Mountain Lake PBS has a
friendly neighbor in Middlebury, Vermont, and what a joy it was to
welcome him to our special screening of the Mister Rogers documentary Won’t You Be My Neighbor this week. The Strand Center Theatre in Plattsburgh provided an elegant environment for the occasion.
Dr. François Clemmons, known to Mister Rogers’ viewers as the singing police agent Officer Clemmons, performed on Mister Rogers Neighborhood over the course of twenty-five years.
This
week he crossed Lake Champlain to share stories about Fred Rogers that
only he can tell. I invited the audience to ask him questions, and got
in a few myself.
After the superb movie
and the question and answer session came the moment that cast a spell on
the audience, hearing Dr. Clemmons sing, and not just any song.
Clemmons, who founded the renowned Harlem Spiritual Ensemble, first
performed a soulful hymn from the gospel tradition. He followed it up
with a special request I had made, “There Are Many Ways to Say I Love
You,” written by Fred Rogers. Clemmons had sung it the very last time
he appeared on camera with Mister Rogers, and a clip of it had appeared
in the documentary. It was the song Clemmons sung while his feet cooled
off in a wading pool next to those of Mister Rogers, in a scene that
not only spread a subtle message against racism, but one that also
contained Biblical overtones when Rogers dried Clemmons’ feet with the
same towel he’d been using. The audience at the event, not expecting
the song, gasped and applauded once they recognized the tune.
https://youtu.be/9sMyrcuDe_8
The talented Vihan
Wickramasinghe performed wonders at the grand piano. It was the first
time the physics and music graduate of SUNY Plattsburgh had accompanied
Dr. Clemmons.
I was enchanted
enough to tell the audience they’d witnessed a genuine “Officer Clemmons
magical moment,” one that took a scene from the movie we’d seen, and
brought it musically to life for everyone in the auditorium.
I’d like to thank the audience members who joined us, bringing with them their love of Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood
and their enthusiasm to meet an accomplished cast member from the
show. Also, the Strand Center for the Arts deserves profound thanks
from Mountain Lake PBS, for partnering with us to help make this Indie
Lens Pop-Up special screening a super special event.
The ever
gracious Clemmons called the afternoon program a “superior occasion,”
and said “I always tell folks when I travel what a fine job that little
station in upstate New York is doing. Truly, with your sensitivity and
professionalism, you set the standard!”
Special thanks to our national partners, Independent Lens, ITVS, PBS and the Corporation for Public Broadcasting.
Saturday, April 13, 2019
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