Betty Aberlin (born Betty Kay Ageloff; December 30, 1942) is an American actress, poet, and writer. She is best known as Lady Aberlin on ''

Mister Rogers' Neighborhood ''Mister Rogers' Neighborhood'' (sometimes shortened to ''Mister Rogers'') is an American half-hour educational children's television series that ran from 1968 to 2001, and was created and hosted by Fred Rogers. The series ''Misterogers'' debut ...

'', a role she played for the entirety of the show's 33-year run.

Life and career

Born Betty Kay Ageloff in

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

, Aberlin grew up in a Jewish family and attended public schools in Queens and Staten Island. In Staten Island, she attended

Curtis High School Curtis High School, operated by the New York City Department of Education, is one of seven public high schools located in Staten Island, New York City, New York. It was founded on February 9, 1904, the first high school on Staten Island. Hist ...

, graduating in 1959. She graduated from

Bennington College Bennington College is a private liberal arts college in Bennington, Vermont. Founded in 1932 as a women's college, it became co-educational in 1969. It claims to be the first college to include visual and performing arts as an equal partner in ...

, having studied art, modern dance, and literature with

Howard Nemerov Howard Nemerov (March 1, 1920 – July 5, 1991) was an American poet. He was twice Poet Laureate Consultant in Poetry to the Library of Congress, from 1963 to 1964 and again from 1988 to 1990. For ''The Collected Poems of Howard Nemerov'' (1977 ...

and

Bernard Malamud Bernard Malamud (April 26, 1914 – March 18, 1986) was an American novelist and short story writer. Along with Saul Bellow, Joseph Heller, and Philip Roth, he was one of the best known American Jewish authors of the 20th century. His baseba ...

. She made her debut at the Phoenix Theatre in 1954 in ''Sandhog'', a folk-opera by

Waldo Salt Waldo Miller Salt (October 18, 1914 – March 7, 1987) was an American screenwriter who won Academy Awards for both ''Midnight Cowboy'' and '' Coming Home''. Early life and career Salt was born in Chicago, Illinois, the son of Winifred (n ...

and

Earl Robinson Earl Hawley Robinson (July 2, 1910 – July 20, 1991) was a composer, arranger and folk music singer-songwriter from Seattle, Washington. Robinson is remembered for his music, including the cantata "Ballad for Americans" and songs such as " Jo ...

. Aberlin had a regular role as Lady Aberlin for 33 years on the children's television series ''

''. Lady Aberlin was

King Friday The Neighborhood of Make-Believe is the fictional kingdom inhabited by hand puppet characters on the children's television series ''Mister Rogers' Neighborhood'', which originally aired on PBS (and its predecessor NET) from 1968 to 2001, and its ...

's niece and frequently the "main" character of the

Neighborhood of Make-Believe The Neighborhood of Make-Believe is the fictional kingdom inhabited by hand puppet characters on the children's television series ''Mister Rogers' Neighborhood'', which originally aired on PBS (and its predecessor NET) from 1968 to 2001, and its ...

segments. Often the only full-sized character in the segments, she acted as something of a level-headed older sister to the puppets and audience alike, and an

audience surrogate A narrative technique (known for literary fictional narratives as a literary technique, literary device, or fictional device) is any of several specific methods the creator of a narrative uses to convey what they want —in other words, a stra ...

, providing exposition for the story's narrative. She could occasionally be seen dancing around the Neighborhood whenever she was by herself. Sometimes nicknamed "Lady A," she also sometimes acted as a surrogate mother to Daniel Tiger. She also appeared on ''The

Smothers Brothers The Smothers Brothers are Thomas ("Tom" – born February 2, 1937) and Richard ("Dick" – born November 20, 1938), American folk singers, musicians, and comedians. The brothers' trademark double act was performing folk songs (Tommy on acoustic gu ...

Show'' (1975) and various TV spots. For a short time she did a late-night radio show on

WYEP-FM WYEP-FM (91.3 MHz) is a listener-supported non-commercial radio station in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. It carries an Adult Album Alternative (AAA) radio format and is run by the Pittsburgh Community Broadcasting Corporation, along with 90.5 WESA ...

in Pittsburgh, a station she helped found. The program featured jazz, comedy, and some spoken arts and poetry. WYEP is a non-commercial, community-supported station for progressive music, arts, and public affairs. Aberlin wrote and performed a sequence for ACRE TV's ''The 90's''—"Stop Me Before I Love Again"—in a theme show on growing older, which aired on PBS. Aberlin played back-up singer Cheryl and later starred as Heather in the 1978

Joseph Papp Joseph Papp (born Joseph Papirofsky; June 22, 1921 – October 31, 1991) was an American theatrical producer and director. He established The Public Theater in what had been the Astor Library Building in Lower Manhattan. There Papp created a y ...

production of Cryer & Ford's ''I'm Getting My Act Together and Taking it on the Road'' at the

New York Shakespeare Festival Shakespeare in the Park (or Free Shakespeare in the Park) is a theatrical program that stages productions of Shakespearean plays at the Delacorte Theater, an open-air theater in New York City's Central Park. The theater and the productions are ...

's Public Theater in New York and on the road. In 1980–1981, Aberlin played

Meryl Streep Mary Louise Meryl Streep (born June 22, 1949) is an American actress. Often described as "the best actress of her generation", Streep is particularly known for her versatility and accent adaptability. She has received numerous accolades throu ...

's sister in

Elizabeth Swados Elizabeth Swados (February 5, 1951 – January 5, 2016) was an American writer, composer, musician, and theatre director. Swados received Tony Award nominations for Best Musical, Best Direction of a Musical, Best Book of a Musical, Best Origin ...

' ''Alice in Concert'', based on ''

Alice in Wonderland ''Alice's Adventures in Wonderland'' (commonly ''Alice in Wonderland'') is an 1865 English novel by Lewis Carroll. It details the story of a young girl named Alice who falls through a rabbit hole into a fantasy world of anthropomorphic creatur ...

'', both at

The Public Theater The Public Theater is a New York City arts organization founded as the Shakespeare Workshop in 1954 by Joseph Papp, with the intention of showcasing the works of up-and-coming playwrights and performers.Epstein, Helen. ''Joe Papp: An American Li ...

and in a 1982 television version, ''Alice at the Palace''. Later in her career, Aberlin formed a kinship with

Kevin Smith Kevin Patrick Smith (born August 2, 1970) is an American filmmaker, actor, comedian, comic book writer, author, YouTuber, and podcaster. He came to prominence with the low-budget comedy buddy film ''Clerks'' (1994), which he wrote, directed, co ...

and appeared in a number of his films, including ''

Dogma Dogma is a belief or set of beliefs that is accepted by the members of a group without being questioned or doubted. It may be in the form of an official system of principles or doctrines of a religion, such as Roman Catholicism, Judaism, Islam ...

'' (1999), '' Jersey Girl'' (2004), ''

Zack and Miri Make a Porno ''Zack and Miri Make a Porno'' (also known simply as ''Zack and Miri'') is a 2008 American sex comedy film written, directed and edited by Kevin Smith and starring Seth Rogen and Elizabeth Banks. It was released on October 31, 2008. Plot Zack B ...

'' (2008), and ''

Red State Starting with the 2000 United States presidential election, the terms "red state" and "blue state" have referred to U.S. states whose voters vote predominantly for one party — the Republican Party in red states and the Democratic Party in b ...

'' (2011).

Writings

As a contribution to the literary web site "Fresh Yarn", Aberlin's essay ''The Blonding of America'' was published in 2005. In the essay, she comments on privilege and physical appearance. The point of departure for her reflection is the purchase of a blonde wig to hide her first gray hairs. Wearing the wig, Aberlin is aware of how it erases racial or ethnic features and how her new look evokes a more glamorous feminine stereotype. She observes how this change to her appearance effects a change of consciousness: "I put he wigon, and I don't even notice the homeless anymore." She concludes the essay: "Later on that evening, I saw a yellow school bus, filled with

Chasidim Ḥasīd ( he, חסיד, "pious", "saintly", "godly man"; plural "Hasidim") is a Honorifics in Judaism, Jewish honorific, frequently used as a term of exceptional respect in the Talmudic and early medieval periods. It denotes a person who is sc ...

. On the sooty back window of the bus, someone had drawn a

swastika The swastika (卐 or 卍) is an ancient religious and cultural symbol, predominantly in various Eurasian, as well as some African and American cultures, now also widely recognized for its appropriation by the Nazi Party and by neo-Nazis. It ...

. I'll tell you...it certainly feels a little safer....being blonde." In 2008, Aberlin published a collection of poems, ''The White Page Poems'', as a companion to ''A Book of Strife, in the Form of the Diary of an Old Soul'', an 1880 collection of poems by

George MacDonald George MacDonald (10 December 1824 – 18 September 1905) was a Scottish author, poet and Christian Congregational minister. He was a pioneering figure in the field of modern fantasy literature and the mentor of fellow writer Lewis Carroll. I ...

. The original edition of MacDonald's book had a blank page opposite each poem.

In popular culture

Musician

Jonathan Coulton Jonathan William Coulton (born December 1, 1970), often called "JoCo" by fans, is an American folk/comedy singer-songwriter, known for his songs about geek culture and his use of the Internet to draw fans. Among his most popular songs are " Co ...

wrote the song "Lady Aberlin's Muumuu" about Aberlin's ''Mister Rogers'' character.

References

External links

* * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Aberlin, Betty 1942 births Living people 20th-century American actresses 20th-century American poets Actresses from New York City American film actresses American television actresses American women poets Bennington College alumni Jewish American actresses Jewish American poets 20th-century American women writers 21st-century American Jews 21st-century American actresses