Wednesday is here! And so are more insights on Mister Rogers through the words of Amy Hollingsworth.
“Television was not his first plan […] he was initially planning to attend seminary after he graduated with an undergraduate degree in music composition from Rollins College.
“’I got into television,’ he told me during our first meeting, ‘because I saw people throwing pies in each other’s faces, and that to me was such demeaning behavior. And if there’s anything that bothers me, It’s one person demeaning another. That really makes me mad!’
“So mad that he opted out of seminary to start a career in television.
“Being able to use his gifts to nurture children through educational television was all the assurance he needed. There was no scarcity—even back then—of “demeaning” television, but Fred Rogers had refused to stoop to that level, and would, instead, rise to a child’s.
“Mindful of the need for an ever-deepening interior life—a contention that became a hallmark of his later shows—Fred hurried out of the studio each day to makeup his seminary studies during lunch break. He also decided when it came time to take a required advanced-counseling class, that he wanted to focus on children instead of adults. He wanted to “deepen” what he could bring to television.”
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Whether a person shares his spiritual beliefs or not, one thing is certain— Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood meant so much more than a paycheck to him. He poured his heart and soul into his work.
Have you experienced any demeaning television shows directed towards children? If so, did it make you mad?
Until tomorrow…