Before George Romero made Night of the Living Dead, he filmed Fred Rogers having his tonsils removed. Years later, with a career in horror behind him, Romero liked to call that children's television short his scariest film. He was remembering how frightened he had been of pulling off the production in a working hospital, with Mister Rogers as the patient.[1][3]

Romero was learning his trade through the small assignments available around Pittsburgh, where he had stayed after leaving Carnegie Tech. With friends, he started a commercial film company called The Latent Image. Looking back in Rick Sebak's 1991 documentary, he recalled early work for WQED and the Junior League, followed by films for Rogers. Those jobs could send a young filmmaker into a hospital or off to New Jersey to discover how light bulbs were made.[1][2]

On Rogers's program, the light-bulb film reached children through Picture Picture, the framed screen he could address as though it were another helpful acquaintance. In the clip included with Romero's interview, Rogers suggests asking Picture Picture about the manufacturing process, greets it, and requests the film. The little exchange makes room for a trip beyond the television house: someone has gone to the factory with a camera so everyone watching can see what happens there.[2]

For Romero, the New Jersey assignment remained a happy memory. He described the work as encouraging and spoke warmly about trying to satisfy Rogers, a client with strong ideas about what he was doing. Rogers's educational films needed someone who could go out and shoot them, and Romero remembered being trusted with that responsibility early in his career. Even the tonsillectomy story, which became an excellent joke for a horror director to tell, came with his explanation that he had been scared of managing the job.[1][2]

As Romero went on to make zombie movies, Rogers continued to support him, according to the filmmaker's later recollections. Romero reported that Rogers saw Dawn of the Dead and called it "a lot of fun." His former client had followed his work into subject matter a considerable distance from the factory visits of children's television, and Romero remembered him with affection.[1]

Rogers did draw a line when Romero wanted Betty Aberlin, who played Lady Aberlin on the children's show, to appear in Night of the Living Dead. In later accounts, Romero named different parts he had hoped to give her, so the precise proposed role is uncertain. He consistently described Rogers refusing the request. As Romero told the Montreal Gazette, "Fred put his foot down and said no."[1]

Sources

  1. Mental Floss: When Mr. Rogers Gave George Romero His First Paying Gig
  2. WQED / PBS: George A. Romero’s Early Work with Fred Rogers (1991 interview and transcript)
  3. Focus Features: Five Iconic Moments from Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood

Image: George Romero at Fan Expo Canada, September 2015. Source photograph: "George Romaro" by GabboT (Tony Shek), Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 2.0. Cropped and resized; this derivative is shared under the same license.