EFFORTPOST [Effortpost] The Life and Times of Mr. Rogers

I know you all get off on misery, so I thought to spread some cheer and hope. (Don't worry, there's a bit of drama)

I recently watched a series of videos on the life of one Mr. Fred Rogers, a well known man by many Americans born in the 1960s through the 1990s for his production of the TV show "Mister Roger's Neighborhood" (1968-2001). His show was notable for how groundbreaking it was at the time and how it tried to teach children about what was happening in the world around them.

Don't worry, Mr. Rogers is actually a saint

I will be sharing video clips I personally find nice at the end. Skip to the bottom of the post if you can't / don't want to read.

For Europoors , Afri-cads , Brazilian Butt Bunnies , Seven Day Shitters , or you Chinese adjacent peoples , "Mister Roger's Neighborhood" was a TV program in the United States that sought to promote healthy early childhood development through teaching an understanding of emotions that a child might feel in everyday situations in addition to basic aspects of early childhood development. This was done through puppets , songs, and Mr. Rogers simply talking with types of people who the audience might not be familiar with. This comparatively new approach to children's television programming proved to be a breakthrough, with Mr. Rogers still being a highly respected figure to this day - including online memes.

Memes? Yes!

For those who are unfamiliar with Fred, you may recognize him from such internet classics as:

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"The Ultimate Showdown" by Lemon Demon (2005)

(An extremely popular animated indie music video that focused on a pop culture battle royale, with Mr. Rogers ultimately winning.)

The original video has long since been deleted, but even the re-upload from 4 years ago has nearly 8 million views.

"Mr T vs Mr Rogers" - Epic Rap Battles of History

Kinda cringe but sweet

"Black Dynamite" - An animated Adult Swim show based loosely around the Blaxploitation film of the same name (Michael Jai White is kool)

And more recently (but not very, like 2020) a gif of him flipping the bird grew a bit popular out of context on various sites. I believe it began on Reddit, as many gay things do, but ultimately cannot confirm.

He was actually teaching kids how to use their fingers! How sweet.

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He became so popular in American culture that eventually they made a bio-pic about his life, and the only actor wholesome enough to play this man was none other than Tom Hanks in a film entitled "A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood". (7.2/10 on IMDB btw)

This man was so wholesome I actually started to want to find something bad about him - for a moment I thought I found something when I saw that Mr. Rogers founded a company called "Family Communications". I thought it was the same company/church that one Mr. Harold Camping led which exploited the infamous 2012 Rapture phenomenon that Internet Historian did a video about, but no. Harold Camping's company was "Family Radio", no relation.

DRAMA STARTS HERE

In fact, the only time I can actually find referenced anywhere where Mr. Rogers got pissed off was in response to BURGER KING.

Yeah, the shitty burger place

You see, in 1984 , Burger King wisely produced an advertisement aimed at children using a parody character called "Mr. Rodney", who taught children that McDonalds was bad by teaching them a new word - "McFrying". Burger King doesn't fry their beef patties, nooooo sir, we FLAME BROIL our slop

You can see the ad here:

The only issue was they never got permission to use his likeness... and of course that Mr. Rodgers actually cared about children.

What did Mr. Rogers do?

He called the Senior VP of marketing for Burger King, Mr. Don Dempsey, and chewed his butt OUT.

According to the apocrypha of Fred Rogers lore, Fred angrily talked for 5 minutes with the VP. A commonly associated quote from this call is "To have someone who looks like me doing a commercial is very confusing for children". - repeated multiple times in a soft yell. According to an interview with his wife following his death in 2003, he was very much furious at the impersonation. The rumors of his rage at corporate greed actually grew so great it inspired the Black Dynamite video above.

Mr. Dempsey pulled the commercial immediately. That one single commercial cost $150,000 at the time, which would be half a million in costs today. It was shown across the nation perhaps a couple dozen times before the plug was pulled.

Coincidentally, a month later, Mr. Rogers and a longtime director for "Mister Rogers Neighborhood" Mr. Paul Lally met the very same actor who played Mr. Rodney in the commercial. This is what Mr. Lally described of it:

More background... fast forward a month later: we're in NYC to film the Dance Theater of Harlem. Fred and the film crew are on foot, waiting to cross a busy intersection of Fifth Avenue and 152nd Street.

The light turns, we take off. Halfway across, a man shouts, "Hey, Mister Rogers!" We're used to that happening all the time. But what happens next is that the guy says, "I was the actor on that Burger King spot."

Fred comes to a complete stop and smiles to beat the band. "You did a marvelous job. I'm proud of you."

The actor grins, "Thanks, Mister Rogers." Then frowns. "Look I'm sorry it made fun of you."

Fred says, "I am too, but more importantly, I'm sorry you won't be getting any residuals."

The actor shrugs. "There's always another day."

"Exactly, and you're going to do just fine."

I'm watching the lights... they turn from green to yellow.... the traffic's getting ready to roll...

Just as I get ready to play traffic cop, Fred and the actor shake hands. He wishes him the very best, and we make it safely across to the other side of the street.

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TLDR/R-SLUR SCROLLERS STOP HERE

These are the videos I thought best capture the spirit of Fred, and if not that then the influence his shows had on the world around him. We will go in chronological order.

1. Bobby Kennedy's Assassination - "What is Death?" (1968)

2. Fred Rogers successfully argues to the US Senate for more funding - From Thousands to Millions (1969)

3. Fred cools his feet in a small pool with a black man during Jim Crow - Christ Did Thus (1969)

4. The Wicked Witch from The Wizard of Oz isn't so scary... - An Act is Just an Act (1975)

5. First major children's exposure to disabilities on TV - Jeff Erlanger Shows His Electric Wheelchair (1980)

6. Mr. Rogers Achieves the TV Hall of Fame (Special Guest: Jeff Erlanger) - Fame is a Four Letter Word (1999)

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There's probably more, but I don't feel like looking for it :)