THE NEIGHBORHOOD ARCHIVE - All Things Mister Rogers

Episode 1493

Topic: Discipline
Air Date: March 3, 1982
Previous Episode: 1492 - Discipline
Next Episode: 1494 - Discipline
Purchase/Stream: Amazon

Mister Rogers arrives with a towel and a pair of swim trunks and makes good on his promise from the previous day to show viewers where he swims. He talks about how he made a promise to himself to swim a certain length every day and has done so almost every day for ten years. Mister Rogers then shows film footage of his daily swimming. Following the film, Mister Rogers talks about how he doesn't always feel like swimming but he does it anyway because he made a promise to himself to do so.

Chef Brockett stops by with an oatmeal-raisin-nut cookie for Mister Rogers to try. He also delivers a clarinet from Negri's Music Shop which Mister Rogers takes to the kitchen to demonstrate. As he assembles the clarinet, Mister Rogers talks about how he wanted to learn to play the clarinet as a child but he never practiced. He then sings You've Got To Do It before playing a few notes on the clarinet.

In the Neighborhood of Make-Believe, Lady Aberlin is sent to get a King Friday doll from Corney and discovers that the doll boxes are empty. She is called to the Museum-Go-Round where Lady Elaine shows her that she has altered the King Friday dolls to look like Lady Elaine dolls. Upon finding out about Lady Elaine's actions, King Friday summons the Chief of Discipline who he puts in charge of a punishment for Lady Elaine.

Back at the house, Mister Rogers talks about why parents tell children not to do certain things. He then shows viewers how to make a pretend clarinet out of a paper roll and sings What Do You Do With the Mad That You Feel.

Notes

Fred Strother, who appears in this episode as the Chief of Discipline, shows up again in the 1983 Games episodes as Mr. Strother.

Mr. Saunders (Coach Saunders) from early episodes of Mister Rogers' Neighborhood, briefly appears in the film of Mister Rogers swimming.

The music book used by Mister Rogers is available for purchase through Amazon.com.

Regarding the footage of Mister Rogers' swim, Amy Hollingsworth touches on this perfectly in her book The Simple Faith of Mister Rogers:

Even when he showed us something he was good at -- his diaily discipline of swimming -- he demonstrated another side of his vulnerability. He wanted to show his television neighbor where he swam each day, so a camera followed him to the locker room and shot him as he took off his suit and bow tie (we saw him from the shoulders up, but we still knew he was disrobing). He donned a real swimming suit, not the long bathing trunks used for leisurely swims. He slid off the rim of the pool, and the underwater camera showed his pale body swimming to and fro, muscles lilting. He was all alone in the water: no cardigan, no blue sneakers -- just Mister Rogers in a Speedo. The images were underlaid with dulcet music and were almost lyrical to watch, but equally difficult. You almost felt like you should look away, he was so vulnerably exposed; but that was Fred, laying bare his best gift, his honest self.

Appearing In This Episode

Songs

Images

Episode Credits

With Fred Rogers
Neighbors: Betty Aberlin, Don Brockett, Willie Saunders (uncredited), Fred Strother
Executive Producer: Fred Rogers
Producer: Sam Newbury
Director: Paul Lally
Associate Producer: Margy Whitmer
Music Director: John Costa

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Corner image by Spencer Fruhling. Used with permission.
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