PITTSBURGH — Alex Newell has been a part of Fred Rogers' neighborhood since he was 2 days old.
The 39-year-old Springdale resident is the son of David Newell, who played Mr. McFeely on "Mister Rogers' Neighborhood." David Newell said Rogers was the first person who came to visit him at UPMC Magee-Womens Hospital after each of his three children were born, including Alex. Growing up, Alex would encounter Mister Rogers almost daily, sometimes in the Neighborhood of Make-Believe or out to dinner with the Newell and Rogers families.
"When you're living around it, you don't realize how special and kind of cool it is," Alex told the Post-Gazette. "It was a lot of days being on set and in the offices and going to appearances with my dad and meeting a lot of interesting and famous people."
Alex wound up following in his father's footsteps professionally ... sort of. He's a letter carrier for the United States Postal Service. Yes, Mr. McFeely's son is a real-life deliveryman who specializes in speedy deliveries on his Squirrel Hill route.
And now, he's directly entering his father's old stomping grounds in the form of a cameo on "Daniel Tiger's Neighborhood," a PBS Kids children's show starring one of Mister Rogers' most beloved puppet creations. Alex will briefly appear in Wednesday's episode as — what else — a mail carrier ensuring a little girl's care package for a friend makes it to her with no hiccups.
"In a way, Alex grew up in Mister Rogers' neighborhood, in reality and in pretend," said his dad. "He watched the program as he was growing up, and now he's making a delivery on ['Daniel Tiger's Neighborhood']. And that makes me so proud."
He said Alex had always been the most interested in acting of all his children. Alex relocated from Pittsburgh to Denver and eventually Los Angeles, where he worked on some independent films and reality shows such as "Crash Course." Money started getting tight after three years in California, so he moved back to Pittsburgh in an effort to "settle himself and regroup." He dabbled in acting around here too, including appearing in an Armstrong cable commercial.
His priorities were shuffled after meeting his fiancee and gaining both a stepson and now 1-year-old Ashton, their child together. He began looking into civil service jobs and narrowed it down to the Postal Service, UPS and FedEx before eventually going with the Postal Service. He was well aware of the irony of becoming a mail carrier given who his dad played for so many years on television.
What was his father's reaction to learning what his son would be doing for a living going forward?
"You're kidding!" David Newell said. "How ironic he would be a delivery slash postman, and I've been pretending to be one for over 40 years!"
People are constantly amused by Alex's chosen profession and like to remind him, "You were born for this." He enjoys the work, especially the 10 miles a day he walks that he says helps a lot with keeping his diabetes under control. Alex wasn't quite prepared for how physical it was or for having to deliver in every kind of weather, but he's gotten used to those demands.
Like you would expect from the son of Mr. McFeely, Alex has made plenty of friends along his delivery route, including one woman who makes him lunch everyday whether he's brought one or not. Part of his route happens to include delivering to his parents' first house on Dunmoyle Street. David said Alex once ended up delivering a letter he had mailed to a friend — yet another special moment in the bond between the real and pretend mail carriers.
The "Daniel Tiger's Neighborhood" cameo came about after Fred Rogers Productions reached out to Alex about being part of that live-action interstitial. Supervising producer Chris Loggins said the show was looking for a mail carrier for that segment and they decided to go with Alex to showcase "a serendipitous case of life imitating art." To drive home the connection, the house number on the package he delivers is 143, which always represented "I LOVE YOU" to Fred Rogers.
"[H]e was such a good sport throughout the whole process," Loggins said of Alex's participation. "He even wore his uniform for the segment, although we were sure to provide him with the 'Speedy Delivery' cap. I think he asked to keep it afterwards."
For David, part of the fun of having his son appear on a Mister Rogers-related show is getting to share that with Ashton. He said they've started showing him "Daniel Tiger's Neighborhood" and old "Mister Rogers' Neighborhood" episodes, though he doesn't respond to much besides the closeups of Fred and Daniel's faces. He wants Alex to watch his episode with Ashton to see if he will recognize his father on screen.
"I'm so proud of him and his family," David said. "He's such a wonderful dad. It does my heart good to go over there and see Alex taking such an interest in his son. ... Fred would be so delighted to know that too, because that's exactly what Fred was doing with the program: encouraging family communication."
Alex believes it is "definitely important to carry on the legacy of what Mister Rogers created," which is why he jumped at the chance to be on "Daniel Tiger's Neighborhood." The delivery connection to David made the whole experience even sweeter, and it was a great opportunity to honor his dad, who was the "greatest teacher for me and every other kid that grew up with the show."
"Thank you for being the greatest role model there is," Alex said, "besides Mister Rogers."
