Fred Rogers - Fred Rogers: The Last Interview and Other Conversations

DAVID BIANCULLI

Fred Rogers.

Is there another name you could mention, especially in the field of popular entertainment in general and television in particular, so guaranteed to generate a wistful smile and a fond memory? Fred Rogers, the man who created and starred in the classic public television childrens series Mister RogersNeighborhood, was a soft-spoken and caring person on TVand was precisely the same when not on camera. Since his death in 2003, Rogers has been saluted, remembered, and even lionized by a series of movies, documentaries, and biographies. All of them attest to his powerful impact not only on the history of television but also on virtually every individual, from the youngest child to the most jaded adult, Rogers met in person.

Actor Tom Hanks, arguably the most warmly regarded actor of his generation, played Rogers in the 2019 movie A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood. Director Morgan Neville celebrated him in his 2018 documentary, Wont You Be My Neighbor?, and Maxwell King researched, and wrote about, him at great length in his 2018 biography, The Good Neighbor: The Life and Work of Fred Rogers. All of those works are exemplary, and each reached the same conclusion: Rogers was a man who seemed too good to be truebut was, in the words of Barbara Vancheris Pittsburgh Post-Gazette review of Kings book. Generous quotes from Rogers informed that book, just as footage of him on TV and elsewhere informed Nevilles documentary, and Rogerss essence informed Hankss portrayal. But one of the best ways to get to know Fred Rogers the personwhat he thought, what he felt, why he made the TV programs he didis to hear him at length, discussing his life and career in intimate, extended conversations with interviewers who have done their homework, and are equally adept at asking questions and listening and reacting to the answers.

This collection has several of the very best, ranging from Fred Rogerss 1985 interview with Fresh Air host Terry Gross (conducted when that show was a local public radio program in Philadelphia, two years before Fresh Air went national on NPR) to another revealing radio conversation, Rogerss 2002 interview with the host of The Diane Rehm show, originating from NPRs Washington, DC station, WAMU. That would be his last interview. But this collection also includes a 1995 phone interview conducted by songwriter and National Book Awardwinner Phil Hoose, a 1999 interview with Karen Herman for the Television Academy Foundations Oral History collection, and a 2000 interview profile by The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette TV critic Rob Owen, catching Rogers as he was about to shoot the final installments of his long-running childrens series. And all of these are preceded by a transcript of what may be the most important television appearance Fred Rogers ever madein 1969, as the final witness called to testify before the US Senate Commerce Committees Subcommittee on Communications.

Fred Rogers sat at the witness table in front of Subcommittee Chair John Pastore, a Democratic senator from Rhode Island who already had held TV to task by instigating an inquiry into the frequency of televised violence and its possible effects on children. In this case, Pastore was conducting a subcommittee hearing to determine whether the $20 million funding for public television, approved by President Lyndon Johnson before the 1968 election, should be maintained now that Richard Nixon, less persuaded of the potential and benefits of public TV, had been elected president. Fred Rogers was the last witness, and came with a written statement to read to the gruff chairmanbut decided, instead, to speak to Pastore directly and quietly, man to man, and explain, simply and by quoting some of his own song lyrics, his vision of how television could positively affect young viewers. About six minutes later, after Rogers was through talking, Pastore said Rogerss testimony gave him goosebumps. Reading the transcript, you may feel a similar reaction.

As for the interviews selected by the editor for this collection, each of them brings something special to this Fred Rogers party. The Terry Gross conversation took place when he had three decades of childrens TV behind him, and a couple more to go. I started working for and with Terry on Fresh Air the very year this interview was conducted, in 1985, and am proud to still be part of the program. Terry is renowned as one of the finest interviewers in all of broadcasting, and you can see how easily she elicits memories and feelings from Rogers. Their conversation goes into depth about his early days in television, which were televisions early days as well, and Terry unearths some fascinating details. Instead of joining the ministry as planned after graduating from college, Rogers started working for NBCs New York TV station, rising from lowly network page to a slightly less low production assistant on such network shows as The Hit Parade. But then, answering his own calling about how to serve children through this new medium, he moved to Pittsburgh in 1953 and got a job working at the citys brand-new public television station, WQED. How new was it? He tells Terry that he was one of only a handful of employees when he arrived thereand the station didnt even begin broadcasting for another five months. Amazing. And Rogers also recalls the spontaneous, inspired accident that led to him becoming a puppeteer, and introducing the still-beloved (and now animated, in a TV show of his own) character named Daniel Striped Tiger.