Bob Trow plays both Bob Dog and Robert Troll in the Neighborhood of Make-Believe, and a friendly craftsman who is often found in his workshop in Mister Rogers’ “real” neighborhood.
Bob Trow is a resident of Mister Rogers “real” neighborhood, and like the other neighbors there, he plays out his real-life interest which is as a craftsman. He can be found at “Trow’s Workshop” where he creates and fixes things for Mister Rogers and the other neighbors. It’s an opportunity to help children see how things can be made and repaired. He has a delightful sense of humor, and there’s obviously a warm relationship between him and Mister Rogers. Their friendship involves both giving and receiving, sharing sad times as well as fun moments together.
Bob Trow was an artist in every sense of the word, whether it was giving voice to a wide variety of characters or applying oil to canvas. He built the miniature set pieces of the Neighborhood of Make Believe which sit on the shelf in Mister Rogers kitchen and that are sometimes used to introduce the Neighborhood of Make-Believe, as well as number of specialty props, sketches and paintings for the program.
In the Neighborhood of Make-Believe, Bob Trow plays two roles. As Bob Dog, a costumed character, he’s a lovable, timid dog who expresses his strong feelings of delight, fear or confusion with a long, plaintive howl. He’s kind of clumsy so he’s prone to getting hurt when he plays. And he tries hard to be a good friend to the puppet neighbors, but can get carried away with his good intentions.
As Robert Troll, he speaks a unique, barely understandable gibberish, but with such an affectionate sense of humor that everyone goes along with it, and finds a way to understand him. His signature greeting is to touch fingers with a sweet “doot!” His “troll talk,” like double-talk, is similar to children’s play with nonsense words as they experiment with language and sounds. Rumor has it that Robert Troll created his gibberish because he couldn’t remember his lines.
As if those two characters weren’t diverse enough, Bob Trow also does the voice and puppeteering for Harriet Elizabeth Cow, the teacher in the Neighborhood of Make-Believe school.
Bob Trow once walked into the studio where the Neighborhood of Make-Believe was all set up and proclaimed to the crew, “I can remember when this was all farmland!” Fred Rogers described Bob Trow as “a classic clown. The clown has so many facets to him, and there’s always a very tender spot in the true clown.”
