mr rogers esquire article lloyd vogel
Photo: Courtesy of Sony Pictures. That's what Mister Rogers said, that's what he wrote down, once upon a time, for the doctors. Once upon a time, there was a little boy born blind, and so, defenseless in the world, he suffered the abuses of the defenseless, and when he grew up and became a man, he looked back and realized that he'd had no childhood at all, and that if he were ever to have a childhood, he would have to start having it now, in his forties. A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood (opens Nov. 22) tells the story of one writer's experience profiling Fred Rogers, otherwise known as Mister Rogers, the host of Mister Rogers' Neighborhood.While the film does look at the burgeoning friendship between Rogers (Tom Hanks) and writer Lloyd Vogel (Matthew Rhys), it focuses primarily on Vogel's personal life and how much it has been . I said, 'Do you know that you're strong on the inside, too?' And so, every day, Mister Rogers refuses to do anything that would make his weight changehe neither drinks, nor smokes, nor eats flesh of any kind, nor goes to bed late at night, nor sleeps late in the morning, nor even watches televisionand every morning, when he swims, he steps on a scale in his bathing suit and his bathing cap and his goggles, and the scale tells him that he weighs 143 pounds. The editor isn't looking for a cynical unpacking or a scathing expose, like Lloyd's used to writing; just 400 words that give a wee bit of insight to the man behind that (in Lloyd's words) "hokey kids' show." And so that's what I told him. LloydRead More It's this faithfulness to the essence of Junod's story that makes A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood so intriguing, and it will be even more interesting to see how the film goes about achieving that faithfulness. The boy had always been prayed for. His name was Fred Rogers. The little boy didn't know why he loved Old Rabbit; he just did, and the night he threw it out the car window was the night he learned how to pray. Architects are people who create big things from the little designs they draw on pieces of paper. Would you lead us in prayer? Fred Rogers, whose gentle . I'm glad I know that. He clearly wanted me to pray. And so when he threw Old Rabbit out the car window the next time, it was gone for good. "Bunny Wunny," she says. cynical writer Lloyd Vogel (based on Junod, but with a fictional estranged dad figure, played by Chris Cooper, so that Rogers can . Tom Junod / Lloyd Vogel experiences this first hand as he tries to get Mr. Rogers to come "out of character". He knowing what only Fred could do. After I watched the walkthroughand was somehow briefly enlisted in fashion-show-planning service as the only idle body in sightwe sat down on a couch in the middle of all the swirling fashion-show-planners, and talked about Fred Rogers, what he left behind, and what we do now. Because Mister Rogers is such a busy man, however, he could not write the chapter himself, and he asked a woman who worked for him to write it instead. Fred turned it on, and as he says now, with plaintive distaste, "there were people throwing pies at one another." Lloyd Vogel (Matthew Rhys) is an award-winning writer for Esquire who is nonplussed and annoyed when his editor assigns him to write a profile on Fred Rogers , pastor and star of the hit children's series Mister Rogers' Neighborhood. And Ive tried to do it so that Im not just repeating the same line, trying to kind of live in the moment. Yes, it should be easy being Mister Rogers, but when four o'clock rolls around, well, Mister Rogers is tired, and so he sneaks over to the piano and starts playing, with dexterous, pale fingers, the music that used to end a 1940s newsreel and that has now become the music he plays to signal to the cast and crew that a day's taping has wrapped. Junod also inspired Matthew Rhys' character, a fictional Esquire writer named Lloyd Vogel.. Also read: Where That Navy SEALs Rumor Started A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood shows how Fred Rogers used television to reach into the hearts . As the film starts, journalist Lloyd Vogel has just welcomed the birth of a newborn baby boy with his wife, Andrea (Susan Kelechi Watson). Once upon a time, there was a boy who didn't like himself very much. The blue walls are the ends of the daylit universe he has made, and yet Mister Rogers can't see themor at least can't know thembecause he was born blind to color. I like to take pictures of all my new friends, so that I can show them to Joanne. And then, in the dark room, there was a wallop of white light, and Mister Rogers disappeared behind it. But when I did my first draft for the The Atlantic, I wrote that I still dont know what Fred wants from me, or wants from us. A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood (opens Nov. 22) tells the story of one writer's experience profiling Fred Rogers . I am ashamed to say it, but I was too cool at the time for Mr. Rogers. And it was just about then, when I was spilling the beans about my special friend, that Mister Rogers rose from his corner of the couch and stood suddenly in front of me with a small black camera in hand. Hes obviously having trouble zipping up his sweater, its not easy for him, and I know that it took like many, many takes to do that. He writes all his own scripts, but on this day, when he receives a visit from Mrs. McFeely and a springer spaniel, she says that she has to bring the dog "back to his owner," and Mister Rogers makes a face. And then he was on the move again, happily, quickly, for he would not leave until he showed me all the places of all those who'd loved him into being. "Hmmm," Mister Rogers said, "that's a strange ad. An honorific is what people call you when they respect you, and the moment Mister Rogers got out of the car, people wouldn't stay the fuck away from him, they respected him so much. Lloyd goes to interview Mr. Rogers and is shocked by his kindness, and the two form a bond. February 14, 2014. This article was the basis for the plot of the film A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood. Yeah, Mister Rogers is more amazing than you ever knew. He wrote, "I wrote Micah [Fitzerman-Blue] and Noah [Harpster] back, along with Peter Saraf, the producer at Big Beach, the company that had optioned my Esquire story, and asked them to change my name and the names of my family members. Mister Rogers spots him first, naturally, amidst the swarm of New Yorkers, about the five-hundredth happy coincidence in a life full of them. ESQUIRE: In your Atlantic piece, you talk about how theres no true successor to Mister Rogers. Sometimes, ophthalmologists have to take care of the eyes of children, and some children get very scared, because children know that their world disappears when their eyes close, and they can be afraid that the ophthalmologists will make their eyes close forever. Example: It is dangerous to play in the street. But Junod says he recognizes Vogel's . "A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood" is more or less the story of how an Esquire article comes into being. Youll probably need an infusion of something like this to restore your faith in humanity after an overload of Frank Underwood. But I mean, Fred and my dad could not have been more different. ESQ: Have the past two months been fulfilling for you? ", "What prayer is that, Mister Rogers? Enjoy a year of unlimited access to The Atlanticincluding every story on our site and app, subscriber newsletters, and more. My personal favorite piece of the story: Junod describes meeting Mr. Rogers in person for the first time, THE FIRST TIME I CALLED MISTER ROGERS on the telephone, I woke him up from his nap. Ive gone on the road through this story and Ive become a spokesman not just for the movie, but for Fred, and its one of the great surprises of my life. Appearance, presentation, looks. He got out of the car, and, moving as quickly as he had moved to the door of his house, he stepped up a small hill to the door of a large gray mausoleum, a huge structure built for six, with a slightly peaked roof, and bronze doors, and angels living in the stained glass. As he gets to know the children's TV show host . "Would you lead us? Twelve years in a Catholic school. And yet, here I am. He peeked in the window, and in the same voice he uses on television, that voice, at once so patient and so eager, he pointed out each crypt, saying "There's my father, and there's my mother, and there, on the left, is my place, and right across will be Joanne." The window was of darkened glass, though, and so to see through it, we had to press our faces close against it, and where the glass had warped away from the frame of the doorwhere there was a finger-wide crackMister Rogers's voice leaked into his grave, and came back to us as a soft, hollow echo. And then he lifted his wrist, and looked at the audience, and looked at his watch, and said softly, "I'll watch the time," and there was, at first, a small whoop from the crowd, a giddy, strangled hiccup of laughter, as people realized that he wasn't kidding, that Mister Rogers was not some convenient eunuch but rather a man, an authority figure who actually expected them to do what he askedand so they did. The quintessence of the man was not his nationality but his faith. Browse featured articles, preview selected issue contents, and more. Though of all races, the schoolchildren were mostly black and Latino, and they didn't even approach Mister Rogers and ask him for his autograph. The shootings took place in West Paducah, Kentucky, and when Mister Rogers heard about them, he said, "Oh, wouldn't the world be a different place if he had said, 'I'm going to do something really little tomorrow,'" and he decided to dedicate a week of the Neighborhood to the theme "Little and Big." ; A reprinted copy of this article was included in one variation of promotional packages supporting A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood. I was okay with Lloyd Vogel with bunny ears. Would you just take, along with me, ten seconds to think of the people who have helped you become who you are.Ten seconds of silence." ", "Maybe a puppet, or a special toy, or maybe just a stuffed animal you loved very much. Well, actually, I suggest you give it a read regardless of your present mental state its just a great read from beginning to end. He was a music major at a small school in Florida and planning to go to seminary upon graduation. Im not sure about it. 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