Speedy Delivery | movie | 2008 | Official Featurette
A wig, moustache and timeless uniform help transform David Newell into the whimsical Mr. McFeely, an authentic character | dG1fbExITFpORm1fcjg
Transcript
00:00 Mr. McFeely delivered happiness to generations of viewers in Mr. Rogers' neighborhood.
00:07 The man behind the mustache, David Newell, continues the legacy of his late friend and
00:18 mentor Fred Rogers. The magic of Mr. McFeely then and now is captured in a documentary
00:25 called "Speedy Delivery."
00:27 As a documentary filmmaker, this was a dream subject.
00:30 Paul Germain was a grad student at CMU when he first encountered Mr. McFeely at a local
00:35 shopping mall.
00:36 I was just really taken aback that number one, it was him, the real person, that he
00:41 was still doing it. And I had all these questions, you know, why would a person play the same
00:45 character for 40 years?
00:47 The budding filmmaker set out to answer those questions in a documentary with a total budget
00:53 of $4,000.
00:57 Which is pretty minuscule for three and a half years of production.
01:01 Most places doesn't buy you the parking space that you need to park your trucks to take
01:07 the film.
01:08 So we did the entire film mostly on favors.
01:12 It's a miracle.
01:13 The filmmaker follows his subject on his day job with Family Communications, which produced
01:19 Mr. Rogers' Neighborhood at WQED Studios.
01:23 The side of my delivery truck, we're just keeping it in the studio for old times sake.
01:27 For old times sake and his long time friend, Mr. McFeely, carries on.
01:33 What I'm doing is a part of a bigger mission. And so I want to be part of that mission and
01:41 I'm going to continue.
01:43 With a speedy delivery that is also timeless, I'm Dave Crawley.
01:47 [BLANK_AUDIO]