(Latrobe, PA) – A new book from long-time “Mr. Rogers” actor Betty Amberlin, better known to fans as “Lady Aberlin,” sheds light on the philosophy that was used to write the story arcs for the famous and well loved children’s show. In essence, all of the actors really believed that they lived in the Neighborhood of Make-Believe.

The book, titled “Pretending to Pretend: Real Life in the ‘Hood,” reveals that the actors who played the characters in the Mr. Rogers’ Neighborhood of Make-Believe actually lived there, and spent all of their time interacting with each other in the characters that they portrayed. Whenever the trolley chimed, they knew that they were supposed to act like they were pretending to be the characters that they actually were. The philosophy can best be summed up by the words on a poster that hung in the studio for the entire run of the Mr. Rogers’ show: Pretending to Pretend is More Effective than Pretending.

Fred Rogers, who died in 2003, didn’t leave behind any mention of this philosophy, except for the aforementioned poster. It is also unclear how he kept the actors inside the studio full-time for so many decades, as the studio was zoned W-1, and didn’t allow for residential occupancy.

“I didn’t know that there was anything odd about my living arrangement, until the show ended,” Amberlin said in an interview with Novel Premise. “We all just took for granted that our lives consisted of living happily in that beautiful place, with those beautiful people and animals, with no worries in the world unless they were dictated by a script. When the show ended, we were all put into half-way houses, except the puppets, of course. It was then that it was revealed that the real world was a harsh, sometimes cruel place.”

Amberlin did express relief that Lady Elaine Fairchilde’s boomarang zoomerang toomerang was not real, as she had spent many sleepless nights worrying about what Lady Elaine might choose to do with that prop. Robert Troll was a little disturbing, too. In fact, upon reflection, Amberlin said that some aspects of the Neighborhood of Make-Believe were similar to those of the so-called real world.

“There are some scary things in the real world, I am finding out. Now, I find it easier to cope with things by pretening not to pretend to pretend. I know that the Neighborhood of Make-Believe is my real home, but I can stick to the script as long as I have to. When I’m alone, I go back to pretending to pretend, or even just pretending.”

Amberlin’s book will be available in bookstores nationwide starting on June 20th of this year.