“Anyone who does anything to help a child in his life is a hero to me. ”
Fred Rogers
If you time it right next Tuesday you can catch the unusual double feature of Mr. Rogers (Won’t You Be My Neighbor? ) and Full Metal Jacket at the Enzian Theater in Maitland, Florida. Catch the documentary on Fred Rogers at 6:30, grab a food and a drink at Eden Bar, and then catch the Stanley Kubrick war classic at 9:30. (Therapy afterward optional.)
How many times will you get to do that in your life?
I had the opportunity to cross paths with Fred Rogers twice in my life. The first time was in 1997 when my wife was playing a piano duet in the music building at Rollins College. As my wife and I were talking after the recital Mr. Rogers came up and said to my wide in his super nice and friendly manner, “I really enjoyed your music.”
Mr. Rogers also played the piano and went to Rollins College where he met his musician wife. She later received a book from him with a nice note.
My second Mr. Rogers encounter was when I was taking photos at the Rollins Chapel carrying equipment and he opened the door for me. It was like having Forrest Gump open the door for you. (Speaking of…Tom Hanks will be playing Mr. Rogers in the movie You Are My Friend coming out next year from a script by Micah Fitzerman-Blue and Noah Harpster. )
Fred Rogers received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in 1998 and may have taken one of the more unusual routes to Hollywood Blvd. He born in Latrobe, Pennsylvania (where golfing legend Arnold Palmer was also born) and after Rollins attended Pittsburgh Theological Seminary and became an ordained Presbyterian minister before launching his TV class show Mr. Rogers’ Neighborhood.
Here’s a little Mr. Rogers inspiration for you today.
P.S. In the early 60s (1961/1962) author and theologian R.C. Sproul was starting his training at Pittsburgh Theological Seminary just as Fred Rogers was finishing his education there. In 1971 Sproul started the Ligonier Valley Study Center in Stahlstown, PA. (Stahstown, Ligonier, and Latrobe are all neighboring towns within a ten-mile radius of each other.)
Sproul later moved to Orlando and in the 90s when I was just a few years out of film school and looking for “Hollywood East” I produced many videos and a radio program with Sproul and he told me he’d gone to seminary with Fred Rogers.
Proving once again that it’s a small, small world with many surprising twists and turns.
P.P.S.
Related post:
A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to Hollywood East (written after R.C. Sproul died last year)
Scott W. Smith is the author of Screenwriting with Brass Knuckles