PITTSBURGH - For more than four decades the prefered method of transportation to the Neighborhood of Make-Believe has been the Neighborhood Trolley. But recently, "television neighbors" by the thousands found more conventional ways to get there.
They came by car and bus and even by plane, because for two days only, visitors to the WQED studio where "Mister Rogers' Neighborhood" was produced were able to see the Neighborhood as few people have; they were able to see the set as it existed during the ground-breaking program's original run.
In recognition of series creator/star Fred Rogers and the 41 years his program has helped to shape and influence young lives, WQED-TV rededicated the station's studio A - which housed the set for the Neighborhood of Make-Believe during production - as Fred Rogers Studio. As part of the celebration, WQED and Family Communications Inc., the company founded by Rogers to produce the show, reassembled the Neighborhood of Make-Believe set and opened it to the public.
With sponsorship from the Children's Institute of Pittsburgh, iconic structures which, for many, have existed only on television and in, well... in Make-Believe, were available for viewing and photographs, including the castle of King Friday XIII, Queen Sara and Prince Tuesday; the tree home of X the Owl and Henrietta Pussycat; Lady Elaine's Museum-Go-Round, the Platypus Mound and Daniel Striped Tiger's clock.
While the castle and tree are on constant display at the WQED studios, the other pieces of the set, which are owned by Family Communications, have been in storage since 2001, when production of new episodes of the program ended.
Although newer puppets were used as stand-ins for some of the Neighborhood's original inhabitants - the puppets used by Mister Rogers are on permanent display at the Fred Rogers Center at Saint Vincent College in Rogers' home town of Latrobe, Pa. - there were a few other surprises for visitors to the Make-Believe set.
The piano played by John Costa, the program's long-time musical director, was displayed next to the Make-Believe set, and Mr. McFeely (actor David Newell) took time away from his "speedy deliveries" to sign autographs and pose for pictures with "television neighbors" of all ages.
Lew Shepherd, who traveled to Pittsburgh from Wellsville to see the Neighborhood of Make-Believe with his own eyes, admitted there was a "surreal" quality to the whole experience. Shepherd, now 44 and wearing a Mister Rogers T-shirt for his visit, said when he was younger he watched the program every time it was on, much to the chagrin of his older brothers and sisters. "I was always in the Neighborhood," he said.
Shepherd said seeing the set pieces with his own eyes gave him new insight into the show he loved as a small child and into its creator. "What an imagination he had," Shepherd said, adding, "There aren't a lot of positive influences on kids that aren't tainted in some way with violence. Everything's got super powers or some kind of a weapon; it's all oriented toward some kind of violence, where this was educational. It was interesting."
With fond memories of television visits to the crayon factory and others trips to see "how people make things," Shepherd said the lessons he learned from "Mister Rogers' Neighborhood" stayed with him. Michelle Bringhurst, who accompanied Shepherd to the exhibit, added, "He took you to the crayon factory and walked you all the way through it, and then, when you got a crayon, you were like, 'I know how that was made!'"
Amber Fantini, of Squirrel Hill, Pa., shares her love of "Mister Rogers' Neighborhood" with her children and brought them to the studio for the rare opportunity to see the Make-Believe set. She, too, said the message on many television programs today is "questionable" and even on some cartoons, parents must constantly monitor and censor what their children watch.
"But 'Mister Rogers' is pure, and you just have a good feeling when you come here because you know there's love everywhere," she said. "And I want my kids to appreciate that."
Although the production of new episodes of "Mister Rogers' Neighborhood" ended in 2001 and Fred Rogers, himself, passed away the following year, the program - now the longest running series on public television - continues to attract new viewers and influence young lives.
David Newell, who began working with Fred Rogers when the program was expanded to a national audience in 1968, said Rogers was able to connect with young children and their families because he was truely passionate about providing a positive, supportive message.
"He genuinely cared about people and cared about the people he was broadcasting to," Newell said.
Estimates place the number of people attending the event at well over 5,000, according to Rosemary Martinelli, executive director of marketing and communications for WQED. That number includes those who visited the set during a special preview event for invited guests held the day before the set opened to the public.
However, Martinelli was quick to point out the constant number of people coming and going made keeping an accurate count difficult. "I think we lost count along the way," she said.
Some of those arriving later reported waiting in line as long as two or three hours, Martinelli said, but she added they said it was worth it and spent their time in line wisely, getting to know their "neighbors" around them and making new friends along the way.
People signing the guest book at the end of the exhibit reported making the trip to Pittsburgh from such far reaching places as Chicago, Tennessee, New York and Texas. Martinelli said the Neighborhood was even visited by one couple from Alaska.
She said members of the production crew who had worked on "Mister Rogers' Neighborhood" and had known Fred Rogers commented on how humbled and pleased he would have been by the response shown by the public.
"It was almost as if we had our own Mister Rogers 'Field of Dreams,' Martinelli said. "We built it, and they came."
