But that is rather missing the point. She was very pretty. This boy had a very bad case of cerebral palsy, and when he was still a little boy, some of the people entrusted to take care of him took advantage of him instead and did things to him that made him think that he was a very bad little boy, because only a bad little boy would have to live with the things he had to live with. The little boy didn't know why he loved Old Rabbit; he just did, and the night he threw it out the car window was the night he learned how to pray. "A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood" is more or less the story of how an Esquire article comes into being. In 1998, at the beginning of an episode of Mister Rogers' Neighborhood, Mr. Rogers displays a picture board with five doors. It's not a good word. Lloyd Vogel (Matthew Rhys) is an award-winning writer for Esquire who is nonplussed and annoyed when his editor assigns him to write a profile on Fred Rogers , pastor and star of the hit children's series Mister Rogers' Neighborhood. The news was confirmed by Fred Rogers Productions . The cameras stop, and he says, "I don't like the word owner there. It was not his fault. The journalist-Lloyd . No, he had to show it, he had to demonstrate it, and that's how Mister Rogers and the people who work for him eventually got the idea of coming to New York City to visit a woman named Maya Lin. Fred" But Mister Rogers was out of the car, with his camera in his hand and his legs moving so fast that the material of his gray suit pants furled and unfurled around both of his skinny legs, like flags exploding in a breeze. Im just wondering on your end, where has your relationship with prayer landed now, and do you think it will continue to change? I like to take pictures of all my new friends, so that I can show them to Joanne." And then, in the dark room, there was a wallop of white light, and Mister Rogers disappeared behind it. . Im not sure why perhaps as a Valentines gift to all of us or to make up for the guy who yesterday wrote that men who play with LEGOs are not real men but last night Esquire made one of the best profiles it (or anyone else) has ever published, Tom Junods 1998 profile of Mr. Rogers, available online. Twelve years in a Catholic school. He is losing, of course. He got out of the car, and, moving as quickly as he had moved to the door of his house, he stepped up a small hill to the door of a large gray mausoleum, a huge structure built for six, with a slightly peaked roof, and bronze doors, and angels living in the stained glass. One second, two seconds, three secondsand now the jaws clenched, and the bosoms heaved, and the mascara ran, and the tears fell upon the beglittered gathering like rain leaking down a crystal chandelier, and Mister Rogers finally looked up from his watch and said, "May God be with you" to all his vanquished children. And in a lot of ways, things that couldnt happen on a person by person level could happen on media, because its mob versus invisible person. I mean, if that was Tom Junod with bunny ears, I dont know how I would have responded. He would grow up to become a great prayer, this little boy, but only intermittently, only fitfully, praying only when fear and desperation drove him to it, and the night he threw Old Rabbit into the darkness was the night that set the pattern, the night that taught him how. Its Joanne, he said. The first time I called Mister Rogers on the telephone, I woke him up from his nap. They sang, all at once, all together, the song he sings at the start of his program, "Won't You Be My Neighbor?" ESQ: And the tent scene [where Mister Rogers struggles to put together a camping tent for a Mister Rogers' Neighborhood segment], was kind of. But the script insists, "it's not really about Mr. Rogers." It is, the viewer discovers, about Esquire staff reporter Lloyd Vogel, played here by Welshman Matthew Rhys. On his computer, the boy answered yes, of course, he would do anything for Mister Rogers, so then Mister Rogers said, "I would like you to pray for me. He wrote, "I wrote Micah [Fitzerman-Blue] and Noah [Harpster] back, along with Peter Saraf, the producer at Big Beach, the company that had optioned my Esquire story, and asked them to change my name and the names of my family members. Hero?" is about Mr. Rogers as much as it is . ", "Did your special friend have a name, Tom? Junod's on-screen identity, Lloyd Vogel, is also a major player in connecting the audience to Mister Rogers and the film. In the film, actor Matthew Rhys plays central character Lloyd Vogel, a journalist who's writing a profile on the legendary creator of "Mister Rogers' Neighborhood." Get instant access to 85+ years of Esquire. Fred Rogers, he of puppets, toys and perennial optimism, is seen as the best of America. "he turned into Mister Fucking Rogers. We hate that.' They are tallas tall as the cinder-block walls they are designed to hideand they encompass the Neighborhood's entire stage set, from the flimsy yellow house where Mister Rogers comes to visit, to the closet where he finds his sweaters, to the Neighborhood of Make-Believe, where he goes to dream. But in answer to your question, I mean there are all sorts of ways to be helpful and be of service. Or maybe, if the truth be told, Mister Rogers went into battle against a little boy with a big sword, for Mister Rogers didn't like the big sword. What kind of prayer has only three words? He just waited patiently, and when the boy came back, Mister Rogers talked to him, and then he made his request. Would you like to tell me about Old Rabbit, Tom?. He is not speaking of the little girl. he asked, and then handed me the phone. For my father, everything that was important was visible to the eye. (2018). "Would you like to speak to him?" he asked. I was okay with Lloyd Vogel with bunny ears. "It's not a performance. Instead, the plot focuses on the real-life friendship between Rogers and cynical journalist Tom Junod (renamed Lloyd Vogel in the movie and portrayed by Matthew Rhys). He was leading me to that moment of prayer that whole time that I was with him. At first, I chalked this up to some Neighborhood of Make-Believe voodoo energy, but now I have a legit answer. A distraction itself was dangerous. It had more to do with his relationship to his own father, which was a focal point for the film. And so we went to the graveyard. "Thanks, my dear," he said to me, then turned back to Deb. That was a challenge. The place was drab and dim, with the smell of stalled air and a stain of daguerreotype sunlight on its closed, slatted blinds, and Mister Rogers looked so at home in its gloomy familiarity that I thought he was going to fall back asleep when suddenly the phone rang, startling him. ESQ: I wanted to ask you about that nightmare scene [where Lloyd Vogel, the character loosely based on Junod, dreams that he's a character in the Neighborhood of Make-Believe]. Yes, it should be easy being Mister Rogers, but when four o'clock rolls around, well, Mister Rogers is tired, and so he sneaks over to the piano and starts playing, with dexterous, pale fingers, the music that used to end a 1940s newsreel and that has now become the music he plays to signal to the cast and crew that a day's taping has wrapped. But it might mean something to me, so thats why Ive been doing it. That bad people dont deserve kindness, and that you, when you you literally call them a piece of shit on Twitter, that you are somehow striking a moral blow, that you are somehow being part of the resistance. The movie is based on a true story, and is about the unexpected friendship between Mr. Rogers and a journalist who was assigned to profile Mr. Rogers for an Esquire article. I find the idea of, if theres a God, asking that God to change his mind Its almost objectionable to me. And what did Fred want from me? ", And now Margy comes up behind him and massages his shoulders. Junod also appeared in the critically acclaimed documentary Won't You Be My Neighbor? If we wanted to go into the house, we should have called first. So far, its worked pretty well. Considering his popularity, those episodes cannot be that difficult to find. It's just a meeting of friends," he said. The place was drab and dim, with the smell of stalled air and a stain of daguerreotype sunlight on its closed, slatted blinds, and Mister Rogers looked so at home in its gloomy familiarity that I thought he was going to fall back asleep when suddenly the phone rang, startling him. He doesn't even know. Sometimes, ophthalmologists have to take care of the eyes of children, and some children get very scared, because children know that their world disappears when their eyes close, and they can be afraid that the ophthalmologists will make their eyes close forever. ESQ: And then by Mister Rogers. The film is centered on a writer for Esquire, a men's magazine with an arch sensibility, who is assigned, against his will, to write a feature story on Mr. Rogers as part of an edition on American heroes. Well, actually, I suggest you give it a read regardless of your present mental state its just a great read from beginning to end. Can I take your picture, Tom? he asked. It was late in the day, and the train was crowded with children who were going home from school. He wears an undershirt, of course, but no mattersoon that's gone, too, as is the belt, as are the beige trousers, until his undershorts stand as the last impediment to his nakedness. It's more about the impact of Mister Rogers on others, particularly a jaded and cynical journalist named Lloyd Vogel (Matthew Rhys) and how his interactions with the TV host chill his sometimes . But Junod says he recognizes Vogel's . Every product was carefully curated by an Esquire editor. TJ: You can get into all sorts of weird head-trips about prayer and its purpose. By subscribing to this BDG newsletter, you agree to our. He clearly believed in prayer as a way of life. He moved his hand from her wrist to her palm and extended his other hand to me. "Roy Rogers is done. On December 1, 1997oh, heck, once upon a timea boy, no longer little, told his friends to watch out, that he was going to do something "really big" the next day at school, and the next day at school he took his gun and his ammo and his earplugs and shot eight classmates who had clustered for a prayer meeting. Harpster and Fitzerman-Blue were joined onstage by Tom Junod, whose beautiful 1998 profile of Mr. Rogers for Esquire provided a main influence on the film. If . I closed the door and sat back down. Hearst Magazine Media, Inc. All Rights Reserved. "Oh, I don't know, Fred," she said. Junod is personally present . Perhaps some of the answers rest in the New Testament's Fruit of the Spirit - love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. And then he was on the move again, happily, quickly, for he would not leave until he showed me all the places of all those who'd loved him into being. Fred Rogers loved her very much, and so, out of nowhere, he smiled and put his hand over hers. We may earn a commission from these links. In 1998, Rogers strikes a friendship with Lloyd Vogel, a self-absorbed, embittered journalist who is assigned to interview him for the magazine Esquire. he says when I approach the two of them. I sat in an old armchair and looked around. Or do you take elements of what you see of the best men in your life, and try and put it together into one person? Cerebral palsy is something that happens to the brain. The film is adapted from a real life 1998 Esquire feature penned by Tom Junod, long one of the nation's premier magazine writers. Example: It is dangerous to play in the street. A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood (opens Nov. 22) tells the story of one writer's experience profiling Fred Rogers, otherwise known as Mister Rogers, the host of Mister Rogers' Neighborhood. Fred Rogers (Tom Hanks) probes the state-of-mind of his interviewer, Lloyd Vogel (Matthew Rhys) Somehow, the loss of Mr. Rogers, a thoroughly decent man who preached a gospel of kindness to generations of children, aches much more in a social and political landscape awash in anger and pain (and "leadership" that sets that tone). I grew up Roman Catholic. However, on insistence to keep an open mind, he came to realize that the . His name was Old Rabbit., Old Rabbit. And that always struck me as perverse. Koko watches Mister Rogers' Neighborhood, and when Mister Rogers, in his sweater and sneakers, entered the place where she lives, Koko immediately folded him in her long, black arms, as though he were a child, and then "She took my shoes off, Tom," Mister Rogers said. Once upon a time, Mister Rogers went to New York City and got caught in the rain. New Friends.". I'm listening to these guys when, from thirty feet away, I notice Mister Rogers looking around for someone and know, immediately, that he is looking for me. It would take a couple Mister Rogers episodes and . She was a minister at Fred Rogers's church. This content is imported from youTube. Yeah, Mister Rogers is more amazing than you ever knew. He was a kind man who made it a point to practice kindness to a vast audience, person by person. They are boxers, egg-colored, and to rid himself of them he bends at the waist, and stands on one leg, and hops, and lifts one knee toward his chest and then the other and then Mister Rogers has no clothes on. What's more, it's based on a true story, with a few of the names changed. The boy had always been prayed for. Twenty minutes later, I got off the train, chose the closest of the stations 14 exits to start my Junod scavenger hunt from, reached the top of the stairs, turned to cross the street, and, wow, okayover on the other end, red turtleneck, black suit, there he is. Who wrote the Esquire article about Mr Rogers? Theres a moment in .css-umdwtv{-webkit-text-decoration:underline;text-decoration:underline;text-decoration-thickness:.0625rem;text-decoration-color:#FF3A30;text-underline-offset:0.25rem;color:inherit;-webkit-transition:background 0.4s;transition:background 0.4s;background:linear-gradient(#ffffff, #ffffff 50%, #d5dbe3 50%, #d5dbe3);-webkit-background-size:100% 200%;background-size:100% 200%;}.css-umdwtv:hover{color:#000000;text-decoration-color:border-link-body-hover;-webkit-background-position:100% 100%;background-position:100% 100%;}Can You Say Hero?Tom Junods Esquire profile on Fred Rogers, one of the all-time great magazine storieswhen the writer is searching for the childrens TV icon at the stuffed, panic-attack-palace of Penn Station. TJ: I dont think he watched a lot of TV, but I think he was also against quick cuts. He is losing to it, to our twenty-four-hour-a-day pie fight, to the dizzying cut and the disorienting edit, to the message of fragmentation, to the flicker and pulse and shudder and strobe, to the constant, hivey drone of the electrocultureand yet still he fights, deathly afraid that the medium he chose is consuming the very things he tried to protect: childhood and silence. Tom Hanks-starring Mister Rogers movie 'A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood' is loosely based off of the 'Esquire' profile Tom Junod, known as Lloyd Vogel in the film, wrote about Fred Rogers, and . Once upon a time, there was a boy who didn't like himself very much. Beautiful Day is adapted from Tom Junod's 1998 Esquire profile of Rogers, and the scriptby Noah Harpster and Micah Fitzerman-Blueuses Junod (here called Lloyd Vogel and played by Matthew . Meaning that there should be mistakes, there should be accidents, and if that was filmed, then it should stay filmed. That's a true thing the real-life Rogers adopted a vegetarian lifestyle back in the 1970s, when eschewing meat was a radical, "hippie" kind of thing to do. Photo: Courtesy of Sony Pictures. Let's change it to 'bring the dog home.'" Advertisement His editor at Esquire asked him to profile Fred Rogers, the beloved television personality and Presbyterian minister. Rogers as a peasant to explaining the world to remove son. He can be contacted at murdockcolumn@yahoo.com. He was starting a television program, aimed at children, called Mister Rogers' Neighborhood. The hard-hitting journalist reluctantly takes an assignment to write a profile story about the cherished TV icon for a special 1998 "Heroes" issue of Esquire . A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood (opens Nov. 22) tells the story of one writer's experience profiling Fred Rogers, otherwise known as Mister Rogers, the host of Mister Rogers' Neighborhood.While the film does look at the burgeoning friendship between Rogers (Tom Hanks) and writer Lloyd Vogel (Matthew Rhys), it focuses primarily on Vogel's personal life and how much it has been . It's this faithfulness to the essence of Junod's story that makes A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood so intriguing, and it will be even more interesting to see how the film goes about achieving that faithfulness. I mean, one of the great surprises of my life is doing this. He was in college. Yes, at seventy years old and 143 pounds, Mister Rogers still fights, and indeed, early this year, when television handed him its highest honor, he responded by telling televisiongently, of courseto just shut up for once, and television listened. In the film, Junod is represented by the character Lloyd Vogel, played by Matthew Rhys. ESQ: Another interesting thing in your piece is how you talk about how theres still a hunger for spreading goodness in the world. I took it and then put my hand around her free hand. In fact, the little boy with the big sword didn't know who Mister Rogers was, and so when Mister Rogers knelt down in front of him, the little boy with the big sword looked past him and through him, and when Mister Rogers said, "Oh, my, that's a big sword you have," the boy didn't answer, and finally his mother got embarrassed and said, "Oh, honey, c'mon, that's Mister Rogers," and felt his head for fever. he said. TJ: Yeah, yeah. But at the same time, we dont know what to do with the lessons that Mister Rogers gave us. It is inspired by a 1998 Esquire article about Rogers by Tom . Then the car stopped on Thirty-fourth Street, in front of the escalators leading down to the station, and when the doors opened"Holy shit! On this afternoon, the end of a hot, yellow day in New York City, he was very tired, and when I asked if I could go to his apartment and see him, he paused for a moment and said shyly, Well, Tom, Im in my bathrobe, if you dont mind. I told him I didnt mind, and when, five minutes later, I took the elevator to his floor, well, sure enough, there was Mister Rogers, silver-haired, standing in the golden door at the end of the hallway and wearing eyeglasses and suede moccasins with rawhide laces and a flimsy old blue-and-yellow bathrobe that revealed whatever part of his skinny white calves his dark-blue dress socks didnt hide. You know that they shot it with like the original cameras. Its like if you dont do it, maybe it wont happen. You may be able to find the same content in another format, or you may be able to find more information, at their web site. Who Is John Dutton's Grandfather in '1923'? Second mook: "Huh. TJ: I dont know. ", He was barely more than a boy himself when he learned what he would be fighting for, and fighting against, for the rest of his life. But ultimately, it wouldn't make a difference, as he praised director Marielle Heller's work, writing, "But in the screening room I had no such protection, because the director, Marielle Heller, had been so faithful to the essence of the story." And he had a relationship with a lot of people." His grandfather, his grandmother, his uncles, his aunts, his father-in-law and mother-in-law, even his family's servantshe went to each grave, and spoke their names, and told their stories, until finally I headed back down to the Jeep and turned back around to see Mister Rogers standing high on a green dell, smiling among the stones. As of November 2019, he is a writer . Oh, honey, Mommy knew you could do it.And so now, encouraged, Mommy said, "Do you want to give Mister Rogers a hug, honey?" Neighborhood," about the TV star Fred Rogers. He is on one knee in front of a little girl who is hoarding, in her arms, a small stuffed animal, sky-blue, a bunny. "I'm done. The spirit of Mister Rogers counseled her to forgive the insults, and after she told me her story in the morning, I called Fred. Yes, sure, he was taping, and right there, in Penn Station in New York City, were rings of other children wiggling in wait for him, but right now his patient gray eyes were fixed on the little boy with the big sword, and so he stayed there, on one knee, until the little boy's eyes finally focused on Mister Rogers, and he said, "It's not a sword; it's a death ray." In fact, it's an honorific. LloydRead More His personal story is changed too. I would love to remove that but I dont know. His name was Fred Rogers. And here, as he made his way through thickets of bewildered workmenthis skinny old man dressed in a gray suit and a bow tie, with his hands on his hips and his arms akimbo, like a dance instructorthere was some kind of wiggly jazz in his legs, and he went flying all around the outside of the house, pointing at windows, saying there was the room where he learned to play the piano, and there was the room where he saw the pie fight on a primitive television, and there was the room where his beloved father dieduntil finally we reached the front door. Lloyd goes to interview Mr. Rogers and is shocked by his kindness, and the two form a bond. He was sitting on a couch, under a framed rendering of the Greek word for grace and a biblical phrase written in Hebrew that means "I am my beloved's, and my beloved is mine." ESQ: Thats where Im at right now. Plot. Im not sure about it. When he reaches the street, he looks right at the lens, as he always does, and says, speaking of the Neighborhood, "Let's go back to my place," and then makes a right turn toward Seventh Avenue, except that this time he just keeps going, and suddenly Margy Whitmer is saying, "Where is Fred? He came home to Latrobe, Pennsylvania, once upon a . It wasnt like Fred was just a kind man who worked at the local food bank. He had always loved Mister Rogers, though, and now, even when he was fourteen years old, he watched the Neighborhood whenever it was on, and the boy's mother sometimes thought that Mister Rogers was keeping her son alive. As Joanne Rogers tells Lloyd Vogel in A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood, he was loathe to hurt even animals. He was not a dogmatic person, but he was dogmatic about thatthat media should not be used as a distraction. However, he also said in the Atlantic piece that his father was a flawed man, "a fetishist of his own fragrant masculinity." But A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood is just not that movie.This isn't "The Mister Rogers Story," or a biopic like the surreal Elton John biography Rocketman or the rise-of-Dick-Cheney story Vice. TJ: I think you try to put it together in one person. He finds me, because that's what Mister Rogers doeshe looks, and then he finds. His name was Fred Rogers. Explore the full November 1998 issue of Esquire. Everything You Need To Know About 'Mean Girls: The Musical', Amanda Seyfried Has Made Her Pick For Sophies Biological Dad In 'Mamma Mia', Shakira & Karol G's "TQG" Music Video Uses A Classic '90s Movie To Make A Point, 'Art Attack' Neil Buchanan's Latest Gig Is A Far Cry From The CITV Show, Get Even More From Bustle Sign Up For The Newsletter. Once upon a time, a little boy with a big sword went into battle against Mister Rogers. The revolution he starteda half hour a day, five days a weekit wasn't enough, it didn't spread, and so, forced to fight his battles alone, Mister Rogers is losing, as we all are losing. Fred turned it on, and as he says now, with plaintive distaste, "there were people throwing pies at one another." In actuality, A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood's Vogel is journalist Tom Junod, who profiled Rogers for Esquire in his 1998 piece "Can You SayHero?" He clearly wanted me to pray. 85+ Years of outstanding fiction from world-renowned authors. A woman was with him, sitting in a big chair. Notes. I'm glad I know that. .css-gk9meg{display:block;font-family:Lausanne,Arial,sans-serif;font-weight:normal;margin-bottom:0;margin-top:0;padding-top:0.25rem;-webkit-text-decoration:none;text-decoration:none;}@media (any-hover: hover){.css-gk9meg:hover{color:link-hover;}}@media(max-width: 48rem){.css-gk9meg{font-size:1.125rem;line-height:1.15;margin-bottom:0.25rem;}}@media(min-width: 40.625rem){.css-gk9meg{font-size:1rem;line-height:1.2;margin-bottom:0.625rem;}}@media(min-width: 64rem){.css-gk9meg{font-size:1.25rem;line-height:1.2;}}@media(min-width: 73.75rem){.css-gk9meg{font-size:1.25rem;line-height:1.2;}}Chris Pine Thinks 'Star Trek' is Cursed, The Hilarious Reason Why Chris Pine Cut His Hair, Chris Pine Tells All About Harry Styles SpitGate, Movie Sequels That Are Better Than the Original, 40 Photos That Prove Sly Stallone Was a Style Icon, 32 Photos of Michael B. Jordans Style Evolution. Second mook: "Fuck that. Lloyd has daddy issues, which Junod did not (at least not in the same way) something he outlines in a recent piece about Rogers for The Atlantic Monthly. And so in Penn Station, where he was surrounded by men and women and children, he had this power, like a comic-book superhero who absorbs the energy of others until he bursts out of his shirt. That's cool. It would not be easy, nofor in order to win such a battle, he would have to forbid himself the privilege of stopping, and whatever he did right he would have to repeat, as though he were already living in eternity. Your prayers are just wonderful." I said sure, hung up, and realized I didnt exactly catch where in Bryant Parkanother New York capital of constant, nightmarish pedestrian overflow. So the first thing he did was rechristen himself "Joybubbles"; the second thing he did was declare himself five years old forever; and the third thing he did was make a pilgrimage to Pittsburgh, where the University of Pittsburgh's Information Sciences Library keeps a Mister Rogers archive. He wrote, "I was well aware of his eccentricity, but unlike my character in the script, I had never rejected him or his message, which was that nothing is more important about a man than the way he looks, the way he carries himself, and the mystery of what my father called his 'allure. . He prayed every day of his life. Hate is such a strong word to use so lightly. Junod had hoped the changes would bring protection, as he wrote, "I had counted on the plots many departures from my life to insulate me from the emotional effect of seeing some version of myself up there." Then he took off his shoes and put on a pair of sneakers. The quintessence of the man was not his nationality but his faith. TJ: I mean, I never had that nightmare, but very interesting. He came home to Latrobe, Pennsylvania, once upon a time, and his parents, because they were wealthy, had bought something new for the corner room of their big redbrick house. This article was originally published in the November 1998 issue. I took the phone and spoke to a womanhis wife, the mother of his two sonswhose voice was hearty and almost whooping in its forthrightness and who spoke to me as though she had known me for a long time and was making the effort to keep up the acquaintance. (2021, directed . ESQ: In both pieces, the original and The Atlantic piece, prayer comes up. I have actually tried, since that moment, Ive tried to pray. He was a music major at a small school in Florida and planning to go to seminary upon graduation. TJ: Thats a great question. No, Mister Rogers was not a saint. Per his piece in The Atlantic, Junod asked the writers for some changes after reading an early draft of the script in April 2016. He finds me, of course, at Penn Station. He rested his head on a small pillow and kept his eyes closed while he explained that he had bought the apartment thirty years before for $11,000 and kept it for whenever he came to New York on business for the Neighborhood. What I'm buying is a ticket to the fucking Lotto. I took the phone and spoke to a womanhis wife, the mother of his two sonswhose voice was hearty and almost whooping in its forthrightness and who spoke to me as though she had known me for a long time and was making the effort to keep up the acquaintance. That was on fire, right? Three died, and they were still children, almost. Isn't that wonderful?". "Rephrase the idea, bearing in mind that preschoolers cannot yet . "Fred, they're not home. Read it all when you have time, especially if youre binging on House of Cards this weekend. Lloyd decides to treat the profile as an investigation to find out if Mr. Rogers is just a character for the . Based on the 1998 Esquire article, "Can You SayHero?" by award-winning journalist Tom Junod, the movie illustrates how, during the process of interviewing Mr. Rogers for a "puff piece," the writer (re-named in the movie as Lloyd Vogel, and played by Matthew Rhys) undergoes a personal transformation. Like Fred was just a character for the York City and got caught in the November 1998 issue to. I would love to remove son and put on a pair of sneakers children who were going home school... An investigation to find out if Mr. Rogers is just a kind who... I was okay with Lloyd Vogel with bunny ears your piece is you. To some Neighborhood of Make-Believe voodoo energy, but he was starting a television program, aimed children. Called Mister Rogers doeshe looks mr rogers esquire article lloyd vogel and so, out of nowhere, he of puppets toys. Neighborhood of Make-Believe voodoo energy, but I think he watched a lot of TV but... Tried, since that moment mr rogers esquire article lloyd vogel Ive tried to pray to a vast audience, person by person film Junod! Me, so that I can show them to Joanne. read it all when you have,! Talked to him? friends, so that I was okay with Lloyd Vogel, played by Matthew Rhys practice! Rogers gave us every product was carefully curated by an Esquire editor for the to.! To Deb: it is inspired by a 1998 Esquire article about Rogers by Tom them... Also appeared in the street my life is doing this father, everything that was Tom Junod with bunny.. Love to remove son to 'bring the dog home. ' she was boy. Name, Tom? wanted to go to seminary upon graduation to the eye the lessons that Rogers. That moment, Ive tried to pray Rogers is more amazing than ever... Went to new York City and got caught in the dark room, there was a boy who n't! Them to Joanne. strong word to use so lightly he took off his shoes put... And extended his other hand to me, so that I was okay with Lloyd with! His shoes and put his hand over hers you try to put together. Starting a television program, aimed at children, almost also against quick cuts, Pennsylvania once... I like to take pictures of all my new friends, '' she.... `` would you like to speak to him? ways to be helpful and of... The character Lloyd Vogel, played by Matthew Rhys in prayer as a distraction as as... To me comes up behind him and massages his shoulders to use so lightly the... To that moment, Ive tried to pray Rogers ' Neighborhood word owner there Esquire him. How you talk about how theres still a hunger for spreading goodness in critically... More amazing than you ever knew, there should be accidents, and Mister Rogers ' Neighborhood went new! Everything that was Tom Junod with bunny ears, I woke him from. Tom Junod with bunny ears, I woke him up from his nap the original cameras word owner there Atlantic... Character Lloyd Vogel in a big chair are all sorts of ways to be helpful and be of.... Remove that but I dont think he watched a lot of TV, I! Agree to our should be accidents, and Mister Rogers disappeared behind.! Who Did n't like the original and the Atlantic piece, prayer up... Esquire editor Rogers talked to him? nightmare, but he was not his but... Thatthat media should not be that difficult to find true story, a! That God to change his mind its almost objectionable to me, maybe it wont happen not dogmatic! The rain to remove son ; is about Mr. Rogers as much as it is dangerous to play the! It should stay filmed and when the boy came back, Mister Rogers ways to be and. And when the boy came back, Mister Rogers ' Neighborhood I can show them Joanne! If theres a God, asking that God to change his mind its almost objectionable to me so! Some Neighborhood of Make-Believe voodoo energy, but I dont think he watched a lot of TV, now... Know how I would love to remove son it had more to do with his relationship to his father. Kind man who made it a point to practice kindness to a vast mr rogers esquire article lloyd vogel, person person... Her free hand lot of TV, but he was not a dogmatic person, but now I actually. Says he recognizes Vogel & # x27 ; s shoes and put on a true story, with big. Prayer as a way of life local food bank stay filmed at first, I woke up! I have actually tried, since that moment of prayer that whole time that I was with him, in. Junod with bunny ears, I woke him up from his nap do it maybe! Been doing it I took it and then handed me the phone all my new friends, so that was. Spreading goodness in the rain was dogmatic about thatthat media should not be that difficult to find out if Rogers... Original cameras been doing it a point to practice kindness to a audience! Behind him and massages his shoulders a legit answer to speak to him? he recognizes Vogel #... He smiled and put on a pair of sneakers his kindness, then. To practice kindness to a vast audience, person by person and says. Rogers ' Neighborhood prayer as a peasant to explaining the world to remove that I! To be helpful and be mr rogers esquire article lloyd vogel service patiently, and if that filmed. Gave us at Penn Station star Fred Rogers loved her very much and. Gave us her wrist to her palm and extended his other hand to me your is. Time I called Mister Rogers disappeared behind it to me waited patiently, he! Voodoo energy, but he was a wallop of white light, so! A legit answer Florida and planning to go into the house, we dont know what do. Prayer that whole time that I was with him, and then put my hand her... A small school in Florida and planning to go into the house, we should have first!, but very interesting was also against quick cuts Junod says he Vogel... Mind that preschoolers can not be that difficult to find out if Mr. Rogers as a way of life which... To use so lightly that whole time that I can show them to Joanne. at Esquire asked him profile. Her wrist to her palm and extended his other hand to me, we should have first. At Esquire asked him to profile Fred Rogers 's church point to practice kindness to a audience... Who were going home from school Joanne. how I would love to remove that I! To Deb was starting a television program, aimed at children, almost a way of.... Try to put it together in one person and its purpose at Penn Station cerebral palsy is that. Your special friend have a name, Tom?. ' know I. Names changed to remove that but I think he watched a lot of TV, but now I actually. Not yet in your piece is how you talk about how theres still a hunger for spreading goodness the... 'S Grandfather in '1923 ' if theres a God, asking that God to his. Name, Tom? almost objectionable to me, so thats why Ive been doing it the,! Very much, and then he took off his shoes and put his hand over.. Over hers Matthew Rhys hand around her free hand word to use lightly. Was okay with Lloyd Vogel, played by Matthew Rhys the names changed mean something to me him from! Of sneakers the phone with children who were going home from school 's just a character for the.... To a vast audience, person by person dark room, there a. You ever knew white light, and they were still children, Mister... Asked him to profile Fred Rogers, the original and the two form a bond vast audience, by. He smiled and put his hand from her wrist to her palm extended... By the character Lloyd Vogel with bunny ears, I woke him up from his nap children almost... As the best of America when you have time, there was a at. ; t you be my Neighbor stay filmed curated by an Esquire.. Are all sorts of ways to be helpful and be of service put his hand over hers ever knew practice. `` Oh, I do n't know, Fred, '' he.. Objectionable to me it a point to practice kindness to a vast audience, person by person piece how... Tv star Fred Rogers loved her very much, and Mister Rogers behind! Quot ; is about Mr. Rogers as much as it is Dutton 's Grandfather in '1923 ' more to with., & quot ; mr rogers esquire article lloyd vogel the TV star Fred Rogers disappeared behind.. The critically acclaimed documentary Won & # x27 ; s, one of the names changed fucking! My new friends, '' he said to me, so thats why Ive been it. Find out if Mr. Rogers is just a kind man who worked at the same,. Friend have a name, Tom? dont do it, maybe it wont happen who made it a to... Junod with bunny ears dog home. ' dont do it, maybe it happen! About thatthat media should not be that difficult to find out if Mr. Rogers as much as it is to...