History Trivia / MisterRogersNeighborhood

* RealitySubtext: Two of Fred Rogers' biggest personal insecurities were being unable to express anger (he had been discharged from doing so as a child) and being laughed at when he didn't understand something, which are reflected in the songs "What Do I Do With The Mad I Feel?" and "Please Don't Think It's Funny," respectively.
* RealSongThemeTune: Episode 0022 had Coach Saunders lip-syncing to ''[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EFofqe26t-4 Chicken Fat]]'', which was written by Meredith Wilson and performed by Robert Preston under commission by JFK. Impressively, they used the long version of the song.

* RealitySubtext: Two of Fred Rogers' biggest personal insecurities were being unable to express anger and being laughed at when he didn't understand something, which are reflected in the songs "What Do I Do With The Mad I Feel?" and "Please Don't Think It's Funny," respectively.

** Creator/MichaelKeaton and Creator/GeorgeARomero both had behind-the-scenes jobs on the show early in their careers.

** [[http://www.laweekly.com/arts/the-unseen-side-of-mister-rogers-2373605 According to his friends and family]], Rodgers was not adverse to telling blue jokes or using swear words in his private life, and while nothing resembling an on-set meltdown where he cursed out children and crew members ever happened, he and the crew did pull the occasional harmless prank on each other for fun.

** [[http://www.laweekly.com/arts/the-unseen-side-of-mister-rogers-2373605 According to his friends and family]], he was not adverse to telling blue jokes or using swear words in his private life, and while nothing resembling an on-set meltdown where he cursed out children and crew members ever happened, he and the crew did pull the occasional harmless prank on each other for fun.

** For some reason, Mister Rogers is famous for saying, "Can you say ____?" The line appears in several parodies but aside from asking his viewers to say "pentagon" in [[EarlyInstallmentWeirdness an early episode]] (Death of a Goldfish, 1101), he almost never said it on the show, and in fact thought the phrase would be an insult to the intelligence of even his very young audience. He ''did'' ask his viewers "Can you _____ now?" at least once, though.
*** He did say it again in Episode 1021 from 1969, when Trolley rolls up, and he points to the writing on it and says "Can you say 'Neighborhood Trolley'? Good!" So there is some precedent (though he doesn't say it every other line, as the parodies would have you believe).

** Rogers' [[http://www.laweekly.com/arts/the-unseen-side-of-mister-rogers-2373605 friends and family claim]] that he ''did'' have a somewhat coarse sense of humor, playing pranks, swearing and occasionally telling dirty jokes (in private, of course). But the occasional myths that he experienced an on-set meltdown where he cursed out children and crew members are, needless to say, untrue.

* CommonKnowledge: Despite rumors, he was never a sniper, nor was he ever in the military, nor did he wear the sweaters to cover up his tattoos. Most now agree that this rumor came about because someone got Mr. Rogers and [[Series/TheJoyOfPainting Bob Ross]] (who did serve in the military - to be precise, the USAF) mixed up. Additionally, the appearance of the militaristic-sounding ''Chicken Fat'' song (which Coach Saunders lip-synced to) in Episode 22, an early black-and-white episode of the show that was last broadcast on ''June 24, 1969'', could've also helped in the formation of the myth.

* PromotedFanboy:
** When he mentioned that one of the few TV shows he enjoyed watching was ''Series/DrQuinnMedicineWoman'', the producers arranged for him to be a GuestStar. He played the role of "Reverend Thomas" in his only TV appearance as a fictional human character.
** John Boswell, creator of ''WebVideo/SymphonyOfScience'', is a huge fan of Mr. Rogers, something PBS undoubtedly took into consideration when they commissioned him to compose "Garden Of Your Mind."
** Basically anybody who appeared during the breaks between episodes on the 2017 Twitch marathon.

** This trope also applies to the show's theme song. Many people remember the opening line as "It's a beautiful day in the neighborhood", when it's actually "It's a beautiful day in ''this'' neighborhood". (Granted, [[{{Mondegreen}} it's not too difficult to hear it as "the neighborhood" due to Rodgers' Pennsylvania soft drawl]].)

* CommonKnowledge: Despite rumors, he was never a sniper, nor was he ever in the military, nor did he wear the sweaters to cover up his tattoos. Most now agree that this rumor came about because someone got Mr. Rogers and [[Series/TheJoyOfPainting Bob Ross]] (who did serve in the military - to be precise, the USAF) mixed up. Additionally, the appearance of the militaristic-sounding ''Chicken Fat'' song (which Coach Saunders lip-synced to) in Episode 22, an early black-and-white episode of the show that was last broadcast ''on June 24, 1969'', could've also helped in the formation of the myth.

** Heck, nearly every episode before the second run (so anything before 1979) was pretty much in this category until the Twitch marathon. Only a ''very'' small amount of episodes were possible to watch via Amazon Prime from the first run, and most of them were simply "highlight" episodes such as the death of the goldfish. The black and white episodes took the cake, however, as the last time they had ever been seen was in '''1970'''. Aside from the first week of shows which was also available on Amazon Prime, the Neighborhood Archive was the only place to see any snippets, and they were limited to screenshots. It was known that the episodes did exist in an archive safe and sound, but the fact that they hadn't been viewable by the public for ''that'' long is still something quite remarkable. Thank goodness for the Twitch stream, or they may have never found a good home.

** While not as well-known as the Conflict episodes, a few weeks of the early color episodes were also removed from the rotation early on (before the first run was phased out entirely in the mid-90s). These include 1036-1040, 1051-1055, 1056-1060, and 1071-1075. The actual reasons for these being removed are not officially known (some suspect that they simply never got around to rerunning these after some time), there has been some speculation, such as how 1071-1075 features Bob Dog having a cage put over his head to prevent bad behavior. Again, though, none of it has been confirmed.

* CommonKnowledge: Despite rumors, he was never a sniper, nor was he ever in the military, nor did he wear the sweaters to cover up his tattoos. Most now agree that this rumor came about because someone got Mr. Rogers and [[Series/TheJoyOfPainting Bob Ross]] (who did serve in the military - to be precise, the USAF) mixed up. Additionally, the appearance of the militaristic-sounding ''Chicken Fat'' song (which Coach Saunders lip-synced to) in Episode 22, an early black-and-white episode of the show that was last broadcast in ''1970'', could've also helped in the formation of the myth.

* TheDanza: Rogers was, by all indications, really fond of this trope. Examples include Bob Trow as Robert Troll and Bob Dog, Joe Negri as Handyman Negri, Don Brockett as Chef Brockett, Audrey Roth as Audrey Paulifficate, Maggie Stewart as Mayor Maggie, Betty Aberlin as Lady Aberlin....

* KeepCirculatingTheTapes: The "Conflict" episodes have effectively fallen into this, with the only surviving copies being YouTube postings of old VHS recordings. In fact, they weren't even shown for the 2017 Twitch marathon, which further cements them into this category. Four more random episodes from various weeks were also skipped in the Twitch marathon, though presumably because of either wiping [[note]]The practice of taping over a show[[/note]] or the masters simply no longer existing for any other reason.

* NeverWorkWithChildrenOrAnimals: [[GenreSavvy Heeded this aphorism]], both to make his show more intimate, and because kids and animals are notoriously unreliable. Although once can argue that he learnt this through experience- since he did have animals and kids on earlier episodes of the show (one episode has a group of preschool kids visit his studio. Another episode featured Robert Trow's basset hound. While they went fine, it was clear that Mr. Rogers had to constantly improvise in those episodes to keep them going). There was the occasional exception, however; an entire week during the 80s was centered on pets and even had him keeping after Bob Trow's golden retriever Barney over the course of two episodes, and episode 1507 involved him visiting a group of kids to play some games with at the start of the episode (though here, it was clear they had been given much more direction than in the past, since they overall seemed more controlled and reserved).

** Sadly, this status holds true for the lesser-known runs from CBC, WTAE, and EEN [[note]]Rogers' first foray into TV was on the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, under the title ''Misterogers''. It ran for almost three years, but ultimately Rogers decided to return to the states where the show had another run on local commercial station WTAE in Pittsburgh. After this ended, another version got a semi-national run on the long-forgotten Eastern Educational Network, a forerunner of American Public Television. This show broadcasted in several markets, such as Pittsburgh, Miami, and San Francisco. After Sears-Roebuck agreed to fund the show enough for a national broadcast, the show we know and love made its debut and the rest is history[[/note]]. Thus far no recordings have been known to circulate in any fashion, and only a single episode from the EEN run has ever been documented on the Neighborhood Archive. While the plot summaries of all of them are known, the episodes themselves almost remain a mystery. However, four episodes from the CBC run can currently be viewed at the Paley Center for Media in New York and Los Angeles.

** This was reason that Rogers didn't let Betty Aberlin star in ''Film/NightOfTheLivingDead'', a film by his protege Creator/GeorgeARomero, who had actually directed a segment for the show. Note that his personal protectiveness did not extent to the film itself, when Romero screened it to his mentor, the sweet, harmless Pennsylvania minister was delighted with his protege's [[NightmareFetishist gory, nihilistic horror film and told Romero it was great fun.]]
** Rogers also discouraged François Clemmons from going out to gay bars or being open about his sexuality, although he was personally very affirming of gay people. Clemmons (who's now publicly out) has said [[https://www.vanityfair.com/hollywood/2018/06/mister-rogers-neighborhood-wont-you-be-my-neighbor-francois-clemmons-officer-clemmons-fred-rogers in interviews]] that he doesn't bear any ill will for this or think it diminishes Mr. Rogers' message of acceptance at all; [[FairForItsDay societal attitudes were different]] in TheSixties and being openly gay could have been a serious risk to Clemmons' career or even personal safety.
* TheDanza: It would appear that Mister Rogers is really fond of this trope. Examples include Bob Trow as Robert Troll and Bob Dog, Joe Negri as Handyman Negri, Don Brockett as Chef Brockett, Audrey Roth as Audrey Paulifficate, Maggie Stewart as Mayor Maggie, Betty Aberlin as Lady Aberlin....

* OneOfUs: Fred said that each of the characters in the neighborhood of make believe had a little aspect of his own personality. We all know if he had Lady Elaine Fairchild in him, he was truly a normal human like the rest of us.

* NiceCharacterMeanActor: Completely and utterly averted. Despite whatever fake stories flitter around the internet and other presenters of children's shows, Mr. Rogers took pride in being every bit as warm and friendly in real life as he was on television.

* ContractualPurity: This was reason that Rogers didn't let Betty Aberlin star in ''Film/NightOfTheLivingDead'', a film by his protege Creator/GeorgeARomero, who had actually directed a segment for the show. Note that his personal protectiveness did not extent to the film itself, when Romero screened it to his mentor, the sweet, harmless Pennsylvania minister was delighted with his protege's [[NightmareFetishist gory, nihilistic horror film and told Romero it was great fun.]]

** One myth that ended up being slightly true (but even then, just barely.) There's a [[http://i.crackedcdn.com/phpimages/article/6/1/9/128619.jpg?v=1 photo of him]] apparently "giving the finger" to the camera that's been circulating. The photo is real in the sense that it wasn't faked or manipulated; however, it's taken out of context. What he was doing was singing the old nursery rhyme where you count off your fingers in turn to the tune of "Frère Jacques." The photo was a screencap of when they were singing "Where is tall-man?" [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ic4mEc_6JQ8 Here's the video proof.]]

* CommonKnowledge: Despite rumors, he was never a sniper, nor was he ever in the military, nor did he wear the sweaters to cover up his tattoos. Most now agree that this rumor came about because someone got Mr. Rogers and [[Series/TheJoyOfPainting Bob Ross]] (who did serve in the military - to be precise, the USAF) mixed up. Additionally, the appearance of the militaristic-sounding ''Chicken Fat'' song (which Coach Saunders lip-synced to) in Episode 22, an early black-and-white episode of the show that was last broadcast in ''1970'', could've also helped in the formation of the urban legend.

** This trope also applies to the show's theme song. Many people remember the opening line as "It's a beautiful day in the neighborhood", when it's actually "It's a beautiful day in ''this'' neighborhood".

** "Conflict", aired in 1983, concerned the Land of Make-Believe going into a panic after King Friday becomes convinced that Corny the Beaver is building a nuclear arsenal. At the time, [[SomeAnvilsNeedToBeDropped this was a very relevant plot]]; after all, it was UsefulNotes/TheEighties, one of the most tense periods of the UsefulNotes/ColdWar. The five episodes from this week last aired the week of April 1-5, 1996, partially due to controversy and partially due to [[TheGreatPoliticsMessUp not being quite]] [[UnintentionalPeriodPiece as current anymore]].

** For the 2018 rebroadcasts, episodes were fitted with borders, in order to account for Creator/{{PBS}}'s aspect ratio having changed since the show went off the air. Some stations, though, crop the image for broadcast by zooming in.

** In the episode where Mister Rogers goes out and buys a TV set, one thing that immediately dates the episode (aside from the aesthetic of the TVs quite clearly coming from the 70s): "Can this TV do color?"

* TheDanza: It would appear that Mister Rogers is really fond of this trope. Examples include Bob Trow as Robert Troll and Bob Dog, Joe Negri as Handyman Negri, Don Brockett as Chef Brockett, Audrey Roth as Audrey Paulifficate, Maggie Stewart as Mayor Maggie....

* HeAlsoDid: Creator/MichaelKeaton and Creator/GeorgeARomero both had behind-the-scenes jobs on the show early in their careers.