Kenny!

Fred Rogers and I graduated from the same college and did student teaching together. Fred was teaching theatre and had to use model palaces on a rotating stage. I was student teaching with Head Start and needed small hands to rescue small dolls and other toys from the indoor dollhouses. Fred put the stage out in the middle of the gym floor, and when I called "Kenny!" a whole line of students volunteered to crawl under the stage to rescue the doll houses.<br><br>Why did Fred have to use small palaces on a rotating stage? On the first day of teaching his first class, he could not get the stage open. Nothing he did would move the stage walls, and he could not get the doll houses. He had to think like Fred! Like the TV host he was to become, he opened the first day to the whole gym full of freshmen and asked if anyone had a solution before he went to find help. A small freshman crawled under the stage and moved the stage walls, and the dollhouses were retrieved.<br><br>Fred was thrilled to have his student palaces but was plagued by the thought of a dangerous stage that could kill someone--one day. He used his palaces on a stationary set and decided this was much safer! He was such a great saver of lives as he did his theatre and as Mr. Rogers on TV.<br><br>[edit] Changed to Fred!