23x15 - Episode 15

[bunniefuu]

[MUSIC PLAYING]

- [SINGING]It's a beautiful
day in this neighborhood.

A beautiful day for a neighbor.

Would you be mine?

Could you be mine?

It's a neighborly day
in this beauty wood.

A neighborly day for a beauty.

Would you be mine?

Could you be mine?

I have always wanted to have
a neighbor just like you.

I've always wanted to live
in a neighborhood with you.

So let's make the most
of this beautiful day.

Since we're together,
we might as well say.

Would you be mine?

Could you be mine?

Won't you be my neighbor?

Won't you please.

Won't you please.

Please won't you be my neighbor?

-Welcome, neighbor.

Welcome to this neighborhood.

I'd like you to see
a slide whistle.

It's called a slide whistle
because it has this slide

and it sounds like a whistle.

[WHISTLE SOUND]

I'll play the rest
of it on the piano.

[PIANO PLAYING]

Now I can do those things
because I learned to do them.

When I first played
the slide whistle,

though, I played like this.

[WHISTLE SOUND]

And when I first
touched the piano, I--

[PIANO PLAYING]

Played like this.

It takes time to learn.

And once you've
begun to learn, it

takes time to practice
and learn more and more.

I have a friend called
Itzhak Perlman who

has worked a long time
learning to play the violin.

Here's his picture.

I'd like you to
see this picture.

And then I'd like
you to meet him.

Mr. Perlman uses crutches
to walk so, of course,

he has very strong arms.

And he uses those arms to play
his violin in wonderful ways.

He told me we could come visit
him for a little while in one

of the rehearsal rooms at
our Symphony Hall downtown.

So let's go there now.

I really want you to
meet Itzhak Perlman.

Come along.

[MUSIC PLAYING]

This is the place.

This is a rehearsal hall.

Here's his violin, I guess.

Isn't that beautiful?

Hi.

-How are you?

-I'm just fine.

I'm so glad to see you.

-Pleasure.

-Thank you.

Like you to know my
television neighbor.

-Hi there.

-Mr. Itzhak Perlman.

-I saw your fiddle here so I
figured you weren't far behind.

-Yup.

I just let it rest a little bit.

-Now you've always use these
crutches to walk, have you?

-Yes.

Yes.

Actually I used them
since I was four years.

Before I was four, I
could walk without them.

And then I had polio.

And it was a little
bit after four.

Four and three months.

Which meant that both
my legs became weakened

and they need help.

So I wear braces on my legs
and then I use crutches.

-But your arms must
be very strong.

-Yes.

Because I have to
lift all this weight.

-And play that violin.

-That's right.

-Could I see it?

-Of course.

This is an Italian violin
made by a violin maker

called Antonio Stradivarius.

And he made it in
the year 1714, which

means that it's way
over 200 years old.

-Yes.

-Very, very old,
beautiful instrument.

-Isn't it beautiful?

-Look at this beautiful color.

This original red varnish.

Yeah, does look like
a spinal cord, right?

-Could we hear you play it?

-Oh, sure.

What would you like me to play?

Anything.

-Anything.

-Anything.

-Like "Yankee Doodle" maybe.

-Gee whiz.

Really?

Let me see.

Is that the one that goes--

[VIOLIN PLAYING]

-Sure is.

[VIOLIN PLAYING]

-You can do it.

Were you able to
play that way when

you first picked up a violin?

-No.

No, no, no.

When you first
pick a violin, it's

very, very difficult
even to make a sound.

The first time, for example.

Just to take the bow and
move it across the string.

[VIOLIN]

-I'm sure many of you who try
the violin, that's probably

the first thing
that you have to do.

-Yeah.

But how old were you
when you started?

-I started when I
was five years old.

And I want to play, actually
when I was 3 and a half.

But the violin-- I had like a
sixteenth-- tiny, tiny violin.

And it really sounded like--

[SCREECHING NOTES]

It didn't sound very good.

So we waited until I was five.

And then I got, I
think, a quarter size.

Maybe-- I was a big boy,
so I got a quarter size.

-But when you play,
sometimes do you ever

use it to express your feelings?

-Of course.

I mean, whenever
you play something,

you always express what you feel
about the music on the violin.

Sure.

-Would you play
something that you

might play when you were sad?

-When I was sad, sure.

Well, either sad just in
a kind of a lyrical mood.

You know, you want
to play a tune.

Like something like this.

[VIOLIN PLAYING]

-Beautiful.

-Or maybe you can
play something that

makes you a little
happier or bouncier.

Like--

[VIOLIN PLAYING]

You know, like where
it makes the bow

bounce all over the string.

[VIOLIN PLAYING]

-It's as if it's dancing.

-That's right.

That's right.

-Now if somebody said to
you, please play something

that you really love to play.

What would you think of playing?

-Well, I like so many things.

But one of those things--
I'll play a little bit

of this little caprice by
Paganini, who was a very, very

famous Italian violinist who
lived a long, long time ago.

And this is one of
his little caprices.

[VIOLIN PLAYING]

-Think how pleased Paganini
would be to know that you're

playing that after
all these years.

-I would hope so.

I've always wanted to meet
him, but he lived too ago.

-Now you have children?

-Yes.

I have five children.

-And some of them are
musicians too, aren't they?

-I have-- let's see, my
nine-year-old daughter

plays the flute.

And then I have
a 14-year-old son

who plays drums and the trumpet.

And he loves jazz.

Very much interested in jazz.

And then our 19-year-old
daughter, she sings.

And then we have another
daughter who's 23

and she plays the piano.

-What a musical family.

-So most of them play something.

And actually my
oldest son played

the electric guitar
a little bit.

-Thank you for all the music
you give to so many people

in this life.

-My pleasure

-I'm very grateful
to have known you

and to be able to introduce
you to my television neighbor.

-My pleasure.

-I know that you're working
on something-- -Yes,

I have to rehearse.

-For tonight.

With the-- with the symphony.

And I hope we'll visit again.

-Thank you very much.

-Thank you so much, Mr. Perlman.

Bye bye.

[VIOLIN PLAYING]

[MUSIC PLAYING]

I love being able
to introduce you

to great artists
like Itzhak Perlman.

What a strong man he is.

I can just see him as a little
boy practicing his violin.

And now he's a daddy and he
seems so proud of his children.

See about these fish.

Oh, they're hungry.

Let's have some make
believe time now.

Hey, Trolley.

We've been pretending that
Trolley has been able to show

what things were like when
everybody was very young.

Let's make believe that
it can still do that

and Robert Troll is
helping it with the King.

Ready, Trolley?

Ready for the Neighborhood
of Make Believe?

All right.

Neighborhood of Make Believe.

[TROLLEY BELL]

-You may stop there, Trolley.

Yes.

Now Robert Troll,
how does the Trolley

m they show us pictures
of our childhood?

-Oh.

King Friday.

I don't know it does.

I don't know how it does,
but I know it does it.

But that's for sure.

It really does.

And does it good, too.

You'll see about
that, King Friday.

-Well, Trolley.

You may show us the
time that I was a child.

[TROLLEY BELL]

-Oh, you need to
be off your track.

-Stay right there, King Friday.

I'll get it off the tracks.

-Oh, very good.

-OK, Trolley.

Up we go.

Oh, there we are.

-Yes.

-You're going to like
this, King Friday.

-Very well.

Trolley, you may proceed.

[BELL]

-That's what I looked like.

Very good, Trolley.

-Nice job, Trolley.

-Now you may show me with
my mother and father.

-Oh.

Sir, that's the way
you really looked.

-We all looked like that.

That's my family
when I was a baby.

-That's too pretty.

-Hello, Daddy.

Hi, Robert Troll.

Who's that on the Trolley?

-Oh that's your father,
Tuesday, when I was little.

-That little boy is you?

-That's the way I used to look.

-When he was little.

What do you think,
Prince Tuesday?

-But now you're
a big man, Daddy.

-Yes.

And you will grow to
be a man too, Tuesday.

-Oh, I hope so.

Were you little one
time too, Robert Troll?

-Oh, yes.

I was very little.

Maybe Trolley can show
when I was little, huh?

What do you say, Trolley?

-Good.

-You were that little?

-Well I think I was
littler than that.

I'm not sure.

-Where were your mom and dad?

-Oh, do have you have any
pictures of my mom and dad,

Trolley?

Yeah.

-Oh, there they are.

-There's mother.

And there's my dad.

See them there.

-There you are.

-Oh, Miss Paullificate.

I thought it was you.

-Correct as usual, King Friday.

Except you're all wanted at the
Long Ago party in the LA Room.

-Oh yes.

We have to make sure that
Trolley is there too.

-That's for sure.

-What's the Trolley
showing us now?

-Oh, well that's-- I
think it's a little girl.

Yes, a pretty little girl, too.

Long blonde curl--

-Oh.

I haven't looked
like that in years.

-And there's King Friday.

That's you, King Friday.

And that's Queen Sarah on
the other side, isn't it?

-Of course it is.

-We've known one another
since I was a little girl.

-Yes.

-Wow.

That's really great.

-Now everyone else
is waiting inside,

so I think we'd better go.

-To the LA room, then.

-OK.

-All right.

Off we go, Trolley.

[TROLLEY BELL]

-Did you ever seen pictures
of you when you were little?

Can you tell how much
you've grown since then?

- [SINGING]You are growing.

You are growing.

You're growing in and out.

You're growing.

You're growing.

You're growing all about.

Your friends are
getting better now.

They're better
every day somehow.

You used to stay
at home to play.

But now you even play away.

You do important things now.

Your friends and you
do big things now.

I like the way
you're growing up.

It's fun.

That's all.

Someday you'll be a
grown up too and have

some children grow up too.

Then you can love
them in and out

and tell them stories
all about the times

when you were their size.

The times when you found
great surprise in growing up.

And they will sing, it's fun.

That's all.

You're growing.

You're growing.

You're growing in and out.

You're growing.

You're growing.

You're growing all about.

-And that's true.

You know, there's a
place nearby that I'd

like you to know about.

It's a place where
people do things the way

they were done many,
many years ago.

Long ago, even before
there were any cars

or televisions or
things like that.

I have a book about that place.

It's called Colonial
Williamsburg.

And see, there's a
carriage with horses.

It's what you would ride in
instead of a car or a cycle.

And some people wore hats
that had three corners.

Some people tended sheep
the way they do now.

Sheep gave us wool.

Windmill gave us power.

Old, old times.

And people made
their own baskets.

Some people played
with wooden hoops.

I like to think about the
times that I've visited there.

[MUSIC PLAYING]

MR. ROGERS: On one visit, I
took a ride on a carriage.

Topsy and Prince were
the horses' names.

The driver knew just how to
talk to them so they would

know when to go
and when to stop.

We heard some
musicians playing music

on a fiddle and a tin whistle.

[MUSIC]

We saw a man in a
three cornered hat.

There was a post
office where people

mailed letters, just
like we do today.

There was a building surrounded
by fancy gardens and bushes

that were trimmed
in wonderful shapes.

Lots of people
like to visit here

and take carriage rides too.

[MUSIC AND SINGING]

I saw a sign with a castle.

on it.

It made me think
of make believe.

People loved to sing
a long time ago,

just like people
love to sing today.

After a while, the
carriage took us by a field

with sheep and lambs.

We passed the windmill.

And then we saw some oxen.

They looked like cows with
horns, but they're called oxen.

Sometimes they help
people pull wagons.

We also saw man
working in his garden.

People grew their
own food since there

weren't any grocery
stores long ago.

Further down the road
was a man showing

visitors how to make baskets.

I remember passing
the cooper's place

where men were making
barrels and buckets.

All sizes of them.

You have to know an awful
lot to be able to do that.

As we traveled
down the street, I

wondered why so many
people had come together.

I soon found out.

[DRUMS_]

There was a parade.

A long time ago
people liked to listen

to music played on
drums and fifes.

Fifes are like little flutes.

A fife and drum band.

[MUSIC]

As we moved on, I could still
hear the music in the distance.

I liked the carriage
ride very much.

But I wanted to stop and
visit a kitchen from long ago.

our Kitchens today
are inside our houses,

but this kitchen was in a
building beside a house.

-When we're preparing for nice
dinners, some of the things

that you might see on that table
would be some of the things

you're seeing here today.

Maybe we have the pound cake.

I think most of you know
what the yellow cakes are.

We also have mints that are done
with cinnamon in them as well.

The small hen and chicks is
made out of an almond fudge.

And the nest around it
made of candied lemon peel.

One of the real fancy
things we could see also

would be the stack of ginger
cookies done into heart shapes.

Do you have any questions?

-I was wondering what
kind of stoves people

used a long time ago?

-Well a long time ago,
they use the fireplace

where you see the coals
burning right now.

Nice and glowing.

And our pots, of course, on top.

We're also using our oven
today, which is over here.

And we're just getting ready
to remove bread from it.

Be a addition to our dinner.

It's been very nice of
you to come by today.

We've explained these things
that you've been seeing here.

We hope that you do come back
and see us again, please.

You're welcome, certainly.

-I hope you have a good day.

-Bye, you too.

-Bye.

MR. ROGERS: There were so
many things to see and hear.

As I was leaving, I stopped
to watch some children playing

that game with hoops and sticks.

It really looked like fun.

-A long time ago,
people liked to play.

And we still do.

And people also like
to know that they

were lovable just
the way they were.

And we still do.

- [SINGING]It's you I like.

It's not the things you wear.

It's not the way
you do your hair.

But it's you I like.

The way you are right now,
the way down deep inside you.

Not the things that hide you.

Not your toys.

They're just beside you.

But it's you I like.

Every part of you.

Your skin.

Your eyes.

Your feelings.

Whether old or new.

I hope that you'll remember
even when you're feeling blue.

That it's you I like.

It's you yourself.

It's you.

It's you I like.

-And when you really
know that deep inside,

then you'll be able
to like other people

for who they really are too.

That can give you
all a good feeling.

- [SINGING]It's such a good
feeling to know you're alive.

It's such a happy feeling
you're growing inside.

And when you wake
up ready to say,

I think I'll make
a snappy new day.

It's such a good feeling,
a very good feeling.

The feeling you know that I'll
be back when the week is new.

And I'll have more
ideas for you.

And you'll have things
you want to talk about.

I will too.

-It's always good
to be with you.

[WHISTLE SOUND]

I'll be back next time.

Goodbye.

[MUSIC PLAYING]