Episode 1271
Air Date: March 5, 1973
Previous Episode: 1270
Next Episode: 1272
Purchase/Stream: Amazon
Mister Rogers arrives with a film taken of himself when he was a little boy. He shows the silent film which includes footage of him playing as well as spending time at the beach with his family. Reminded of the sand table, Mister Rogers takes viewers to the back yard where he builds two sand mountains with water running between them. Mister Rogers sings Pretending before talking briefly about imaginary friends.
In the Neighborhood of Make-Believe, Daniel introduces Lady Aberlin to his imaginary friend, Malcolm Apricot Dinko. Malcolm is afraid of water and is not interested when Daniel shows him the castle waterfall. As it turns out, Malcolm comes around when Daniel is worried or afraid. In this case, Daniel (Malcolm) is trying to decide if he would be okay to stay the night away from home. After stopping to see Grandpere, Daniel talks with Dr. Bill Platypus about his fear that monsters will be at the Eiffel Tower if he stays with Grandpere.
Back at the house, Mister Rogers spends a bit more time at the sand table before heading back inside to talk about bedtime. He remembers a ballet about a raccoon family's bedtime routine.
Notes
Mister Rogers suggests that the name of Daniel's imaginary friend may have come from Daniel's liking of the name Malcolm, his taste for apricots, and his enjoyment of the way "Dinko" sounds.
The raccoon family segment also appears in Episode 1636 and originally aired in Episode 1120.
At least on the version available on Amazon Video On-Demand, when Mister Rogers shows the film of himself as a little boy, the film seems to be completely silent. By turning up the sound to a high volume, Fred can be heard narrating the film. Clearly, some sort of sound issue is present.
Appearing In This Episode
Songs
Images
Episode Credits
With Fred Rogers
Neighbors: Betty Aberlin, William P. Barker
Raccoon Ballet with Jane Hillyer, Gretchen Krich, Alan Moticska, Jewel Walker
Produced and Directed by Bob Walsh
Music Director: John Costa
Produced by Family Communications, Inc. in association with WQED, Pittsburgh
The people who gave the money to make this television visit are the people of The Sears Roebuck Foundation and the Corporation for Public Broadcasting
© 1972, 1973 Family Communications, Inc.