drat. yat: yet another typo.

fyi the Neighborhood is in jeopardy…see: savemisterrogers.com

wow! Martha - I am thrilled that you heard my WYEP radio show (Stone Soup, Armadillo Mermaid) - it was such freedom! - a sequence of an evening might be Tom Rush, Lenny Bruce, Benny Golson & a sory by Flannery O’Connor - real Public Access Radio as distinct from National Public Radio. As in, you want air time? Go right ahead.

& Chapomatic? Fear not. My scene in Kevin’s latest film wound up on the cutting-room floor *shuddering sob* so I will have to wait until the DVD “out-takes” to see whether I got the Pittsburgh accent correct, or in any way acquitted myself.

Jonathan? Thanks for the head’s up = apologies for hijacking the thread, and many thanks for the cyber soap-box.

with love,

Betty

and Jonathan W. - you do me great honor. I think coming from a broken home as I did, with a tv and the kindly voices of radio announcers as father-figures, made me overmuch loyal to the program - that I might be part of giving what I had so longed to receive…and did receive in my young years from a salad of Milton Berle, Kukla, Fran & Ollie, and Mister I. Magination (the unsung Paul Tripp). Thank you for your lovely affirmation.

Averagejon? Many other people fused Lady Aberlin with Lady Elaine Fairchilde. the puppet shadow side of Fred, named after his adopted sister Elaine - she who countered Lady Aberlins unfailing sweetness with mischief and the tlling of truth to power. Perhaps together we made up one person…?

Eric? I tried but could not find the lacivious ladies song…I am not too computer savy though.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=55Rcfll2gCo

I’m sure that made your fannish heart squee, Jonathan. Heck, I had a moment of absolute squee for you.

Thanks for brightening my Singles Awareness Day. Code Monkey like Muu……Muu.

Very soothing. I love it

abundant gratitudes!

“Correct as Usual, Lord Coulton”

It’s been a goosebumpy kind of day. I spent much of my commute today listening to “A Talk with George” (which I just discovered) again and again, and words can’t express how much I love that song.

And OMG Betty Aberlin left a comment! I. Am. Freaking. Out.

OK, think of the kindest, gentlest, sweetest man you could ever imagine. Now think of him on an earnest public television show, looking straight into the camera and telling you that you — YES, YOU, RIGHT THERE! — are a wonderful and special person, just by being you. No matter what you look like or if you mess up and say something mean or get angry or scared. Mr. Rogers loved you. By all accounts, he was just that marvelous, wise and kind in person, too, and never too busy or famous to speak to a child, or a former child, who recognized him.

Half of his show took place in his house — he’d always start it off by changing from work shoes and jacket into his sweater and sneakers, while singing “It’s a Beautiful Day In The Neighborhood.” Then he might get a visit from Mr. McFeely, the mailman, with a special delivery, perhaps a film of a crayon factory tour, for example. We might watch him make something in his kitchen or visit with a neighbor. Then, he’d sit down on this bench seat in front of a track, and a toy trolley would come out and whistle at him, and we’d follow the trolley into the Neighborhood of Make Believe.

And that is where beautiful, sweet young Lady Aberlin (a human) lived, along with a man in a dog suit called Bob Dog, a human handyman, and puppets: monarchs (King Friday XVIII, Queen Sara and Prince Tuesday), a grouchy old lady who lived in a merry go round called Lady Elaine Fairchild, X the Owl, shy Daniel Tiger, and of all things a chair-manufacturing puppet guy called Cornflake S. Pecially. Adventures ensued, of course, but at the end the trolley would always take us back into Mr. Rogers’ living room for the goodbye song.

It’s the kind of show you outgrow pretty quickly when you hit elementary school, because it’s for “babies”, but never, EVER forget. Once your “I’m a big kid now” defiance wears off, usually by late teens or college, you can see again how awesome that show was. That show was magnificent, a ray of sunshine and kindness, and I hope it’s never forgotten.

The day Mr. Rogers died I was driving my car when I heard it on NPR. (Like Loudon Wainwright III, look up his song “Hank and Fred” on iTunes.) I cried and cried, and I think I had to pull over. I am crying now just thinking about it and listening to JoCo’s beautiful new song.

I thought it was great that she wrote in and, what is more, loved the song

Then a message from Ms. Aberlin, Oh My!

The Yinzer’s Dahntan might joy one. !

I can vouch that that is indeed Betty Aberlin. And I can also attest that fans often remember details of their favorite shows better than the performers do. Stephen Fry was once terrified by a man in the street who screamed “Flanders pigeon murderer!” at him…until the man apologized and said he had just assumed Fry would recognize the “Blackadder” reference.

…Mister Rogers in a blood-stained sweater!

I’m really going to have to find out who this guy is now!

I can’t imagine a more wonderful surprise - and it is a lovely song, with discerning lyrics, on many levels. One of the reasons for the mumu (I know the one you mean - from Afghanistan, I think) aside from the no-budget-for-wardrobe, was the Lady A, was not supposed to be “alluring”, but a Big Sister creature - Fred was very clear on this. Hence the shapless empire dresses, which are worn over and over, ovrr the years. This Friday one of the “operas” airs: Windstorm in Bubbleland. I came to Pgh. and found my eay into the Neighborhood because I followed a very funny parody of “Girl From Ipanima” I wanted to sing. It was in THE MAD SHOW (a revue based on Mad Magazine), and unbeknownst to be, it had been written under a false name (Esteban Ria Nido) by Stephen Sondheim. It was called “Boy From”. This is more than you wanted to know, but the “softer side” might lie within the pages of a book of poems just published (The White Page Poems), and I do have a bit of back-up cred, having been t=in the original company of Getting My Act Together. There’s a funny bit on utube under Alice at the Palace, about halfway through The Lobster Quadrille….but I’m wandering. No one has ever seen fit to honor my character with a song - since Fred. Women continually approached Lady Aberlin’s mu mu and asked whether she was pregnant over the years. Daniel Striped Tiger was perhaps my only child. I will ber the wonderful heaven & earth ’round my shoulders from now on, and listen to this lovely song again and again.

Thank you from the bottom of my heart. I will run and tell King Tuesday immediately!

with love,

Betty Aberlin

Anyway, never posted here before and just wanted to tell you thanks!

Also, the melody reminds me a little of the song that Michael Caine sang in The Muppet Christmas Carol.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Muppet_Christmas_Carol

I had confabulated the puppets Lady Elaine (Lady __) and King Friday (who wore a blue cloak). Somehow, that didn’t seem like a good subject for a love song.

I’m glad I can stop shuddering now.

I feel like I’ve just spent a sunny afternoon on a beach being fanned with palm leaves by muumuu-clad singing ladies.

Thank you!

Well done!

No muumuu, but you can see what JoCo’s going on about anyway.

Everybody rumba!!

It is easy to underestimate sometimes the effect Fred Rogers had on people of my generation. When I graduated from UConn in 1991 Fred was our commencement speaker. When he came out, I swear that 3000-some Liberal Arts majors LOST … THEIR … MINDS. Seriously the place went nuts. By pure chance I had ended up in the first row of the Gampel Pavillion and as he walked by I waved to him, and there is nobody on this planet who could convince me he didn’t wave back at me. His speech was sweet and inspiring. Just an great individual.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fred_Rogers

I love it!