The Children's Corner: Episode 4099
Broadcast Date: Undetermined
After opening with the Why Hi Song, Josie attempts to blow a plastic bubble for Daniel. Despite numerous attempts, she fails to produce any impressive or lasting results and Daniel concludes he likes “water bubbles” better.
Moving to the Eiffel Tower, Josie attempts to blow a plastic bubble for Grandpere, with similar results. Grandpere shares the French words for bubble (bulle) and music (musique) via his machine and gets some of the bubble plastic caught in his mustache/beard. Daniel then emerges from his clock having successfully blown one of the plastic bubbles.
Collin Stern arrives with various sizes of recorders and demonstrates several of them for Josie and Daniel, playing the traditional tune The Three Ravens. Josie then demonstrates how she can play a “B” on the soprano recorder, but is disappointed to learn that the same fingering does not produce the same note on the other sizes. Mr. Stern then plays two other traditional songs including Greensleeves and explains how people used to play all the different sizes together as a “consort” (an early version of the word concert) during the period when Queen Elizabeth ruled England.
Josie then shares one of the bubbles (which have been left on her counter “by some fairy or something” while Mr. Stern was playing) with X-scape before briefly singing One to a Dozen with him. Daniel emerges to remind Josie that they have to go soon. At Daniel’s request, Josie concludes with Goodnight God.
Screenshots
Appearing In This Episode
In order of appearance
Cast
Guests
- Collin Stern
Locations
- Josie’s counter
- Cuckoo Clock
- Eiffel Tower
- Oak Tree
- Schoolhouse [seen but not visited]
- Window [seen but not visited]
Songs
- Why Hi Song
- The Three Ravens (traditional, instrumental)
- [Unidentified song] (instrumental)
- Greensleeves (traditional, instrumental)
- One to a Dozen
- Goodnight God
- So Long Song
Notes
- The plastic bubble toy used by Josie appears similar to the long discontinued Super Elastic Bubble Plastic (produced by Wham-O toys, the creator of Frisbees) or similar currently available products such as B’loonies.
- Josie warns Grandpere to be careful around the plastic bubbles or he'll "get caught in it like the tar baby." In this case, the term "tar baby" refers to a doll made of tar and turpentine in the classic story of Br'er Rabbit. Over the years, the term has become a derogatory and offensive term with racist undertones and is widely taboo.
- After Josie is repeatedly unsuccessful at getting a plastic bubble to retain its shape/air, Grandpere suggests that perhaps the problem is her and not the bubbles. She gives him the straw and bubble solution to attempt himself, though we do not see him do so after he takes the items into the tower. A few moments after Josie leaves the Tower, Daniel emerges with a successfully blown bubble despite not having been given any of the bubble materials. Fred Rogers likely attempted to blow a bubble himself after finishing with the Grandpere puppet, and then apparently had Daniel emerge with it as if Josie had given the bubble supplies to him rather than Grandpere. Neither Josie nor Daniel seem confused by Daniel’s unexplained procurance of plastic bubble supplies when he emerges.
- Before Mr. Stern plays, Josie and Daniel can’t decide what to do with the bubble and Josie says they are having a little “bubble trouble”. Though there is likely no direct connection, the phrase “Bubble Trouble” was used as the basis and title of a story told by storyteller Jay O'Callahan several decades later on Episode 1471 of Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood.
- X-scape tells Josie that he used to play shortstop “on the Owl team”
- Having a hard time holding the bubble, X humorously suggests that he has “butter wings.”
- Unique in the surviving Children’s Corner episodes, near the end of this episode Fred Rogers apparently puppeteers both Daniel and X poking them out of their respective homes at the same time. Josie decides she is in the way and steps completely out of the frame while Daniel and X converse.
- X says he hasn’t seen Daniel “in a long time!” This contrasts with his comment to Josie only moments earlier that Daniel told him they hardly have any time left on the program. Even if Daniel called on the phone to tell X about the remaining time, X seems particularly enthusiastic to be seeing someone he supposedly talked to (even if just on the phone) only moments earlier.
- X refers to Daniel as both “Daniel” and (while addressing him directly) “Dan” in this episode.
- Daniel tells X he is a “real nice pet… living in the tree and all”. This corresponds to the story told in the book Our Small World (1954), as Daniel explains, “Where I found my pet, X Scape[:]… Josie and I had gone to the County Fair last summer and… I wandered down to the cages and saw this pretty blue owl all locked up. I opened the door to his cage and said, ‘Escape, Owl!’ And that silly owl came out of the cage, followed me home and I’ve never been able to get rid of him. He even calls himself ‘X Scape’ now because that was the first word anyone had ever spoken to him, and he thought was calling him by name when I said ‘Escape.’” Daniel goes on to explain “all the trouble [X] kept getting into when he lived with [him] in [his] clock,” and X explains that after being rescued, “I've been his [Daniel’s] pet ever since and now I live in a tree right next to Daniel's Clock.” In this episode, Daniel and Josie further reflect about X’s arrival, that it “took him a while to get used to the Children’s Corner, but now he says he’ll never leave.”
- Daniel notes that despite his love of the Corner, X does “[go] out flying on the weekends.”
- Although she does not appear in this episode, Henrietta is referred to as “Henrietta Cat” by Josie in this episode (as she is in several of the early episodes). King Friday is also mentioned but does not appear.
- After requesting that Josie sing Goodnight God, Daniel inexplicably exits, reappearing immediately after Josie’s rendition. This is likely because Fred Rogers was playing the organ as Josie sang.
- Daniel gives the viewer three pats before the episode concludes, which Josie says means “‘I love you’ on television… a sort of television kiss.”
- Josie specifically tells the viewers not to sit too close to the television (other than when getting patted by Daniel) and that they should “move back” to a comfortable distance when watching “all [their] favorite television programs.”
- At the very end of the So Long Song, Josie tosses one of the bubbles towards the camera and says, “Catch!”
Episode Credits
The Childrens Corner [sic]
With Josie Carey
Produced by Fred Rogers
Directed by Carl Freeborn
Technical Supervision: Larry Flavin
From WQED -- First in community television
A presentation of the Educational Television and Radio Center
National Education Television