- [Narrator] Once upon a time, a young woman with a lot of big dreams met a young public television station with a lot of big dreams.

♪ Why, hi ♪ ♪ How do you do ♪ ♪ Why, hi, I'm Josie ♪ ♪ Why, hi ♪ ♪ How do you do ♪ - [Narrator] The young woman was Josie Carey.

The young public television station was WQED.

And the result of this happy union was "The Children's Corner," one of the very first programs on our air.

- Who are you?

- I'm Tinker, the magic elf!

- Oh!

(laughs) Hello!

- How are you?

- You'd be surprised how many letters I've gotten over the years from people who said they became what they are because of "Children's Corner."

One man is a French professor because he liked listening to Grandpere.

Some people went into music.

Many, many became teachers.

How often do you get to see a horse-drawn hay wagon?

- Very rare.

So if you believe in that, you don't get many wishes.

- No, I guess not.

- [Interviewer] Each person was doing a million things.

- There were two of us doing it all, actually, Fred and I.

- [Narrator] That's Fred, as in Fred Rogers.

Josie struck up a conversation with Fred when she arrived at WQED, and says the two of them just clicked.

Josie says some of her favorite parts of "The Children's Corner" were the skits she and Fred improvised.

♪ Whee ♪ - Please, Josie.

♪ Whee ♪ - This bothers me.

(Josie vocalizes) - You don't like to do this?

♪ Whee ♪ - No, no thank you very much.

♪ Whee ♪ We'd talk.

He would try to make me laugh.

One time, King Friday came up with a dictionary, and he said, "All right, Josephine, if you are really royal, you will tell me," and he set the dictionary down, which was hard for him to do, (laughs) because he was a puppet, you know, "if you will tell me what word I am thinking of this minute."

- Farewell, Josephine.

Farewell, Josephine.

- Farewell, King Friday!

- [Narrator] Josie loved the freedom she had creating educational content for "The Children's Corner," from cooking, to Morse code, to music and French.

Josie, along with Fred's band of puppets, virtually invented the template for high-quality children's programming.

♪ I'm very busy ♪ Of course I'm very busy, Josephine.

- You've made your point sufficiently clear!

- [Narrator] They also catered to kids' sweet and silly sides with features like "The Attic," a twice-weekly soap opera where furniture talked and lampposts married light fixtures.

- I had to condense some things, but I thought that the- - Nobody's saying- - This was the first time Fred used some of his inspirational talent.

He was the minister, and he married Lawrence Light and Lydia Lamp.

So it was a big day.

We made the papers (laughs) and, oh, the children came and we served cucumber sandwiches.

(Josie laughs) We just could do almost anything we wanted.

It was a wonderful show, it was an hour a day, and I think the children felt that if they didn't like what they were seeing, wait five minutes, and you'll see something else.

- Well, Jo, what do you wish on?

- Oh, my favorite to wish on is a star.

- [Narrator] For a woman who admits that she always wanted to be Judy Garland growing up, Josie Carey simply loved the joy of performing on "Children's Corner."

♪ Find a star ♪ - [Narrator] Some of Josie's magic was described by Fred Rogers in this interview taped more than a decade ago, back in 1993.

- [Fred] Josie would look into those puppets' eyes, believe that they were real, and just talk with them from her heart.

♪ And when the rain is over ♪ ♪ Find a rainbow ♪ - I think it was the whimsy, that there are certain things that you learn in collaboration with somebody else that you learn can be really fun.

I mean, we must have been like two kids playing in the studio - That's Daniel.

You know Daniel, don't you?

Daniel Striped Tiger.

He lives in a clock, uh-huh.

And X lives in a tree.

(Josie knocks on X's tree) - [Interviewer] It sounded like you two had a lot of fun.

Did you know you were on the brink of something really, really important?

- Yes, we did.

- Did you?

- We had a feeling that we were.

We used to think we were going to the network, and we used to sing a little song in the office ♪ ABC, CBS, NBC, and DuMont ♪ (interviewer laughs) We were calling (laughs) to the networks.

- [Announcer] National Educational Television presents "The Children's Corner," with Josie Carey, produced by WQED- - [Narrator] In fact, the network did call.

NBC aired 26 Saturday morning episodes of "The Children's Corner."

- It was probably the best use of television, the way television, we thought, was supposed to be.

Everything was good, wholesome, fun, and what we did was open windows, you know, like the song from "Mame."

We introduced the child to what could be.

- [Narrator] After "The Children's Corner," Josie moved to South Carolina to work on a children's program called "Wheee!"

It was in South Carolina that she met another hometown boy, "Pittsburgh's History Series" producer Rick Sebak.

Rick was just starting his career at the time, and he asked Josie to hire him as an intern.

- She's such a master of live television.

And she doesn't want you to tell things in advance, because she wants her reaction on camera to be real.

And I love that.

- What do you know about Josie that you want everyone else to know?

- She's still as wonderful and fun as she always was.

I don't know when the last time she wrote a song was, but I'm sure she's still writing songs, because all of that is just part of her.

It's ingrained in her.

- Are you ever approached on the street?

- Yes.

Yesterday!

(Josie chuckles) - Really?

- Oh, yeah.

Once a week somebody'll come up to me.

I get very nice comments.

I've been very blessed, because I may not have done much nationally, but locally, I have had very good response over the years.

When you consider I haven't been on the air for 35 years, and people still remember me, it makes me wanna cry.

♪ How do you do ♪ ♪ Why, hi, I'm Josie ♪ ♪ Why, hi ♪ ♪ How do you do ♪ - [Narrator] Actually, Josie Carey was on WQED again, back on October 12th, 1993, when former Mayor Sophie Masloff made a very special proclamation.

- And today, it is my pleasure to salute her for her outstanding contributions to public television and to our community by proclaiming this day as Josie Carey Day in the city of Pittsburgh.

And so, thanks, Josie.

(Josie knocks on clock) - [Narrator] And as part of that special celebration, WQED reunited Josie with a very special friend, and the magical puppeteer behind him.

- Oh, Josie!

- Hi, Daniel.

How are you?

Oh, it's been so long.

- Oh, I'm so glad to see you!

- It's good to see you.

- How are you?

- I'm fine.

You haven't changed a bit!

- Well, there's just one thing.

I have a new stripe- - Do you?

- And it's so itchy.

I wonder if you- - Oh, could I scratch it?

There, oh, yes.

- Oh, thank you!

- Oh, that feels so much better!

- I wanna do something for you, too.

- Do you have a new stripe?

- No, (laughs) I don't have a new stripe.

- I really admire her love of acting, and talking with puppets, and being herself.

♪ Like you as you are ♪ ♪ I like you, I ♪ ♪ L-I-K-E Y-O-U ♪ ♪ I like you, yes I do ♪ ♪ I like you, Y-O-U ♪ ♪ I like you, like you as you are ♪