May 20th, 2017: Mr Rogers' Cardigans

And now for something completely different.

Each square represents an episode and the approximate color of the sweater that Rogers wore. There were three episodes during this stretch when Rogers went without a sweater.
Some sweaters were worn once and then never again, like the neon blue cardigan Rogers wore in episode 1497. Others, like his harvest gold sweaters, were part of Rogers’ regular rotation and then disappeared. And then there were the unusual batch of black and olive green sweaters Rogers wore exclusively while filming the “Dress-Up” episodes in 1991. To this day, members of the Neighborhood Archive message board claim those are the only sweaters Rogers wore that were store bought. The rest were hand knit by his mother.

As a ’90s kid, I associate Rogers with his red cardigan more so than any other sweater, so it was surprising for me to see that green is actually the color he favored the most — edging out red by a total count of 74 to 54. It turns out though, Rogers was red-green colorblind, so I like to think that some punk PA was messing with him and told Rogers they were both different shades of brown.
A noticeable pattern also shows up when you lay out the color of each sweater Rogers wore chronologically: Over time, Rogers ditched the pastels for darker, more saturated tones.

Before every Urban Outfitters in the world was stocked full with cardigans, Rogers made them his signature accessory. His fashion-forwardness should inspire Mark Zuckerberg, the modern poster boy of the “work uniform” movement, to try and dress a little less like a fuckmook.

Fred was the coolest guy ever, he came and went after my time for kids shows but caught it occasionally and friends kids raved
(quietly of course) about it. Couldn't help but like the guy unless you're a sociopath... ot psychopath. :eyebrow:
Not to be confused with Mr Robinson's Neighborhood.

link

Mr. Rogers also:
Convinced Congress to increase PBS funding from $9 million in 1970 to $22 million the next year.
Answered every piece of fan mail he could manage, personally.
Was greeted in sign language by Koko the gorilla with "I love you, I love visit."
Advocated (sometimes with poetry) in front of government committees that the then-nascent VHS/Betamax industry not be squashed before it could start, on the grounds that kids deserved to be able to go out and play, then come home and watch his show whenever they wanted. The MPAA got slapped down by the Supreme Court because of his testimony on the issue.
Was married to the same woman for 51 years.
Was an ordained Presbyterian minister.

Fred was the real deal.

[probably offensive hot take]I wonder how his life would have turned out differently if it had been socially acceptable to be gay when/where he grew up.[/hot take]

not offended.

I reckon his life would have turned out the same. He seems very well grounded, which has nothing at all to do with sexuality.

There is a color-blindness simulation plug-in in photoshop, it does not include Tritanopia, which is extremely rare, but does include Protanopia and Deuteranopia. Here are the cardigan colors as Mr. Rogers would have seen them, depending on which type of color blindness.

Here is a link to a picture simulating Tritanopia: https://cf.geekdo-images.com/images/pic2262111_lg.jpg

He had terrible taste in colors then, because those are hideous.

Bah, Mama don't knit no hideous cardigans 'cause she loves him, she loves him, she gets down on her knees and hugs him. :p:

glatt;989277 wrote:

He had terrible taste in colors then, because those are hideous.

Unless you've always thought, "Mr. Rogers Cardigans are hideous," then those colors can't be hideous, and he--by your definition--couldn't have had bad taste. Context. If they are bad colors *for a cardigan* you would have noticed.

Clodfobble;989148 wrote:

[probably offensive hot take]I wonder how his life would have turned out differently if it had been socially acceptable to be gay when/where he grew up.[/hot take]

I've wondered that about Jesus, and honestly, mostly any male historical figure who didn't exhibit toxic masculinity.

xoxoxoBruce;989280 wrote:

Bah, Mama don't knit no hideous cardigans 'cause she loves him, she loves him, she gets down on her knees and hugs him. :p:

You're assuming she loved him like a rock.

From some of those sweaters, I wonder if she even liked him.

glatt;989277 wrote:

He had terrible taste in colors then, because those are hideous.

He didn't have much choice; those were the only colors he'd ever seen. Or were you referring to the original chart? In that case, I doubt those were the exact colors, but represented the different color groups. Why would he have so many identically colored cardigans?

Flint;989284 wrote:

I've wondered that about Jesus, and honestly, mostly any male historical figure who didn't exhibit toxic masculinity.

You haven't met the new and improved muscular Christ?

footfootfoot;989377 wrote:

He didn't have much choice; those were the only colors he'd ever seen. Or were you referring to the original chart? In that case, I doubt those were the exact colors, but represented the different color groups. Why would he have so many identically colored cardigans?

In the original chart I posted, each square represents a show, with the color he wore on that show. 54 red squares is 54 shows he wore red, not 54 red sweaters.

That makes more sense. I figured his mom must have been a knitting fool.