Here’s another bit of April fun – how did Daniel Tiger end up living in a clock?  It was on April 5, 1954 that Daniel Striped Tiger made his debut on the very first “Children’s Corner” program, the forerunner of Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood that Fred Rogers co-produced at Pittsburgh’s WQED with Josie Carey, who served as the program's host.

WQED had just begun broadcasting that week.  Fred wasn’t on-air talent – he was the station’s first program manager, but he and actress Josie Carey, who was volunteering as a secretary, decided to work together on a live one-hour program for children that they called “The Children’s Corner.” Television was pretty much an unscripted and unrehearsed free-for-all at that time, and Fred and Josie had planned to offer some original children’s songs and show nature films borrowed from the library.  Fred and Josie didn’t intend to use puppets as part of the program, but the night before, at a party given by their friend and station manager Dorothy Daniel, they received a little tiger puppet as a favor. 

The next day, they brought the tiger puppet in for the first program and decided to cut out a hole in the cuckoo clock drawn on the set.  No one had time to find a cuckoo yet!  Fred, who was to be behind-the-scenes playing the background music, slipped Daniel on his hand and popped him out through the hole in the clock, just like a cuckoo, where he would sing out the time and some interesting fact.  Over the years, Fred talked fondly about those early days and even remembered Daniel’s first proclamation, “It’s 5:02, and Columbus discovered America in 1492!”  Daniel Striped Tiger continued to live in a clock all of his days, and became one of the most beloved characters in public television!        

Neighborhood News  | Subscribe | Tell a  Friend | Get our April e-Calendar | Family Communications |  Shop