Portrait of a gentle trailblazer
David Newell as Mr. McFeely, left, and Fred Rogers on the set of
With his courtly manners, running shoes and cardigan, Fred Rogers was an unlikely friend and hero to generations of children.
In Won’t You Be My Neighbor?, filmmaker Morgan Neville explores the life and legacy of the long-time host of the beloved Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood, which ran from 1968 to 2001.
What emerges is the portrait of a man of uncommon decency, principle and personal faith who, for decades, inspired young people to be kind to others and to believe in themselves.
Neville tells the story through archival footage — Rogers died in 2003 — as well as interviews with family, former cast members and personalities like world-famous cellist Yo-Yo Ma, whose career got an early boost when he appeared on the show.
It’s both exhaustive and instructive in many respects, as well as engaging and likeable.
The mild-mannered Rogers, an ordained minister and father of two, had a heartfelt disdain for the quality of television programming available to young people, especially the violence of cartoons.
Rogers began his show on a local Pittsburgh television station in 1968 where it became an unexpected hit, soon reaching a national audience as a regular staple on PBS.
The show used almost comically simple sets, sock puppets and recurring characters to educate and inspire.
One of the long-forgotten facts the film uncovers is Rogers’ appearance before a U.S. Senate subcommittee in 1969 during which he persuaded its skeptical conservative chairman to support taxpayer funding of PBS.
Rogers was also a groundbreaker, hiring François Clemmons in 1968 to play Officer Clemmons, the first African-American to have a recurring role on a kids’ television show. Clemmons recalls Rogers’ genuine compassion when he revealed he was gay.
It is sadly ironic that Rogers posthumously came under assault from the far-right fringe. Numerous conservative commentators assailed Rogers for giving children an exaggerated sense of entitlement, and a raft of so-called fundamental Christians had the temerity to picket his funeral.
But the portrait that emerges is unsullied. Throughout a long career, there was never a whiff of scandal, demonstrating that the television persona and the man were authentically the same.
For adult audiences who remember the show, the film represents a chance to bask in nostalgia for a kinder, gentler time in history.
For younger generations, raised on a diet of special effects and videogame violence, it will simply seem surreal.