Nighttime in Mister Rogers' Neighbohrood

Date: November 23, 1969

It's nighttime in the Neighborhood and Mister Rogers arrives with a flashlight which he opens to show the batteries inside. Turning the lights off, he shines the flashlight on various objects around the room. Stepping onto the porch, he is able to shine the light through the window. Sitting on the porch swing, he sings You Are Special.

With a telescope -- the one he typically uses to look into the Neighborhood of Make-Believe -- Mister Rogers looks up in to the sky and observes a nearly-full moon. He recalls other times he has taken an opportunity view the moon.

Chef Brockett stops by in his car and Mister Rogers joins him for a night to the drive "down around the square and past Mr. McFeely's house."

Upon his return to the house, Mister Rogers finds a small kitten on his porch. Sitting on the swing with the kitten on his lap, he sings Hello There. Mrs. Saunders is heard calling for the cat before sending her son David out to retrieve their family's pet, Jerry. From the window of the Saunders house, Mrs. Saunders can be heard signing Tree Tree Tree as she puts her younger child to bed. After singing, she sits down to read a story with David.

Picture Picture shares an animated story about a firefly and a raccoon playing hide-and-seek at night. Lady Aberlin stops by wearing pretend firefly wings and joins Mister Rogers for a time of make-believe.

In the Neighborhood of Make-Believe, Lady Aberlin pretends to be a firefly talks with Daniel Striped Tiger about how it can be hard to go to sleep sometimes. Daniel and Lady Aberlin play tiger and firefly hide-and-seek before he goes to sleep for the night. Singing for Daniel, Lady Aberlin replaces the words "Tree Tree Tree" with "Tick Tock Tick."

Dr. Bill Platypus is joined by Lady Aberlin at the tree where Dr. Bill plays his bagpipes for X the Owl and Henrietta Pussycat. The bagpipes disturb Lady Elaine Fairchilde who asks Officer Clemmons to arrest her neighbor, Dr. Bill. She was awakened from a dream about King Friday and Queen Sara sharing a kiss. Lady Elaine and the others go to the castle to see "the real thing" -- a request which King Friday finds to be "highly irregular." King Friday explains that a person does not always get to see what they find to be curious: "Your dreams are your business. Our kisses are our business. Some kisses are private, you know."

To give Lady Elaine something to see, King Friday invites her to the DR Room where everyone enjoys a performance by Lady Aberlin and a group of dancing raccoons.

Back at the house, Mister Rogers says goodnight to Lady Aberlin and sits on his porch where he sings Please Don't Think It's Funny. On night duty in the Neighborhood, Officer Clemmons stops by Mister Rogers' house and sings Hello There. Officer Clemmons is called away after singing to assist with finding someone's missing pet raccoon.

Briefly returning to the Neighborhood of Make-Believe, everything is quiet. As Mister Rogers is preparing to leave for the night, Officer Clemmons returns with a boy named Randy who has found the missing raccoon.

Images

Notes

This special is one hour in length as opposed to the typical 30 minute Neighborhood episodes.

Mister Rogers appropriately adjusts his opening song: "It's a beautiful night in this neighborhood...". Throughout the song, all "days" are replaced with "nights." For example, "Let's make the most of this beautiful night. Since we're together I'd say we're just right."

Chef Brockett explains why he likes it to be quiet when he cooks (and drives): "I like to think and quiet time helps people to think."

Randy found the raccoon near the corner of Main and Depot.

Songs

• Hello There
• Tomorrow
• Please Don't Think It's Funny
• Tree Tree Tree
• You Are Special
• Won't You Be My Neighbor?

Appearing In This Episode

• Chef Brockett
• Daniel Striped Tiger
• Dr. Bill Platypus
• Henrietta Pussycat
• King Friday XIII
• Lady Aberlin
• Lady Elaine Fairchilde
• Mister Rogers
• Officer Clemmons
• Queen Sara Saturday
• X the Owl

Episode Credits

Produced by National Educational Television (New York, NY) and WQED (Pittsburgh, PA) which acknowledge the cooperation of Small World Enterprises

Creator-Producer: Fred Rogers
Associate Producer-Director: David Fu-Ying Chen
Neighbors: Betty Aberlin, W.P. Barker, Don Brockett, Francois Clemmons, Jane Hillyer, Carol Saunders, Jewel Walker
Psychological Consultants: Margaret B. McFarland PhD, Albert V. Corrado MD
Music Director: John Costa
Film Producer: Diana Dean
Art Director: Jack Guest
Lighting Director: Art Siegal
Assistant Producer: Hedda Sharapan
Production Assistant: David Newell
Animation: Motion Media
Technical Supervisors: Tom Knight, Ken Anderson
Cameramen: Bob Vaughn, DicK Reschoff
Floor Manager: Ted Warhola
Video Tape Editors: Chet Bednar, Bob Millslagle
Audio: Dave Anthony, Chuck Sradomski
Video: Don Williamson, Dom De George
Executive Producer: Paul K. Taff

© 1969 National Educational Television and Radio Center