point in time, Tim Robbins was probably best known for playing Lieutenant Merlin in 1986's Top Gun and Andy Dufresne in 1994's The Shawshank Redemption, one of my favorite movies.

While presenting, the actor stated that Fred Rogers was being honored for giving generation upon generation of children confidence in themselves, for being their friend, for telling them again and again and again that they are special and that they have worth. His acceptance speech was short and sweet and a real tearjerker. But not for me! Nope. I won't play the audio because it's a bit fuzzy.

But I will recite it to you in my most neighborly voice. So many people have helped me to come here to this night. Some of you here, some are far away and some are even in heaven. All of us have special ones who loved us into being. Would you just take along with me 10 seconds to think of the people who have helped you become who you are?

Those who cared about you and wanted what was best for you in life? 10 seconds. I'll watch the time." And then he legit took a 10 second pause before continuing. "'Whomever you've been thinking about, how pleased they must be to know the difference you feel they have made. You know they're the kind of people television does well to offer our world. Special thanks to my family, my friends, my coworkers in public broadcasting,

family communications, and to this academy for encouraging me, allowing me all these years to be your neighbor. May God be with you. Thank you very much. Asking people to take a moment to reflect on someone that has a or had a good influence in their life was something Mr. Rogers did in many of his speeches and that guy gave a lot of speeches throughout his long career especially towards the end of it. Fred Rogers was one of the most sought

after commencement speakers in the US. By the time he died he had been the keynote speaker at over 150 graduation ceremonies for different universities across America. From some of the institutions he spoke at and from some he didn't, he was awarded honorary degrees. He was given 43 in total, including an Honorary Doctorate of Humane Letters from Yale University, an Honorary Doctorate of Fine Arts from Carnegie Mellon, and an Honorary Doctorate of Law from William Smith College in New York. On January 8th, 1998, Fred Rogers received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, the address address of the star, if you're interested. It's on

the 6600 block of Hollywood Boulevard. 6600! Almost 666. March 11th, 1999, Fred Rogers was inducted into the Television Academy Hall of Fame alongside the creator of Saturday Night Live, Lauren Michaels, and the first ever female executive in television, CBS Vice President Ethel Wynant. During the ceremony, Rogers was introduced by Taj Mowry, a child actor who had appeared in a bunch of TV shows throughout the 90s and early 2000s, such as Disney's The Suite Life, Zack and Cody, ABC's Full House, Smart Guy, a sitcom produced by the now-defunct broadcasting network, the WB. Following Taj's short speech, none other than Jeffrey Erlinger, the young quadriplegic who had been a guest on the neighborhood many years before took

the stage. Jeff's presence, a massive surprise to Mr. Rogers, and the second he saw his old friend, he shot out of his seat in the audience, ran up onto the stage, and gave him a big hug. Sadly, he hugged Jeff too hard and he broke his neck. And then Jeff died on stage, gassing for air that would not come in front of a packed house of people screaming and crying. It was one of the most brutal things that no one has ever witnessed because it didn't happen.

He was fine. Uh, August 31st, 2001, 2001, 2001. I don't think I've done that one before. Hey, do you guys remember back in 2001, that year? No, on August 31st, 2001, the final episode of Mr. Rogers' Neighborhood aired on PBS. Fred was 73 years old. The theme of the episode was celebrating the arts. It began with Mr. Rogers showing off some drawings of the trolley that young viewers had sent in.

After returning from the land of make-believe where the puppets were having an art festival, Mr. Rogers said, I was just thinking you and your family and your friends could have your own arts festival and include whatever you like to do such as drawing or painting or dancing or dressing up or singing or cooking. There are many ways of saying who you are and how you feel. Ways that can be so helpful. Ways that don't hurt yourself or anybody else. You know that's how you can tell that you're growing up inside. You're sure that what you're planning and doing are things that can be a real help to you and your neighbor. I'm proud of you. You know that. I hope you do. Fred then immediately went into singing I'm proud of you and everyone watching I imagine burst into tears but I wouldn't have. I would have watched stoically and just nodded approvingly and said something like,

well done, I approve this joy in a manly deep testosterone-filled rich baritone voice! July 9th, 2002. Our Fred Rogers was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom by President George W. Bush. It is the highest possible honor a civilian can receive in the U.S., though it is not limited solely to U.S. citizens. Other recipients of the Medal of Presidential Freedom have included Martin Luther King Jr., Mother Teresa, the entire crew of the Apollo 11 space shuttle, Buzz Aldrin, Neil Armstrong, Michael Collins, molecular biologist, geneticist, James Dewey Watson, Frank Sinatra, Elvis Presley, Magic Johnson, and unfortunately America's rapey dad, Mr. Bill Cosby. And I should have said Apollo 11 mission. Anyway, on February 27, 2003, a month before his 75th birthday, Fred Rogers sadly died. He was assassinated by Jeffrey Erlinger. Jeff was still furious that

Fred had hugged him too hard on stage and made him more paralyzed, so he dedicated his life to making a sniper rifle for quadriplegics. It's incredible what you can do if you put your mind to something. No. No. Fred was killed by a gang of middle-aged Filipino people who said he had taken and sacrificed too many of their children to the devil. No. No one actually thinks of the rumors that Fred was a satanic warlock obsessed with Filipino children and puppies, do they? Are they real, do they? Why specifically would he even want Filipino kids? Why specifically Filipino kids? I don't know. You'll have to ask my subconscious. Fred died of stomach cancer, sadly,

in his home in the state of Pennsylvania. He had had a stomach pain for a long time, actually did not go to the doctor to have it checked until it was too late and the cancer was very advanced. Shortly before he died, as Fred laid comatose in his bed, his friend Arch Abbot Douglas Nowicki came to his apartment to administer the last rites of the Catholic Church.

Joanne explained that Fred, she knew, would be honored and pleased to receive the Catholic ritual despite being a Presbyterian minister. He was after all very accepting of various religions and the gesture from his good friend hopefully brought him some comfort. Before he passed he was in turmoil, not over the prospect of dying, but over the prospect of dying. Before he had done everything he felt like he should have done, to be a a good person to use the time he had in the best of his ability. In the end Fred was plagued by the thought that he had not only let the people that looked up to him down

but that he had let God down. But his loving wife and also his sister Lainey spoke with him at length in the weeks before he died and with their help he came to the conclusion that he did do the best he could with his life and that he hoped that would be enough. conclusion that he did do the best he could with his life and that he hoped that would be enough. That's the first time I read it. Yeah, it messed with my my allergies a bit in a manly way. A few months before his death, Fred Rogers recorded a video at the WQED studio in Pittsburgh. It was a message for all the adults who grew up watching Mr. Rogers' Neighborhood and it was his way of saying goodbye. And I'll play you, I'll play for you in its entirety, but you have to promise

that you're gonna be strong, okay? Don't sob, it's embarrassing. Here it is. You know it happens so often. I walk down the street and someone 20 or 30 or 40 years old will come up to me and say, you are Mr. Rogers, aren't you? And then they tell me about growing up with the neighborhood and how they're passing on to the children they know what they found to be important in our television work. Like expressing their feelings through music and art

and dance and sports and drama and computers and writing, and invariably we end our little time together with a hug. I'm just so proud of all of you who have grown up with us, and I know how tough it is some days to look with hope and confidence on the months and years ahead. But I would like to tell you what I often told you when you were much younger. I like you just the way you are.

And what's more, I'm so grateful to you for helping the children in your life to know that you'll do everything you can to keep them safe and to help them express their feelings in ways that will bring healing in many different neighborhoods. It's such a good feeling to know

that we're lifelong friends. Why is he so good? Yikes. Oh, that was amazing. And that will take us out of a wonderful, no puppies or Filipino kids were even hurt one time... timeline. Good job, soldier. You've made it back.

Before I share some quick thoughts about Mr. Rogers, final thoughts, let me share one more ad that will absolutely destroy that heartfelt moment that Mr. Rogers just provided for us. Okay. Today's Time Suck is brought to you by Mr. McFeely's All Access Gentlemen's Club, where even the puppets are 100% but naked. Open until 4 AM, seven days a week, 365 days a year. Located at the intersection of West 1st Street and

Magocetine Avenue in Sanford, Florida, next to Donuts to Go at Mr. McFeely's All Access Gentlemen's Club. You get to be part of the show. Jump up on stage with our all new dancers, Henrietta Puskat, Lady Elaine Tanline, Mayor Maggie Muffintop, and Mercedes, and their all new puppets, Nancy Caterpillar landing strip,

Pink Nipples Panda, Triple X, The Owl, and also Mercedes. And be sure to bring a paddle. These nude dancers from the neighborhood of Boner receive all naughty and need some spankings. Would you be mine? Could you be mine? Won't you take your clothes off? Mention this ad and get half off the breakfast buffet between 6 and 10 a.m. when you and your friends come to Mr. McFeely's All Access Gentleman's Club

and all day every day Filipinos get in free Okay, okay enough nonsense Fred riders. Seriously, how cool is that guy? What an example of how to live one's life, right? A lot of people wanted to find dirt on him because he just he did seem Too good to be true, but he actually wasn't Worst thing I could find on him was a quote from his son, John, who said in a documentary about his dad, quote, it was difficult to have the second Christ. It was difficult to have the second crisis.

Your dad, dad's morals were just beyond most people. Basically he's saying fucking sucked. I have a dad who was so good. A lot of people couldn't accept that a guy would want to work with young children and wear a lot of sweaters. His mom knitted for him that that kind of guy wasn't a creep. It wasn't a creep. Oh, and before she died in 1981, Nancy did knit all the sweaters Fred wore on the show. Yeah, he wasn't a creep. He was a kind, gentle soul who struggled growing up with feeling like an outsider because he was an outsider.

He was the richest kid in town, very shy, very, you know, a lot of social anxiety. Being the richest kid in town probably doesn't sound like a burden. Certainly had a lot of benefits, but it did make Fred an other. You know, that and again the fact that he was so shy and introverted. You know, left him to have what was largely a lonely childhood. And then instead of trying to put that childhood behind him, he used his pain to try and make other kids' childhoods better. And he did that with great success for most of his life.

I think sometimes when we look around the internet in recent years, when we read the news, watch the news, whatever, it can seem like the world is just so full of hatred and divisiveness. And there is a lot of that, of course. But there are also people out there like Fred Rogers. You know, I've met him. I'm friends with him. I'm related to some of them. My grandma buddy, my grandma buddy, my brain. What's going on? My grandma Betty, about as sweet as they come. Always has been. Super accepting, super kind, hard-working, helpful, gentle soul, strong, but doesn't have to show it, you know, by yelling or tearing down others or any bravado. I don't know. I'm just so grateful that Fred chose to share his outlook with the world. When I was watching as a little kid, you know, I was watching his show.

When my own parents were always fighting sometimes physically around me, saying all kinds of crazy shit. You know, his world was one I could get lost in. You know, when I didn't have the words to describe the isolation I felt moving back to my mom's hometown after the divorce, being literally the only kid in my class, possibly the whole grade school, my tiny town whose parents were divorced that time, you know, having kids ask me why my dad wasn't around, feeling like a freak, I could lay down on my grandparents floor in front of the TV after school and just relax and not feel judged. I could feel special. I could feel accepted.

You know, I feel like I was special just the way I was and that was so important. That shit matters. Matters a lot. Which is why it's important to fund these things. Dude was a fucking treasure. And I didn't realize how much he really meant to me. Honestly, until this week's episode. I hope this episode helped you realize maybe how much he meant to you. Hope it left you feeling really, really good. Like I always felt when I watch his show. Like I felt going over his, you know, life story.

It's nice. It's nice to share some nice stuff, isn't it? And now let's head to the takeaways. Number one, Fred McFeely Rogers, that middle name, grew up with exceptional wealth. In addition to living in a mansion, he also had his own personal chef, his own personal chauffeur all through elementary school, middle school, and high school. 2. Fred Rogers was an ordained Presbyterian minister as well as an expert in child psychology. At the same time that he was filming his first TV show, he was also attending the Pittsburgh

Theological Seminary and conducting research at the University of Pittsburgh under the supervision of child psychologist Dr. Margaret McFarland. 3. Mr. Rogers' Neighborhood ran for 31 seasons with 912 total episodes. Purpose of the show was to address the social and emotional needs of children and give them a safe place and a trusted neighbor. Mission accomplished. Number four, 1969, Fred Rogers testified before the U.S. Senate to defend the importance of government funding for public TV.

Because of his testimony, their funding more than doubled. Number 5. New info. Did you know that without Fred Rogers, we might not have zombie movies today? Yeah, you heard me right. When he first started off in the business, aspiring filmmaker, George A. Romero could not find any work. That was until Mr. Rogers took a chance on him, gave him a job as a cameraman for the neighborhood. George himself has said that without Fred giving him his start in filmmaking, he would have never gone on to write and direct

the most influential and groundbreaking zombie movie of all time, Night of the Living Dead. Just one more reason to love Fred Rogers. Time shock, top five takeaways. more reason to love Fred Rogers. Time Suck Top 5 Takeaways. Who was the real Mr. Rogers has been sucked. And the real Mr. Rogers was fantastic. Thank you to the Bad Magic Productions team for help making Time Suck. Thank you once again to Queen of Bad Magic, Lindsay Cummins.

Thanks to Logan Keith helping to publish this episode, design merch for the store at badmagicproductions.com. Thank you to Molly Box for crushing her initial research this week. Also, thanks to the All Seen Eyes, moderating the cult of the curious private Facebook page, the Mod Squad, making sure Discord keeps running smooth, and everyone over on the Time Suck subreddit and Bad Magic subreddit.

Lot of cool sacks, doing a lot of cool shit. And now let's head on over to this week's Time Sucker updates. Updates. Get your Time Sucker updates. First message this week, our first, is from a concerned and balanced sack, Kevin Jeffries, who sent in an email to Bojangles at TimeSuckPodcast.com with the subject line of what's the opposite of an echo. Dear Mushmouth Microphone Muncher, he writes, long time listener, first time emailer, I wanted to drop a quick note on some of the side conversations in the Nelson Mandela Suck. I appreciate how you attempted to explain why you do not speak on a position or not speak on every issue out there or take a position. It definitely would take away from the stories and the storytelling that I love in this podcast. But I

realized about two hours later in the stock that I appreciate more when you share your views on religion and pedophiles and the way the country is in the government's behaving. I appreciate it because the whole world has become one big echo chamber. All of the algorithms on social media platforms spit back what you've already interacted with and being able to hear views from someone who's different from me, who has views on Religion different from me is important. So please keep telling me that my religion does have problems Please keep telling me that my political party has problems because I don't hear from you

I might never hear it feel free to edit this email if you choose to read it But honestly three out of five stars would not change a thing Kevin and then I like little Kevin's tag here. No trees were harmed in the sending of this email however billions of electrons were enslaved Kevin's tag here. No trees were harmed in the sending of this email, however billions of electrons were enslaved. Kevin, I did, yeah, I did not edit your email. Thank you for that email. And I will keep sharing my opinions in the way I always have here when I'm commenting on something related to the subject. You know, I won't always bring things back to the present, and I haven't always done that, but I won't start doing less of it because of our current divisive climate.

Case in point, today, talking about how Doge is looking to slash the budget of both PBS and NPR. Musk actually recently shared on X, quote, "'Defund NPR, it should survive on its own.' Public radio, public television, they matter to me. And I find critiques of them pushing a so-called liberal agenda concerning and ignorant, frankly. If Mr. Rogers was alive today I'm confident he would be advocating the continuation of their funding. He would continue to talk about

things like diversity and inclusion. And so in an episode about him it made sense to comment on it and I did and I'll keep doing that even if it does cost me listeners which I'm sure it will because if I can't keep being me then I do not want to do this podcast anymore. So thank you, Kevin. I'm gonna, I'm gonna keep it going as it's been going. Next up, a message from Caleb, last name redacted, who sent this in with the subject line of my dad called me a race trader. And Kevin wrote, Dear Dan, obligatory, please don't read my last name if you read this on the podcast. Done. In the Time Sucker updates following the Long Island Serial Killer episode, you talked, as you often do, about keeping an open mind when it comes to people you don't agree with.

So let me tell you about my dad. My dad is a hillbilly country boy. His entire family is white and mostly from the same area of the country. My dad is smart, but exceedingly confident and does not like to fact check or question his beliefs. So when he inevitably starts a conversation about religion or politics, it devolves into explaining to him that well-supported evidence is more important than quote 60 years of experience. One time I was explaining what redlining was and how a lot of racism isn't just using the N-word. He said there was a black family in the town he grew up with and he never saw anyone being racist.

And also one time he translated Ebonics for a lady who didn't speak it and so he couldn't be racist. He then said, quote, I just feel like you're a race traitor son. If you saw a black guy and a white guy fighting, you just take the black guy's side. In the interest of brevity, I'll just say this is far from the only time he's complained about, quote, the blacks, illegals, Muslims, gays, or any other non-white,-heterosexual non cisgender group He tends to complain about any group. He doesn't understand and to parrot a lot of talking points. He hears from his pool league buddies Oh my god, I fucking that resonates so much If you only heard what he said you would think he was just packed full of hate

But dad's best childhood friend was black one of his current best friends is an undocumented Mexican who only mostly speaks English. And another one of his best friends is a lesbian. His only complaint about my sister's first husband a Puerto Rican was that he didn't visit often enough. And when he thought I was going to grow up to be gay, he loved me exactly the same even though he was genuinely concerned I was going to go to hell. The fact is dad sees everyone as a friend waiting to happen and loves people for everything that they are, whether or not he understands them. He tries hard to make people feel welcome and cared for, especially when society has rejected them. Dad got used to talking a certain way, but none of that is what he really believes.

Most people aren't half as bad as their t-shirts and bumper stickers would make them seem. I had to emphasize this to myself when Trump got elected. In my area, if you can't be friends with Trump supporters Then you mostly don't have friends. I found the people mostly don't think deeply find evidence and develop an opinion They can support most people just make a quick opinion that conforms with their image of themselves and move on that doesn't make someone stupid It makes them a normal human Then the choices that follow aren't based on thinking gleefully about how miserable You know the queers are gonna be they're based on the vague idea that groceries might get

cheaper. Time suckers helped me hone my ability to confront my own biases, keep my mind open, and remember not to think one dimensionally. I've come to believe that most people are mostly good, and it's a bad idea to start dismissing them based on one or two things they claim to think. It's an easy way to build a comfortable, oh. It's an easy way to build a comfortable, oh, it's an easy way to build a comfortable prison for yourself where nobody says anything you don't already agree with and you can't become a better person if you never challenge yourself. If my subject line caught your interest and you read this on the podcast, please give a shout out to my lovely wife Chaney. I was in cell light when we met and had been voted most likely to

shoot up the school because I was angry and quiet. She saw gold in them there hills and transformed me into a man with severe resting friend face who is regularly approached for help in grocery stores. People reflexively apologize when they swear in front of me, which I find fucking hilarious. Also just to annoy her, could you say the word joking? Not sorry for the length. Three out of five stars. Thanks for reading. Love, Caleb. Caleb, what a wonderful message. I especially love your line of most people aren't half as bad as their t-shirts and bumper

stickers would make them seem. And I couldn't agree more. Also, I think when it comes to people who just write off others, you know, who don't or who they assume don't share their political beliefs, when in history has telling the other side that they are stupid or ignorant or whatever, you know, similar sentiment, cause them to change their mind and adopt the beliefs of the person shitting on them. I want to say never or almost never. It's very easy to virtue signal,

very easy to preach to an echo chamber. It's easy to write people off and condemn. It's hard to listen to the beliefs of someone you vehemently disagree with and have a conversation with them, but that is where change occurs. Right now sometimes the only thing they can change a culture is, you know, a bloody revolution. That's a harsh truth. But most of the time, especially in a free country, I think fighting hate with love and and you know, ignorance with calm truth is a better way to go. And as you pointed out Caleb, you can't always judge a book by its bumper stickers or t-shirts. And I won't add any more because what you said was just so perfect on its own. You're lucky lady, Janie. Not every guy is so

thoughtful and willing to jelk. Not everyone commits to jelking, jelking, always jelking. That sweet ding-dong into an anaconda. Now one more from a bear. A bear who knows a blaze. Bear of a a meat sack Robert Bethany sent an email with the subject line up I choose the bear. Greetings and salutations master sucker and happy hello to the rest of the Time Suck team. While was listening to the Long Island serial killer suck and he had me in stitches for two reasons. One of my good friends is named blaze. He's a good man. He actually dedicated his life to service and law enforcement down in Louisiana. So when he started in on how there has never been a

person named Blaze in history that has turned anyone's life around for the good, I started laughing out loud my work van. I thought that would be the only giggle fit until you got to the part of the story about the man named Bear. This was exceptionally funny to me because that is the name I've been going by for over a decade. More people know me by that name than know me by my real name. My fiance even uses it as a joke saying she chose the bear. Basing it off of the viral internet topic of the man in the woods versus the bear. So this email is really just to tell you that there are good people named Blaze and Bear out there in the world even if we are in the minority. I love your stand-up. You're my favorite comedian.

I have been to see it live once cannot wait for the next time I get to do that and will bring my fiance along. She asked when she moved in about the picture that I had of you on my wall when I traveled all the way from Mississippi to Michigan to see one of your last live time sucks and the three out of five stars wouldn't change a thing joke has made its way into our vernacular. Also an additional note later in the episode in the time sucker update you talked about the prejudging of people based off where they live and how they look, that some meat sacks unfortunately employ.

With a nickname like Bear, I get that sometimes because I'm a rather large man with a fluffy beard, some members of the LGBTQ community that have met me in the past have asked me if I'm a bear and that's why I had that nickname. Interactions like that, I don't have a problem with. I find them to be humorous and light-hearted and also being from the south and being That same big burly white man I have to had to I've had to deal with prejudice in my life where it was automatically assumed that I felt the same way as Other people that look like me. I'm a firm believer. You should never judge anyone based on how they look

Let their actions do the talking. Thank you for all you do You keep me entertained weekly and a lot of your subject matter is not only thought-provoking but inspiring So we had a five stars wouldn't change a thing much love, Bear. Well, thank you, Bear. I also got a lot of emails from people letting me know that Bjorn is a Scandinavian name that means bear. So, the bear guy Bjorn in the Long Island killer stag, he just went by Bear because that's what his name Bjorn means.

So, damn it. Shame on me for all the judging. You're right. When it comes to the quality of somebody, let their actions do the talking, not their appearance, not their name, even if it's Blaze. Sounds like there's at least one Bear-Blaze combo that's fucking legit. So thanks for the kind words, Bear. Hope to see you again down the road, neighbor. Thanks, Time Suckers. I needed that. We all did. Well, thank you all for listening to another Bad Magic Productions podcast.

Scared to death, Time Suck each week. Short Sucks, a nightmare fuel on the Time Suck and Scared to Death feeds twice a month. Please do try to be as similar as Mr. Rogers as possible this week, Meat Sacks. It'll just make the world a better place. And keep on suckin'. ["Tarzan Theme"] Ad Magic Productions. ["Tarzan Theme"]

Okay, Meat Sacks. Let's sing the real opening Mr. Roger song now. Won't you be my neighbor? A fantastic song written and played by a fantastic gem of a man. He's got about 10 seconds more now. Then he gets going. Here it comes. Five seconds more. Here we go. All together now. And he gets going. Here it comes. Five seconds more. Here we go. All together now. It's a beautiful day in this neighborhood. A beautiful day for a neighbor. Would you be mine? Could you be mine? It's a neighborly day in this neighborhood. A neighborly day for a beauty. Would you be mine?

Could you be mine? I have always wanted to have a neighbor just like you. I've always wanted to live in a neighborhood with you. So let's make the most of this beautiful day. Since we're together, we might as well say, would you be mine? Would you be mine? Won't you be my neighbor? Won't you please? Won't you please? Please won't you be my neighbor? neighbor. Neighbor. television neighbor. I'm glad we're together again. It really is so beautiful.

Even if I fucked it up a little bit there.