Video mashup honors Mister Rogers, imagination

LOS ANGELES (AP) — Mister Rogers is making it a beautiful day in the neighborhood again.

Fred Rogers, the late host of “Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood,” is featured in a PBS Digital Studios video mashup that celebrates the power of imagination. The piece posted online Friday turns clips from Rogers’ PBS show into a sweetly inspiring music video, “Garden of Your Mind.”

“Did you ever grow anything in the garden of your mind? You can grow ideas in the garden of your mind,” Rogers says, his autotuned voice given a gentle backbeat.

The salute to the treasured children’s TV host drew reaction from the public and celebrities, with Neil Patrick Harris calling it a “groovy” tribute in a Twitter posting, and Alyssa Milano tweeting that the mashup will “make you cry tears of joy.”

Rogers’ widow, Joanne, is among the video’s “biggest fans,” said Kevin Morrison, COO of the Fred Rogers Company.

“It’s a very creative piece and we think it gives appropriate recognition to the fact that Fred was ahead of his time in so many ways,” Morrison said.