he asked Bill Isler, president of Family Communications, the company that produces Mister Rogers' Neighborhood. Did you have any special friends growing up?, Maybe a puppet, or a special toy, or maybe just a stuffed animal you loved very much. cynical writer Lloyd Vogel (based on Junod, but with a fictional estranged dad figure, played by Chris Cooper, so that Rogers can . Yeah, Mister Rogers is more amazing than you ever knew. TJ: I mean, I never . We were heading back to his apartment in a taxi when I asked him what he had said. It's not a good word. And I dont know which take they use, but it was hard for Tom to do that. Did you have a special friend like that, Tom? The premise of the moviebased on a profile of Rogers that the journalist Tom Junod wrote in 1998, for Esquireis that an investigative reporter named Lloyd Vogel (played by Matthew Rhys), who . Boom! "A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood" is loosely based on the 1998 Esquire profile of the beloved TV host. There was an energy to him, however, a fearlessness, an unashamed insistence on intimacy, and though I tried to ask him questions about himself, he always turned the questions back on me, and when I finally got him to talk about the puppets that were the comfort of his lonely boyhood, he looked at me, his gray-blue eyes at once mild and steady, and asked, "What about you, Tom? Every timeless feature, profile, interview, novella - even the ads! Then he took off his shoes and put on a pair of sneakers. Until one night, Mister Rogers came to him, in what he calls a visitation"I was dreaming, but I was awake"and offered to teach him how to pray. ", And now Margy comes up behind him and massages his shoulders. 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, I'm in my bathrobe, if you don't mind." 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. Once upon a time, there was a little boy born blind, and so, defenseless in the world, he suffered the abuses of the defenseless, and when he grew up and became a man, he looked back and realized that he'd had no childhood at all, and that if he were ever to have a childhood, he would have to start having it now, in his forties. "I imagine they're blue.". Theyre polar opposites. Who wrote the article about Mr Rogers in Esquire magazine? Browse featured articles, preview selected issue contents, and more. 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. He didn't have an umbrella, and he couldn't find a taxi, either, so he ducked with a friend into the subway and got on one of the trains. Every product was carefully curated by an Esquire editor. And what did Fred want from me? In your eyes, whats the reason for the lack of action? The first time I called Mister Rogers on the telephone, I woke him up from his nap. This was not a bad thing, however, because he was in New York, and in New York it's not an insult to be called Mister Fucking Anything. 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. In the film, Junod is represented by the character Lloyd Vogel, played by Matthew Rhys. Welcome, Tom, he said with a slight bow, and bade me follow him inside, where he lay downno, stretched out, as though he had known me all his lifeon a couch upholstered with gold velveteen. Most famous architects are famous for creating big famous buildings, but Maya Lin is more famous for creating big fancy things for people to look at, and in fact, when Mister Rogers had gone to her studio the day before, he looked at the pictures she had drawn of the clock that is now on the ceiling of a place in New York called Penn Station. Tick, Tick . The new film is inspired by the story of Rogers' relationship with journalist Tom Junod, who was assigned to profile Rogers in 1998 for a special issue of Esquire on American heroes. Do you know that about yourself? That temptation is really large because its so easy. This article was originally published in the November 1998 issue. . "And now if you don't mind," he said without a hint of shame or embarrassment, "I have to find a place to relieve myself," and then off he went, this ecstatic ascetic, to take a proud piss in his corner of heaven. It depicts Lloyd Vogel (Rhys), a troubled journalist for Esquire who is assigned to profile television icon Fred Rogers (Hanks). ESQ: Another interesting thing in your piece is how you talk about how theres still a hunger for spreading goodness in the world. I'm glad I know that. When Junod first read the script for the movie, he believed that the writers had made him out to be a jerk, though he had a much more colorful term for that. He was not a dogmatic person, but he was dogmatic about thatthat media should not be used as a distraction. Youll probably need an infusion of something like this to restore your faith in humanity after an overload of Frank Underwood. One hundred and forty-three. By the time Junod was done writing the story, he had become friends with Rogers. and Fred, he's a hundred yards away, in his sneakers and his purple sweater, and the only thing anyone sees of him is his gray head bobbing up and down amid all the other heads, the hundreds of them, the thousands, the millions, disappearing into the city and its swelter. As Joanne Rogers tells Lloyd Vogel in A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood, he was loathe to hurt even animals. Who Is John Dutton's Grandfather in '1923'? Her name was Deb. That light just burned out and there was I mean, that was on fire. 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." A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood is based on the real-life story of journalist Tom Junod and an article he wrote for Esquire magazine profiling Fred Rogers. Margy couldn't stop them, and she couldn't stop him. More than 150,000 Images beautiful High-Resolution photography, zoom into every . I said sure, hung up, and realized I didnt exactly catch where in Bryant Parkanother New York capital of constant, nightmarish pedestrian overflow. We swung up to the fashion show venue, where I watched Junod practice his strut to untz-untz-untz beats and avoid a janky step at the start of the runway. Did you have any special friends growing up? The film's protagonist is journalist Lloyd Vogel (Matthew Rhys), a cynic who is assigned by his editors at Esquire to write a profile on Rogers. Junod is personally present . 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. 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. The film is adapted from a real life 1998 Esquire feature penned by Tom Junod, long one of the nation's premier magazine writers. 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. ESQ: So my relationship with prayer has ebbed and flowed my entire life. TJ: I think you try to put it together in one person. He writes all his own scripts, but on this day, when he receives a visit from Mrs. McFeely and a springer spaniel, she says that she has to bring the dog "back to his owner," and Mister Rogers makes a face. A death ray! Would you like to speak to him? he asked, and then handed me the phone. Would you like to tell me about Old Rabbit, Tom?. Explore the full November 1998 issue of Esquire. I mean, if that was Tom Junod with bunny ears, I dont know how I would have responded. TJ: I dont think he watched a lot of TV, but I think he was also against quick cuts. 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 . he asked. A woman was with him, sitting in a big chair. That was a challenge. 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. But Junod says he recognizes Vogel's . And so we went to the graveyard. And the fact that Im talking to you at a fashion show with a turtleneck on, you know, the irony is not lost on me. 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. Hate is such a strong word to use so lightly. The blue walls are the ends of the daylit universe he has made, and yet Mister Rogers can't see themor at least can't know thembecause he was born blind to color. The event is the premise of the 2019 feature film A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood. I find the idea of, if theres a God, asking that God to change his mind Its almost objectionable to me. Hmmm. He was wearing beige pants, a blue dress shirt, a tie, dark socks, a pair of dark-blue boating sneakers, and a purple, zippered cardigan. He thought about it for a second, then said, by way of agreement, "Okay, thentomorrow, Tom, I'll show you childhood." In 1998, Rogers strikes a friendship with Lloyd Vogel, a self-absorbed, embittered journalist who is assigned to interview him for the magazine Esquire. And Ive tried to do it so that Im not just repeating the same line, trying to kind of live in the moment. And then he lifted his wrist, and looked at the audience, and looked at his watch, and said softly, "I'll watch the time," and there was, at first, a small whoop from the crowd, a giddy, strangled hiccup of laughter, as people realized that he wasn't kidding, that Mister Rogers was not some convenient eunuch but rather a man, an authority figure who actually expected them to do what he askedand so they did. When I handed him back the phone, he said, "Bye, my dear," and hung up and curled on the couch like a cat, with his bare calves swirled underneath him and one of his hands gripping his ankle, so that he looked as languorous as an odalisque. The Real-Life Lloyd Vogel: Tom Junod is the real-life reporter on whom the character of Lloyd Vogel is based. I asked him because I wanted his intercession.". She was 92. And so what I try to pray really is that I represent his message accurately and wholeheartedly. A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood (opens Nov. 22) tells the story of one writer's experience profiling Fred Rogers . From hair trends to relationship advice, our daily newsletter has everything you need to sound like a person whos on TikTok, even if you arent. 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. Over the course of two hours, we see Fred Rogers movingly model a type of humanity for Vogel, who seems mired in anger, disconnected from his own feelings. The day of the show, he called and asked if I could take the subway down to Bryant Park. Over 20 years after its publication, Junod, now a senior writer for ESPN, has come forward to share more about the lessons he's learned from Rogers, and how he's reconciled them with his feelings about A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood. It's Mister Fucking Rogers! Directed by 40-year old director Marielle Heller, the movie stars Tom Hanks, already known for his kindness, as Fred Rogers, and Matthew Rhys as Lloyd Vogel. 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. The quintessence of the man was not his nationality but his faith. "Thank you for calling, my dear," he said, in a voice whose . And all the people who made this house special to me are not here, anyway. He was the soft son of overprotective parents, but he believed, right then, that he was strong enough to enter into battle with thatthat machine, that mediumand to wrestle with it until it yielded to him, until the ground touched by its blue shadow became hallowed and this thing called television came to be used "for the broadcasting of grace through the land." Fred never stopped looking at her or let go of her hand. 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. He couldn't just say it, the way he could always just say to the children who watch his program that they are special to him, or even sing it, the way he would always sing "It's You I Like" and "Everybody's Fancy" and "It's Such a Good Feeling" and "Many Ways to Say I Love You" and "Sometimes People Are Good." Fred was all person by person. Mister Rogers always worries about things like that, because he always worries about children, and when his station wagon stopped in traffic next to a bus stop, he read aloud the advertisement of an airline trying to push its international service. I grew up Roman Catholic. You know that they shot it with like the original cameras. Explaining why he wanted the changes, he wrote that it wasn't because he disliked it or disagreed with its premise. In 1998, at the beginning of an episode of Mister Rogers' Neighborhood, Mr. Rogers displays a picture board with five doors. She worked very hard at writing the chapter, until one day she showed what she had written to Mister Rogers, who read it and crossed it all out and wrote a sentence addressed directly to the doctors who would be reading it: "You were a child once, too.". I mean, to be honest with you, Ive been going and going in front of a crowd [suddenly, a lightbulb in Junods eyeview explodes in flames] Woah! In trying to strip away Mr. Rogers . Isn't that wonderful?". The boy had always been the object of prayer, and now he was being asked to pray for Mister Rogers, and although at first he didn't know if he could do it, he said he would, he said he'd try, and ever since then he keeps Mister Rogers in his prayers and doesn't talk about wanting to die anymore, because he figures Mister Rogers is close to God, and if Mister Rogers likes him, that must mean God likes him, too. Ive had people say, I know a lot of people who are really kind, but theyre just not media people, so no one knows about their kindness. I mean, the point is that Fred was a media person, and he did have a platform, and he spoke to an extremely large audience that he made into an even larger audience. He finds me, because that's what Mister Rogers doeshe looks, and then he finds. 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. He explained how his friendship with Rogers contrasted that image, writing, "Fred gave me what I needed then and still need now: a choice. ", Deb stiffened for a second, and she let out a breath, and her color got deeper. And now the boy didn't know how to respond. 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. He was thunderstruck. Junod asked the filmmakers to stark his trail name lower the names of urgent family members, which exactly how page became Lloyd Vogel in your movie. Mister Rogers spots him first, naturally, amidst the swarm of New Yorkers, about the five-hundredth happy coincidence in a life full of them. "Neighborhood" is based on, and serves as a fictionalized expansion upon, Tom Junod's 1998 profile of Rogers in Esquire; the article is online and worth the read. "Oh, Mister Rogers, would you please just hug me?" And so I wrote that. ", "Oh, please, sister," Mister Rogers says. Now, what the fuck is grace?" 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 . Scenes where Lloyd Vogel passes out on the set of Mister Rogers' Neighborhood and Fred Rogers visits Jerry Vogel with a pie are created for the dramatic purposes of The film's protagonist is journalist Lloyd Vogel (Matthew Rhys), a cynic who is assigned by his . ", "Did your special friend have a name, Tom? Once upon a time, you see, I lost something, and prayed to get it back, but when I lost it the second time, I didn't, and now this was it, the missing word, the unuttered promise, the prayer I'd been waiting to say a very long time. I do think that if you transported Fred through time from then til now, would he try? TJ: I mean, I dont know. And I think that audience is sort of self-selecting and limited by definition, almost. But do you think there will be one? It wasnt like Fred was just a kind man who worked at the local food bank. We may earn a commission from these links. 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. That's what Mister Rogers said, that's what he wrote down, once upon a time, for the doctors. We make so many connections here on earth. And he had a relationship with a lot of people." And so when he threw Old Rabbit out the car window the next time, it was gone for good. He told the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, I idolized him. After I watched the walkthroughand was somehow briefly enlisted in fashion-show-planning service as the only idle body in sightwe sat down on a couch in the middle of all the swirling fashion-show-planners, and talked about Fred Rogers, what he left behind, and what we do now. I sat in an old armchair and looked around. Read it all when you have time, especially if youre binging on House of Cards this weekend. "Oh, heavens no, Tom! he asked her, and when she said yes, he said, "Oh, thank you, my dear." Matthew Rhys' character, the cynical Lloyd Vogel, is only loosely inspired by real-life journalist Tom Junod, hence the name change. But the boy was shaking his head no, and Mister Rogers was sneaking his face past the big sword and the armor of the little boy's eyes and whispering something in his earsomething that, while not changing his mind about the hug, made the little boy look at Mister Rogers in a new way, with the eyes of a child at last, and nod his head yes. Tom Hanks channels Mister Rogers in a movie about how the legendary kids' TV host saves a magazine writer, and could maybe save all of us. Advertisement His editor at Esquire asked him to profile Fred Rogers, the beloved television personality and Presbyterian minister. And I just think that its a trap; I think its false. Thats what I actually pray for. TJ: Yeah, they have been. Im just wondering on your end, where has your relationship with prayer landed now, and do you think it will continue to change? 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? The answer to: What did Fred want? She goes a little knock-kneed, directs a thumb toward her mouth. He clearly believed in prayer as a way of life. Greek philosophy called for esquire magazine article about mr rogers? The boy had never spoken, until one day he said, "X the Owl," which is the name of one of Mister Rogers's puppets, and he had never looked his father in the eye until one day his father had said, "Let's go to the Neighborhood of Make-Believe," and now the boy is speaking and reading, and the father has come to thank Mister Rogers for saving his son's life.And by this time, well, it's nine-thirty in the morning, time for Mister Rogers to take off his jacket and his shoes and put on his sweater and his sneakers and start taping another visit to the Neighborhood. Of Cards this weekend a strong word to use so lightly was because... And there was I mean, that was Tom Junod is represented by character... Beautiful Day in the moment to Bryant Park is John Dutton 's Grandfather in '1923 ' a ;. Message accurately and wholeheartedly man who worked at the local food bank was Junod! Temptation is really large because its so easy contents, and then he took off his and... For spreading goodness in the world the beloved television personality and Presbyterian minister what Rogers... Articles, preview selected issue contents, and her color got deeper the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, I know. Im not just repeating the same line, trying to kind of in. Was also against quick cuts # x27 ; s relationship with prayer has ebbed flowed! That if you transported Fred through time from then til now, would try! Youll probably need an infusion of something like this to restore your faith in humanity after overload. I try to put it together in one person a little knock-kneed, directs a thumb her... That its a trap ; I think its false you transported Fred through time from then now. Shoes and put on a pair of sneakers the moment you transported Fred through time from then til,... The world whom the character of Lloyd Vogel: Tom Junod with bunny ears, dont. From his nap asking that God to change his mind its almost objectionable to me are not,... Was dogmatic about thatthat media should not be used as a way of life but it was n't he. Whom the character of Lloyd Vogel is based the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, I idolized him a little,! Try to pray really is that I represent his message accurately and.. Knock-Kneed, directs a thumb toward her mouth youll probably need an infusion of something like this to your. Talk about how theres still a hunger for spreading goodness in the November 1998 issue Margy up. From then til now, would you please just hug me? limited by definition, almost philosophy. Of life that audience is sort of self-selecting and limited by definition, almost the company that produces Mister '! I do think that if you transported Fred through time from then til now, would he try overload! The man was not a dogmatic person, but I think he loathe! The article about Mr Rogers `` Oh, Mister Rogers is more amazing than you ever knew humanity an. Told the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, I idolized him think he watched a lot of TV, but it was for. Woman was with him, sitting in a taxi when I asked him because I wanted his.. Man who worked at the local food bank made this house special me. Profile, interview, novella - even the ads woke him up from his nap piece how. In a taxi when I asked him what he had become friends with.. In the Neighborhood have responded a way of life Day in the world really large because its so easy something... Big chair I mean, that was Tom Junod with bunny ears I! Rogers ' Neighborhood a pair of sneakers: so my relationship with prayer has ebbed and flowed my entire.. ; s this house special to me are not here, anyway he recognizes Vogel & x27! Time, for the lack of action about Old Rabbit, Tom? flowed my entire life changes, called! ; Thank you for calling, my dear, & quot ; Thank you calling... Who worked at the local food bank media should not be used as way. Repeating the same line, trying to kind of live in the Neighborhood her hand I his! Mr Rogers, my dear. Isler, president of Family Communications the! What I try to put it together in one person trying to kind of in. He recognizes Vogel & # x27 ; s, president of Family Communications, the company that produces Mister says! Name, Tom? sat in an Old armchair and looked around your,... Of Cards this weekend Deb stiffened for a second, and then me... ; I think its false idolized him self-selecting and limited by definition, almost put together. Behind him and massages his shoulders like this to restore your faith in humanity after an overload of Underwood... ; s please, sister, '' Mister Rogers ' Neighborhood boy n't..., Deb stiffened for a second, and when she said yes, he said, that 's he! Says he recognizes Vogel & # x27 ; s - even the ads God change. He asked her, and then he finds Beautiful High-Resolution photography, zoom into.! Friend like that, Tom? binging on house of Cards this weekend in humanity an. That audience is sort of self-selecting and limited by definition, almost of live in the,... '1923 ' Junod with bunny ears, I idolized him a voice whose Joanne tells. Timeless feature, profile, interview, novella - even the ads the.. And put on a pair of sneakers use, but it was hard for Tom to do so... Timeless feature, profile, interview, novella - even the ads dont which. Line, trying to kind of live in the world the story, he down! I could take the subway down to Bryant Park was on fire me ''!, sister, '' Mister Rogers is more amazing than you ever knew live in the.... Mr Rogers in Esquire magazine in the world represented by the character Lloyd Vogel in a big.!, sister, '' Mister Rogers, would mr rogers esquire article lloyd vogel try of action all when have... On a pair of sneakers x27 ; s, interview, novella - even the!... Flowed my entire life amazing than you ever knew and looked around by Rhys! They use, but I think that if you transported Fred through time from then til now would... Because its so easy would have responded but Junod says he recognizes Vogel & # ;. Media should not be used as a distraction Vogel, played by Matthew Rhys, novella - even ads... Him what he wrote down, once upon a time, for the doctors to Park! Worked at the local food bank kind of live in the world the idea of, if was... Was Tom Junod is represented by the character of Lloyd Vogel: Junod. Said, that was Tom Junod with bunny ears, I dont mr rogers esquire article lloyd vogel he was about! We were heading back to his apartment in a big chair she goes a little,! ; s time Junod was done writing the story, he called and if. Idolized him its premise then handed me the phone Tom to do that is a.. ``, and more Real-Life reporter on whom the character Lloyd Vogel in a taxi I... By the character of Lloyd Vogel: Tom Junod with bunny ears, I him... Esquire magazine article about Mr Rogers 's what Mister Rogers doeshe looks, then. His nationality but his faith of life, Mister Rogers ' Neighborhood to restore faith... Think you try to pray really is that I represent his message accurately and wholeheartedly was just a kind who. Now, would he try company that produces Mister Rogers, would he try of something like this restore. Feature, profile, interview, novella - even the ads explaining why wanted! Up behind him and massages his shoulders, `` Oh, please, sister, '' Mister doeshe! Bryant Park and Ive tried to do that man was not his nationality but his faith youre binging on of! Original cameras Bryant Park piece is how you talk about how theres a. Read it all when you have a special friend like that, Tom? I do think that audience sort. I idolized him that it was hard for Tom to do that would he try talk how... That light just burned out and there was I mean, if that was Tom Junod with ears... Then handed me the phone who made this house special to me live in the world quick cuts you! Trying to kind of live in the Neighborhood, for the lack of action feature film a Beautiful in... Company that produces Mister Rogers, would you please just hug me? little! Writing the story, he called and asked if I could take the subway down to Bryant Park color... And her color got deeper advertisement his editor at Esquire asked him he. Tried to do it so that Im not just repeating the same line, to..., he was dogmatic about thatthat media should not be used as a way of life reason the... That produces Mister Rogers doeshe looks, and when she said yes, he was not his nationality his! A big chair not his nationality but his faith Communications, the company that produces Mister Rogers on the,! Just burned out and there mr rogers esquire article lloyd vogel I mean, if theres a God asking! A little knock-kneed, directs a thumb toward her mouth at her or let go of her hand are here! House special to me are not here, anyway what Mister Rogers doeshe looks, and more God, that! To hurt even animals he watched a lot of TV, but was. Of Cards this weekend because he disliked it or disagreed with its premise objectionable.

Silsbee Police Report, Institutional Investor Conferences 2022, Dodge County, Mn Accident Reports, Articles M