CAPTAIN KANGAROO
(CBS, October 3,
1955-December 8, 1984)
Keeshan-Miller
Enterprises, Robert Keeshan Associates, CBS Television Network
MAIN CAST:
Bob
Keeshan – Captain Kangaroo, Mr. Pennywhistle, Mr. Doodle, Wally, Town Clown
Hugh “Lumpy”
Brannum – Mr. Green Jeans, the New Old Folk Singer, Percy, Uncle Backwards,
Mr. McGregor, Mr. Bainter the Painter
Cosmo
Allegretti – Mr. Bunny Rabbit, Mr. Moose, Dennis the Apprentice, Willy,
Miss Frog, Mr. Whispers, Dancing Bear, Grandfather Clock, Uncle Ralph, TV Fred
Sam Levine (1955-74) – The Banana Man
Bill
McCutcheon (1965-68) – Mr. Homan
Jane Connell
(1965-68) – Mrs. Homan
James Wall
– Mr. Baxter (1968-78)
Debbie Weems
(1973-78) – Debbie, Baby Duck
John Burstein
(1978-81) – Slim Goodbody
Bill Cosby (1980-84)
– Himself
Kevin Clash
(1980-84) – Artie, various
Carolyn Mignini
(1981-83) – Kathy, various
Conceived
by star Bob Keeshan based on the “warm relationship between grandparents and
children”, Captain Kangaroo became the longest-running national network
children’s show (and the longest-running overall until it was passed by Sesame
Street in 1999, where many people who worked on Kangaroo went to
work).
 |
| The Captain. |
In the
early 1950s, CBS was on the constant lookout
for innovative approaches to children’s television programming. Keeshan, along
with long-time friend Jack
Miller, submitted the concept of Captain Kangaroo to the network.
CBS approved the idea and the show went into development.
 |
| Mr. Green Jeans and Dancing Bear prepare a cake for the Captain. |
Captain
Kangaroo debuted on CBS on October 3, 1955. Keeshan played the title
character The Captain, who was given the nickname “kangaroo” due to the large
pockets on his trademark jacket (originally blue, but later red). Initially,
CBS wanted Al
Lewis to host, but he wouldn’t be released from his contractual obligations
to host The Uncle Al
Show. The show didn’t
have a strict format; the only constant was that the entirety of the action
took place in or around the Captain’s house, known initially as the Treasure
House and later the Captain’s Place. However, there were recurring segments and
bits, such as “Reading Stories” sessions where the Captain would read a book to
his audience, The Magic Drawing Board where he would interact with animated
characters, and a running gag of his getting ping pong balls dumped on him. For
the show’s introduction, the Captain would enter the House/Place and hang his
keys on the hook, which would then cause the theme song to stop playing.
However, sometimes the Captain would miss the hook or drop the keys, and the
song would continue playing until they were finally hung. The Captain would end
each the show encouraging parents to spend some time with their children, first
directly to them and later more subtlety via a song listing activities to do
outside instead of watching television. The first show of each month was also
when the Captain would wish a happy birthday to every kid who celebrated that
month.
 |
| The Captain with Mr. Green Jeans, Dancing Bear, Mr. Moose and Mr. Bunny. |
The Captain would interact with a
variety of characters. On the human side was farmer Mr. Green Jeans (Hugh
“Lumpy” Brannum), the mute Town Clown (also Keeshan) and Sam Levine as The
Banana Man. There were animals like the silent Dancing Bear, living appliances
like the rhyming Grandfather Clock, and puppets like Mr. Bunny and Mr. Moose (all
Cosmo Allegretti, who was the primary puppeteer for the show). Levine had purchased
the props and gimmicks from Adolf
Proper’s estate and resurrected The Banana Man for the show, whose gimmicks
included communication through sounds and instruments, quick costume changes,
and pulling an impossible number of props from his coat pockets. He played the
role until his death in 1974.
 |
| The Captain and Mr. Green Jeans with Mr. Baxter, Debbie and Dennis the Apprentice. |
As the show
went on, more cast and characters came and left. In 1965, Bill McCutcheon and
Jane Connell joined as friends Mr. and Mrs. Homan. Stage manager James E. Wall
talked his way into the audition to play Mr. Baxter in 1968, turning Captain
Kangaroo into one of the first integrated children’s shows on television. Debbie
Weems appeared as Debbie and provided the voice for the puppet character, Baby
Duck. A decade later, John Burstein joined as Slim Goodbody, who wore a suit
displaying the parts of the human body and offered tips on nutrition and
exercise (in compliance with the U.S. Department of Health, Education and
Welfare’s push for more educational content on television). Puppeteer Kevin
Clash would not only control the puppet character Artie, but would appear as
himself in many sketches. Carolyn Mignini was the last new cast member added,
playing Kathy and a variety of other female roles.
In 1978, local
Pittsburg children’s show Picture Pages was integrated into Captain
Kangaroo. Created by Julius
Oleinick in 1974, the show interacted with its audience via puzzle booklets
given away at local supermarkets. The Captain would conduct a series of lessons
on basic arithmetic, geometry and drawing on his magic drawing board. In 1980,
Bill Cosby was brought on to take over the segment and drew with the aid of his
character-topped magic marker named Mortimer Ichabod Marker, or M.I. for short.
When Captain Kangaroo ended, the segment was adopted as part of Nickelodeon’s Pinwheel until
that was cancelled in 1989.
Celebrities
and fellow children’s show stars often made a habit of stopping by to visit the
Captain; particularly beginning in 1974 when the show began with people
(including non-celebrities) wishing the Captain a “good morning”. Among their
number was Dr. Joyce Brothers,
Shari Lewis, Dudley Moore, Carol Channing, Lorne Greene, Eli Wallach, Dolly Parton, Walter Cronkite, Marlo Thomas, Carrie Fisher, Danny Aiello, Anita Gillette, Andy Griffith, Doc Severinsen, Mae Questel, Emmett Kelly, Hank Aaron, Marty Brill, Stubby Kaye, Bob Denver, John
Ritter, Jean Stapleton, Frank Gifford, Fred Rogers, Big Bird (Caroll Spinney), and
William Shatner and Leonard Nimoy (in character as Captain Kirk
and Mr. Spock,
respectively).
 |
| Mr. Rogers stops by the Treasure House. |
Along with
the live-action routines, there were a number of cartoon shorts shown
throughout the program. While two were created specifically for Captain
Kangaroo, the majority of them were imported from other countries. They
included:
Tom
Terrific, running from 1957-59 and rerun for years after. Created by Gene Deitch under the CBS-owned
Terrytoons studio, the
series focused on boy hero who lived in a treehouse and could transform himself
into anything via his magic “thinking cap”. Along with his lazy sidekick,
Mighty Manfred the Wonder Dog, he battled the evil forces of Crabby Appleton,
Mr. Instant the Instant Thing King, Captain Kidney Bean, Sweet Tooth Sam the
Candy Bandit and Isotope Feeney the Meany. The show was done in a simple style
reminiscent of children’s drawings, and every character was voiced by Lionel Wilson. 26 episodes were
produced and were aired in five parts across each episode of a given week. For
the Saturday broadcast, the episodes were edited into a two-part adventure with
all of the daily cliffhangers and recaps removed.
Alternating
with Tom Terrific every other week was The Adventures of Lariat Sam. Created
by notable game show announcer Gene
Wood, the cartoon was a western comedy centering on sheriff Sam, who
protected the tiny town of Bent Saddle with his poetry-reading horse,
Tippytoes. Their primary foe was the outlaw Badlands Meeney and his stooge, J.
Skulking Bushwack. Sam often defeated them, as the title implied, by using his
lasso and manipulating it in various physics-defying ways. Dayton Allen provided all the
character voices, and Wood sang the theme song himself. Like Tom Terrific, the
series was animated by Terrytoons.
The Most
Important Person was a mixed animated and live-action series of 60 shorts
produced by Sutherland
Learning Associates. They helped translate every day things in the life of
children so that they could be better understood and allow them to develop a
strong sense of self-awareness and self-importance. A spin-off series, The Kingdom of Could Be You, explored various occupations and gave children an
idea of what they could become when they grew up. Both series were made
possible by a grant from the U.S. Department of
Education, Office of Child Development, and were later syndicated
individually or as part of other children’s programs.
Produced
for the BBC between 1971 and 1974, Crystal
Tipps and Alistair followed the adventures of a young girl and her dog in a
fanciful world. The 5-minute shorts were created by Hilary Hayton and Graham McCallum, who drew the
artwork using felt markers and an airbrush. The series was produced and
animated by Q3
of London, which was formed by former BBC executive Michael Grafton-Robinson
specifically for these shorts and another series, Fingerbobs, instead of
expanding the BBC’s Children’s Department of Graphics Unit into a full-blown
animation studio. The shorts were silent except for the music accompaniment by Paul Reade. However, when aired
on Captain Kangaroo, Allegretti added voice-over narration in his Mr.
Moose voice.
The
Wombles was a stop-motion British cartoon made from 1973-75 by FilmFair Productions. It was
based on a series of children’s
novels created by Elisabeth
Beresford about fictional pointy-nosed, furry creatures that lived in
burrows and helped the environment by collecting and creatively recycling
trash. Two seasons of 30 five-minute episodes were produced, with Bernard Cribbins supplying all of the
voices and Barry Leith
crafting all the sets and models.
Simon in
the Land of Chalk Drawings was another British animated series from 1974
created by Edward McLachlan
and produced by FilmFair. Young Simon had a magic chalkboard on which things he
drew came to life in the Land of Chalk Drawings, which Simon could enter by
climbing over a fence near his home. The 5-minute episodes dealt with the
unintended consequences Simon’s drawings had over the Land of Chalk Drawings.
Originally narrated by Cribbins, Keeshan dubbed over it with a new narration
when it aired on his show.
Ludwig was
another British import about a magical egg-shaped gemstone that lived in a
forest and often came to the rescue of the animals who dwelled there. Ludwig
possessed facets that could open up to reveal arms, legs, or various gadgets
whenever he needed them. A human birdwatcher (Jon Glover) constantly watched
Ludwig and served as the viewer’s point of view and narrator. The 25 five-minute
episodes were produced by Mirek
and Peter Lang,
who wrote them with Jane Tann and
also animated them. The music was arranged and played by Reade and was
comprised of the works of Ludwig van
Beethoven, for whom the central character was named. The series would begin
an end with a small section of Beethoven’s Symphony No. 1.
Coming from
Australia in 1974 was The Toothbrush Family, which centered on a group
of anthropomorphic toiletry items conceived by Marcia Hatfield when her son
refused to brush his teeth as a way to get kids to focus on their hygiene. The
main characters were father Tom, mother Tess, kids Tina and Toby, and Gramps,
along with toothpaste Flash Fluoride, electric toothbrush Hot Rod Harry,
hairbrush Bert Brush, Cecily Comb, Nev Nailbrush, Susie Sponge, Shaggy Dog,
Callie Conditioner and Sally Shampoo, who all came to life at night in the light of the moon. Hatfield wrote the episodes with Al Guest and Jean Mathieson providing screenplays, which were then produced by Rainbow Animation. Len Carlson and Billie Mae Richards provided all of the character voices. A revival was made in 1998 focusing on some new
characters.
The Red
and the Blue was another stop-motion series, this time hailing from Italy’s
Misseri Studios and created by Francesco Misseri. It centered
on two Claymation shapeshifting characters—one red, one blue—on a white plane
in which they interacted. They often try to outdo each other by assuming
various forms that would one-up the other. For instance, if Blue became a boat,
Red would become an island.
Another
Rainbow Animation production from Canada, The Undersea Adventures of Captain
Nemo was a reimagining of the Jules Verne book Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the
Sea by Guest and Mathieson. The show followed ocean researcher Captain
Mark Nemo (Carlson) and
his kid assistants, Christine and Robbie (both Richards), as they
went on adventures in their nuclear-powered submarine, the Nautilus. The
5-minute episodes attempted to teach children about oceanography and marine
biology.
 |
| The Captain chatting with Grandfather Clock. |
Captain
Kangaroo was initially broadcast live daily on weekday mornings. For the
first four years, it was performed twice a day for the Eastern and Central time
zones, and recorded on kinescope for the Western as Keeshan refused to perform
three times a day. Eventually, it would be scheduled for the same time in all
time zones. It was also given a 6th Saturday morning broadcast until
1968; replaced briefly in the 1964-65 season by Keeshan’s other short-lived show,
Mr. Mayor. While many shows had begun broadcasting in color by the time Captain
Kangaroo hit the air, CBS wouldn’t adopt a color format for it until late
1966.
Throughout
the show’s run, it was nominated for several Emmy
Awards, winning three. It also won two Peabody
Awards and a Young Artist
Award. Although extremely popular, Captain Kangaroo’s ratings rarely
eclipsed its network competition’s. In 1981, CBS moved the show early to 7:00
AM and cut it down to 30 minutes, retitling it Wake Up with the Captain, to
make more room for the expanded The CBS Morning News. In 1982, it was
moved further back to 6:30 AM when very few people would be awake to see it. It
was restored to an hour format in 1982, but remained in poor time slots in
various time zones. Many CBS affiliates had also stopped carrying the show and
declined a rerun package for Sunday mornings. When CBS decided to cut the show
back down to a half hour again in 1984, Keeshan angrily decided to let the show
end when his contract with the network expired. However, Keeshan would return
to the network the following year to host CBS Storybrea;, which
was essentially inspired by his “Reading Stories” segment. A fond farewell to
the Captain was given with the primetime special Captain Kangaroo and His
Friends that same year.
The
original Captain Kangaroo theme song, “Puffin’ Billy” (about a steam
locomotive), was used from 1955 until 1974. Written by Edward G. White
and recorded by the Melodi
Light Orchestra, it was from the Chappell
Recorded Music Library, a British stock music production library. Mary Rodgers wrote lyrics for
the song in 1957, making it the official Captain Kangaroo theme. In
1974, Robert L. Brush composed the new theme, “Good Morning, Captain”.
Originally, it featured elements of “Puffin’ Billy”, resulting in White
receiving credit on the song, but copyright issues caused the song to be
rerecorded in 1979 with those elements removed. When the show was retitled, a
new theme called “Wake Up” was used until title, format and second theme were
reinstated. Lynn Ahrens
wrote a final theme, “Here Comes Captain Kangaroo”, which would be used from
1982-84 and subsequent reruns.
 |
| One of the Captain's albums. |
Keeshan’s
estate owns the rights to all of Captain Kangaroo’s footage, and they
have yet to put the show on DVD or make it available for streaming. There have, however, been a number of VHS collections containing various episodes and related bits
from the show’s run. A wide assortment of merchandise was released throughout
the show’s 29-year career. These included coloring
and activity
books, story
books, a card
game featuring Mr. Green Jeans, frame
tray puzzles, a mix
and match pet building set, lunch
boxes, various handheld
games and more. A number of albums
recorded by the cast and featuring the music of the show were produced; partly
as an attempt to introduce children to various types of music. Captain Kangaroo
and friends were featured in three
issues of Dell Comics’
Four-Color Comics
between 1956 and 1958. Beginning in 1957, Pines Comics published
a 6-issue series
based on Tom Terrific, who also appeared in a Wonder
Book.
 |
| Keeshan's memoirs. |
Keeshan
spent the remainder of his life in the service of children as an author and a
speaker. He founded Corporate
Family Solutions with Tennessee Governor Lamar
Alexander to provide day-care programs to businesses. In 1993, he
participated in the congressional
hearings against video game violence. In 1995, he published his memoirs,
titled Good Morning, Captain, through Fairview Press. He also
considered a revival of the Captain as an answer to increasingly violent
cartoons on TV, but was unable to obtain permission from ICM, who held the rights to the Captain
at the time. Ultimately, Keeshan died in 2004 before getting to bring the
Captain back one last time.
EPISODE GUIDE:
N/A
No comments:
Post a Comment