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The Eternal Friend of Children Passes Into the Ages

Publication: Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
Author: Undetermined
Date: February 28, 2003


THE ETERNAL FRIEND OF CHILDREN PASSES INTO THE AGES

Television cameras have a way of staring into the soul, and plenty of those who make their living under the harsh lights are practiced at diverting that gaze. They emote, they preen, they fill the screen with false sincerity and overbearing ego. Not Fred Rogers. Never Mister Rogers.

The cameras could be as harsh and piercing as possible, and what the viewer saw was what the man was – gentle, kind, humble, sincere. No hi-tech diversions for him, no gimmicks more complicated than a little streetcar and some hand puppets, all interspersed with soothing ritual and soft voice.

Early yesterday, that friendly voice was stilled by cancer, although fortunately it will live on whenever “Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood” charms a fresh audience through reruns. And, of course, the man himself will live on in fond memory for tens of millions of Americans for whom he was the very voice and presence of childhood...

-- Read this full article at Post-Gazette.com

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