An important part of the original Mr. Rogers’ show was the opening shot of zooming into his miniature neighborhood set. Pee Wee’s Playhouse used a similar device in its opening shots as well. There is nothing quite as charming and engaging as a miniature world of make believe and the Green Room is determined to follow in the steps of the greats!
Designing the Neighborhood
The neighborhood model city set was inspired obviously by the original Mr. Roger’s Neighborhood along with a little PeeWee’s Playhouse intro. It was also inspired by the vision of Walt Disney and the never-built Experimental Prototype Community of Tomorrow (now to be confused EPCOT) and the model city which appeared at the 1964-65 World’s Fair and later at the Carousel of Progress in Disneyland. (Now it was cut up and parts of it appear in Walt Disney World on the People Mover).
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fHxvWwBtAFU
So the neighborhood city we built has a 1960s approach to the world of tomorrow, approach with a little Googie thrown in for good measure. The set needed to be built to accommodate many future episodes that might have the lead visit many unusual diverse locations.
Stay tuned for Part 2 – About the Monorail and more…
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