Moments of Grace
Has it Been 10 Years? Essay by Chris de Vinck In 1983 I was working on a pilot children’s television program that was to include puppets and reading. During the course of my research, I was introduced to Fred Rogers, creator of Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood. I was brought to what is called the “Green Room” in the HBO studios in Manhattan, and when the door closed behind me, I was in the room alone with Mister Rogers. “Hello. I’m Fred Rogers.” The tall, thin man wearing a bow tie, a blue jacket, glasses and a smile quickly stood up from a gray, folding chair, and extended his hand. “I’m Chris de Vinck. Hello.” We shook hands and then spoke, for perhaps two minutes, about children’s television, and my project, but for the rest of the hour, we spoke about our Best of FRiEnDs, CHS’s Chris de Vinck and Fred Rogers. wives, our children; we both opened the story about how they met at college, spoke about our wallets and shared pictures of our families. their mutual love of music. Fred asked me about my writing. I asked him about Fred and I swam in the Atlantic Ocean together, just his music. We laughed a great deal, especially when the beyond his small Nantucket summer home he called producer of the talk show Fred was to appear in banged The Crooked House. We sat together at the foot of a loudly on the door and reprimanded me for taking so large dune, at the very tip of the island and Fred said, long with Mister Rogers. “Right here, Chris, is where my father and I sat so often After all, the company was being charged by the and spoke about our lives. Right here he told me, often, hour, at exorbitant rates, for the rent of the studio. Fred how much he loved and admired me.” looked at me in a impish way and whispered, “Oh my. I remember sitting on the deck with Fred at the I think we are in trouble.” Crooked House as he was working on a TV script and Two weeks later, when the children were in bed, I was working on my next essays when a large seagull when my wife was in the living room reading, and I flew down and landed on a post just to my left. was in my small room writing, the phone rang. My wife “Hello,” said the seagull in a very familiar Fred called from the couch, “Chris. Phone. It’s someone Rogers’ puppet voice. called Mr. Rogers.” “Hello,” I said. Hello, Chris?...And so began an 18 year friendship. “Whatcha doin?” asked the sarcastic bird. Fred invited me to Pittsburgh to be on his television “Working on an essay for The Wall Street Journal.” program with him and the writer, May Sarton. At his “That doesn’t look like work,” said the seagull. home he and his wife Joanne shared the food, shared 6 February 2013 • Clifton Merchant