A lot of people find Mr. Rogers to be annoying, super-sweet, and insincere. I think I probably used to share this feeling.

I first became aware of him when I was working at one of the major public television stations in the mid-Sixties. I was Production Stage Manager and so when afer his first year on television Fred Rogers came to make a personal appearance, I was put in charge of getting Studio A (60' x 100') ready for him and for the children who would make up his audience.

It was a March day, as I recall, and he was scheduled to appear, sometime in the afternoon. Mid morning we noticed that a crowd was beginning to assemble in the parking lot. Already there were literally hundreds of people out there, parents with children, waiting for Fred Rogers. Unfortunately, it was an ugly day - windy with sleet falling from leaden skies. As the numbers grew, the station manager realized that we were going to be responsible for a lot of colds and bronchiitis in the next couple of hours before Fred Rogers arrived unless we did something quick and got the kids out of the cold and wet. The station staff was sent out all over Boston to get educational amusements for kids.

Someone found a goat, another some kittens, another person scored a lot of oversized paper pads and crayons. Bit by bit, we put together "stations". We then put the fans into a line that snaked through the entire television station through the offices, and down the corridors. The producers, directors, secretaries all stopped what they were doing to entertan the kids as they worked their way towards the studio where in turn they would be greeted by Fred Rogers.

We had succeeded in getting most of the children out of the rain but there were hundreds of kids, all anxiously waiting their turn to meet this man whom they had come to like so much, watching him on their televisions at home.

What impressed me was that Mr. Rogers made sure that every kid had a unique experience with him.

When a child reached him, Fred Rogers was well aware that he had been in the cold and for several hours had been snaking his way patiently towards this momen. He spoke with each child and it was always about something that was directed at that particular one. I remember one child, a little girl who when she reached Mr. Rogers, could not wait to tell him that her goldfish had died. Fred Rogers understood that this was probably the child's first experience with death and he spoke softly to her about missing her friend. Anotehr boy was carrying a model airplane. Mr. Rogers commented on it and found out that the boy had a father who was a pilot. Each child left with the memory of a conversation with his patient man.

Until that afternoon, I don't think any of us realized what a large and faithful following Mr. Rogers had. He couldn't have, either but even though he stayed hours longer than he had originally intended, he kept up his one-on-one brief conversations with the children until the last one was gone. He never ever let a child see that he was impatient or tired.

He showed himself not only to be a good television personality, he was a wonderful role model and he showed himself to be a fine man. As of that afternoon, I became an admirer.

Sourdough