Dear Mister Rogers Does it Rain in your Neighborhood?

[MysteryNeighbor]

This book is a selection of the letters that Fred has received along with some drawings.
In fact the book's title comes from one of those letters.

Fred answers those letters in a way that is honest.The book is available on most used book websites.I got mine through Abebooks at their site:

http://www.abebooks.com/

So check it out! ;) :) 8)

[Neighborhood Archive]

I got a copy of this book just this past winter and loved it. The responses are candid but sincere. Several of the responses, in fact, are somewhat education to adult readers who grew up on the show as they reveal some of the "inside scoop" of the Neighborhood shows. I'd certainly recommend this book as well.

[Dais79]

Agreed!!!  I got it from the library a few years back and LOVED it.  It was thought provoking, I laughed, I got teary-eyed- it was fantastic.

[MysteryNeighbor]

Don't forget that Fred would offer insights to the letters he has received.

[PaulKTF]

I love this book! The way he responds to the children's letters with such gentle care and good-natured humor is just wonderful!

[MrRogers143]

I actually took a trip to Pittsburgh in March, and while I was at St. Vincent College at the Fred Rogers Center, I went into this office like place. They had a head that looked like King Friday, Purple Panda, a Trolley and other old toys and books. I noticed in the table in there the Dear Mr. Rogers book, and I asked the woman where I could buy one, and she told me I could have that copy. I was so touched, and it was definitely my favorite souvenir from the trip.

[PaulKTF]

That was very sweet of her!

For anyone interested, you can get the book on Amazon and on bn.com (Barnes And Noble).

[Jonathan]

I remember the episode from the 1970's where he sang a song "I'm going to ____ in the morning and I hope it will rain because I know how to say ____, it's raining, ____. It's raining in ____". The first blank had Spain and also France, and how to say llueve and il pleut. I think he also had Germany in the song.

I was born in 1981 but many of the shows from the 1970's were still shown on PBS in the 1980's. I remember it was before he painted the walls of his TV home the new color. I remember an episode where he was painting it. I liked the trolley at the end of the credits. The early history of Mr. Rogers also fascinated me and I never the very first show until I found it once on YouTube. It was hilarious to hear King Friday say that whoever moved the castle should be brought for arraignment.

Adults can still enjoy Mr. Rogers and got different things out of it. But I find Daniel Tiger's Neighborhood to be annoying, especially when he starts singing and then keeps singing the same line during the whole show.

Mr. Rogers himself said cartoons are bombardment. I wonder if he would approve of the new show. They should at least use the same voices for some of the characters. On Sesame Street, they kept the same voices when Jim Henson died and had someone else do the voices of the muppets he voiced. There's no reason why this can't be done in the Neigborhood of Make Believe on Daniel Tiger's Neighborhood.

[PaulKTF]

The song you're thinking of is "I Hope It Will Rain". Here's the song:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7x1Ca6UNPRU

and here are the lyrics:

http://www.neighborhoodarchive.com/music/songs/i_hope_rain.html

[mitsguy2001]

According to the archive, that song was used in Episodes 41, 89, 120, and 1294.  Of those, the only one that aired during your lifetime was Episode 1294, from the 1973 season, so you are correct that it was from the 70s and before the walls are painted.

According to our schedules, in your lifetime, that episode aired Dec. 30, 1982 (unconfirmed); April 4, 1985; and April 21, 1988.  Do any of those airdates sound like when you would have been watching MRN and saw that episode?

[Jonathan]

Yes. It was on a VHS tape that recorded it in 1988. I remember seeing it on the tape in the 1990's which is why I how I remember it.

It's amazing that there are records of when it aired. Why wasn't it shown more times in the 1980's? Was it because Mr. Rogers was making lots of new shows then?

[PaulKTF]

Yes. It was on a VHS tape that recorded it in 1988. I remember seeing it on the tape in the 1990's which is why I how I remember it.

It's amazing that there are records of when it aired. Why wasn't it shown more times in the 1980's? Was it because Mr. Rogers was making lots of new shows then?

Yeah, I think they were pulling older shows out of rotation in favor of the more modern and newer episodes.

[mitsguy2001]

Yes. It was on a VHS tape that recorded it in 1988. I remember seeing it on the tape in the 1990's which is why I how I remember it.

It's amazing that there are records of when it aired. Why wasn't it shown more times in the 1980's? Was it because Mr. Rogers was making lots of new shows then?

If you look at the home page of this forum, there is a link to broadcast schedules going back to January 1984.  The Dec. 30, 1982 date was just an estimate, since the printed schedules don't go back that far.  I've asked Tim a few times if he can get earlier schedules, but I'm assuming he hasn't found anything so far.

As for how the schedules worked back then: they would air all of the post-75s every year, and then fill the rest of the year with pre-79s.  So each post-75 week would air more than the pre-79 weeks, and the pre-79 weeks would air less and less often as more post-75s filled the schedule.  Also, in 1983-84, only part of the 1969 season aired, and then starting in 1986, only the 1970 and later seasons aired.

As for specifically 1291-1295: what happened there was, in 1991, they ended with 1290.  Then in 1992, they jumped all the way to 1351, skipping all of 1291-1350, none of which would ever air again.  That is why 1291-1295 had its last airing so early.

Also, my estimated Dec. 27-31, 1982 date for 1291-1295 was not the first airing of that week during the 80s, just the first time it aired during your lifetime if you were born in 1981.

[Neighborhood Archive]

You're right. Nothing so far. Not ignoring your question. Just nothing new to report.