Mr. Rogers' car stolen, returned

[snopes]

This has been asked and posted before, but it's worth kicking around again:

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Comment: Supposedly, Mister Rogers' car was stolen. Word of this crime got out, and
the upshot of it was that it was returned -- intact, washed, detailed, the
works -- with a note of apology attached.

An initial web search turned up many articles on this, though my
suspicions are raised since at least two different sources are cited (a
"TV Guide" article and a "Wall Street Journal" column), and that the car
was stolen from two potential sites (Children's Television Workshop in New
York, and WQED in Pittsburgh).

[Avril]

I ran a search on a database I have access to and found this snippet:

Legend has it that Fred Rogers' car, with several scripts for his show in back, once was stolen from the parking lot of WQED in Pittsburgh. After the thief found the scripts and discovered the owner, the story goes, the car was returned, intact, to the same parking spot.

I wouldn't be surprised if it's true.

in Tom Feran, "A Good Neighbor," (Cleveland, Ohio) Plain Dealer, February 28, 2003, page E1.

I didn't find any references to it that called it anything but a legend.

Avril

[diddy]

Why would the scripts still be in his car? Wouldn't be be taken inside the studio so he could review them before airing? And how easy is it to steal a car on a television studio? Don't they have security to keep people out?

[snopes]

Originally Posted by diddy

Why would the scripts still be in his car? Wouldn't be be taken inside the studio so he could review them before airing?

a) Because they were scripts for episodes that had already been filmed.

b) Because they were drafts of scripts that had not yet been finalized into shooting scripts.

c) Because a studio isn't the only place one can review scripts.

And how easy is it to steal a car on a television studio? Don't they have security to keep people out?

Yes, but most people park their cars in parking lots, not in the middle of television studios.

- snopes

[Avril]

I tried another database and found this from the Wall Street Journal, in an article Peter Pae (Mar 2, 1990. pg. A1):

Children aren't the only ones with a soft spot for Mr. Rogers. Two weeks ago, his Oldsmobile sedan was stolen while he was babysitting for his grandson. After looking over papers and props he had left in the car, the thieves apparently realized who the owner was. Mr. Rogers found the car parked in front of his house a day or so later. All that was missing was a director's chair with his name on it.

This at least narrows it to mid February of 1990, and this article presents the information in a way which claims it to be factual.

I'll keep looking for more.

Avril

[pinqy]

The wikipedia entry for Mr. Rogers says

On the eve of the announcement that Mister Rogers' Neighborhood would cease production of new episodes, TV Guide interviewed Rogers and led the story with an anecdote. Apparently, Rogers had been driving the same car for years, an old second-hand Impala. Then it was stolen from its parking spot near the WQED studio. Rogers filed a police report, the story was picked up by local news outlets, and general shock swept across town. Within 48 hours, the car was back in the spot where he left it, along with a note saying, "If we'd known it was yours, we never would have taken it!"

It's marked as needing a citation. But assuming it is accurate (that TV Guide included the anecdote) then that would be November 10, 2000. Hmmm ten years to turn an Olds into an Impala and props and papers into a local news story.

pinqy

[Avril]

And also for the theives to leave a note, whereas before everyone was left to assume.

Avril

[diddy]

Originally Posted by snopes

a) Because they were scripts for episodes that had already been filmed.

b) Because they were drafts of scripts that had not yet been finalized into shooting scripts.

c) Because a studio isn't the only place one can review scripts.

I gueess I have the thought in my mind that one wouldn't leave scrips in your car presisley in case some one would break in to steal them. But then, I fail to see how the scripts would be worth anything to a rival.

My image was that the scrips are in a case that would be brought into the studio so he could have them handy and when he didnt need them he would destroy them or keep them at home. But then again, thats just me.

[Avril]

If the Wall Street Journal was the origin of the story, however, scripts probably were not involved anyway. Just "papers and props," which could have been almost anything--plus, the director's chair with his name on it.

Later, people probably substituted "scripts" while trying to explain how the thieves knew whose car it was.

Avril

[snopes]

Originally Posted by diddy

I gueess I have the thought in my mind that one wouldn't leave scrips in your car presisley in case some one would break in to steal them.

And no one ever accidentally forgets something important and leaves it in the car.

- snopes

[snopes]

It's marked as needing a citation. But assuming it is accurate (that TV Guide included the anecdote) then that would be November 10, 2000.

The only TV Guide I can find from that era with an article about Mr. Rogers is the one from the week Aug. 25-31, 2001. Perhaps the referenced article coincided with the actual end of production (in 2001) rather than the announcement of it the previous year. (Alas, I don't actually have a copy of this magazine.)

- snopes

[diddy]

Originally Posted by snopes

And no one ever accidentally forgets something important and leaves it in the car.

- snopes

I generally don't forget things in my car. I don't have kids either.

[snopes]

Originally Posted by diddy

I generally don't forget things in my car. I don't have kids either.

http://message.snopes.com/showpost.p...4&postcount=49

[snopes]

Hmmm ten years to turn an Olds into an Impala and props and papers into a local news story.

I turned up yet another version (from a glurgy 2004 article) that moves the theft forward to the early 2000s (even though the story was already several years old by then):

A year or two before Rogers' death, someone in Philadelphia, where he lived, stole his car. The news media reported the story, and before long thousands were talking about the theft. One of the people who saw the story was the thief who had stolen Mr. Rogers' car.

He hadn't known or cared who owned the car when he stole it, but Mr. Rogers' kindness had made a positive impact on his life.

Fred Rogers' kindness prompted him to do something that almost never happens. He returned the car. What made the man return the stolen car? In a word, kindness.

- snopes

[diddy]

Originally Posted by snopes

http://message.snopes.com/showpost.p...4&postcount=49

I am not arguing with you. I just never thought about what you had posted till then. It was not directed at anybody but me and that was my bad. Thats all.