A Mister Rogers postage stamp is coming to your neighbourhood
In the over three decades he hosted the children’s television show “Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood,” Fred Rogers conveyed virtue and kindness with his signature zippered cardigans and puppet friends.
Next month, the U.S. Postal Service will immortalize Rogers, who died of cancer in 2003, alongside cultural and political icons such as Elvis, Big Bird and former presidents, when it introduces a Forever postage stamp with his portrait.
He will be depicted wearing — no surprise here — a sweater, and cuddling up to a puppet, King Friday XIII.
Every year, the Postal Service receives about 40,000 suggestions for people or topics to feature on its stamps. The list is whittled down to about two dozen choices, and a citizens’ committee makes the final selections.
The stamp featuring Rogers will have a print run of about 15 million. It will be unveiled on March 23 at WQED, the Pittsburgh studio where his show was filmed, the Postal Service announced.
William J. Gicker Jr., the manager of stamp development at the Postal Service, said the “warm and engaging” way Rogers communicated made him an appropriate choice.
“There are certain things you can’t do electronically,” he said in an interview. “If someone has done a kindness, a personal note is still far more valuable than shooting off an email or text. There is still a place for the written letter.”
Joanne Rogers, Rogers’ wife, said in an interview that her husband would have approved of his appearance on a postage stamp because of the personal outreach that a handwritten letter involves in an increasingly virtual world.
“I think he might have agreed with me that it is amazing,” she said. “I think that people must need him. Just look at what goes on in the world. He always wanted to provide a haven and a comfortable lap for children, and I think that is what so many of us need right now.”
Having Rogers’ face on a stamp that enables slow, thoughtful communication is a fitting parallel of his approach to life. Patience was one of the themes of his show, which aired its last new episode in 2001. Children were encouraged to embrace
it, an undertaking they saw modelled in Mr. McFeely, the neighborhood’s equivalent of a mailman.
Mr. McFeely, whose catchphrase was “Speedy Delivery,” would arrive at Mister Rogers’ house in a battery-operated wagon, in a kayak or on a tricycle. He would often deliver films of himself doing chores, like raking leaves, at high speed, but over time he learned to slow down enough to exchange pleasantries with Mister Rogers.
David A. Newell, who played the character for 33 years, said he was initially employed as a prop co-ordinator on the show and co-ordinatored the delivery man on the side.
“I want you to be in a hurry,” Newell said, quoting the directions Rogers gave him when he was hired. “It will give me the chance to be able to work on some themes. Children are always told, ‘Hurry up, do this.’ But I like to take my time.”
“I think he would be honoured,” Newell said, “Because Fred would write a thankyou note for everything.”