Captain Kangaroo
Captain Kangaroo is an American children's television series that aired weekday mornings on the American television network CBS for 29 years, from 1955 to 1984, making it the longest-running children's program on a commercial network. In 1986, the American Program Service integrated some newly produced segments into reruns of past episodes, distributing the newer version of the series to PBS and independent public stations until 1993.
Conception
The show was conceived by Bob Keeshan, who also played the title character "Captain Kangaroo", and who based the show on "the warm relationship between grandparents and children". Keeshan had portrayed the original Clarabell the Clown on NBC's The Howdy Doody Show during the network's early years.Show structure
Captain Kangaroo had a loose structure, built around life in the "Treasure House" where the Captain would perform storytelling, meet guests, and indulge in silly stunts with regular characters, both humans and puppets. Keeshan performed as the Captain more than 9,000 times over the nearly 30-year run of the show.Changes in setting and duration
The May 17, 1971, episode had two major changes on the show: The Treasure House was renovated and renamed "The Captain's Place" and the Captain replaced his navy blue coat with a red coat. In September 1981, CBS shortened the hour-long show to a half-hour, briefly retitled it Wake Up with the Captain, and moved it to an earlier time slot; it was moved to weekends in September 1982, and returned to an hour-long format. CBS canceled Captain Kangaroo at the end of 1984.Longevity record
Captain Kangaroo was the longest-running American network children's television show until 1997 when it was surpassed by Mister Rogers' Neighborhood, which itself was surpassed by Sesame Street in 2003. Captain Kangaroo is still far and away the longest-running children's TV series by episode count with 6,090 episodes. When one counts the 65 edited versions that aired on PBS the episode count goes up to 6,155. As of October 2024, second-place holder Sesame Street has aired 4,731 episodes.Cast
- Bob Keeshan as Captain Kangaroo, Mr. Pennywhistle, Mr. Doodle, Wally, and the Town Clown
- Hugh "Lumpy" Brannum as Mr. Green Jeans, the New Old Folk Singer, Percy, Uncle Backwards, Mr. McGregor, and Mr. Bainter the Painter
- Cosmo Allegretti appeared as Mr. Bunny Rabbit and Mr. Moose, Dennis the Apprentice, Willy, Miss Frog, Mr. Whispers, Dancing Bear, Grandfather Clock, and Uncle Ralph; he was the voice of Aniforms puppet TV Fred, and was the artist behind the Magic Drawing Board
- Sam Levine as the Banana Man; the character was created for vaudeville by Adolph Proper
- Bill Cosby as himself, the host of the Picture Pages segment
- Debbie Weems appeared as Debbie ; the voice for the puppet character Baby Duck
- James Wall as Mr. Baxter ; was also the stage manager
- Carolyn Mignini as Kathy and other female roles
- Kevin Clash as the puppet character Artie and as himself, acting in many of the sketches
- John Burstein as Slim Goodbody
- Bill McCutcheon as Mr. Homan
- Jane Connell as Mrs. Homan
- Dr. Joyce Brothers as herself for three seasons
Format
Each episode began with the theme music playing, then the Captain makes his entrance to the studio by unlocking and opening the doors of the Treasure House from the inside, where viewers would catch their first glimpse of him. Then he puts the Treasure House keys on a nail, and the music ends. On rare occasions, the Captain could not get the keys to stay on the nail, and when they fell off, the theme song plays again. One never knew exactly what would happen from one episode to the next, although at certain times of the year, such as the Christmas season, paper cutout versions of such stories as The Littlest Snowman would be shown.
Cartoons
Several cartoon shorts were featured over the course of the series' run, including:A cartoon starring a funnel-capped shapeshifting boy named Tom Terrific was part of the show in the 1950s and 1960s. Tom had a sidekick named Mighty Manfred the Wonder Dog, and an archenemy, Crabby Appleton. Other cartoons included Lariat Sam, who, confronted his nemesis Badlands Meanie and his sidekick Bushwhack. The Adventures of Lariat Sam was developed by veteran game show announcer Gene Wood, then a show staffer.
The British cartoon Simon in the Land of Chalk Drawings appeared in the 1970s, featuring a child with magic chalk who could create all sorts of short-lived creations in short adventures. The original version featured a British narrator, Bernard Cribbins, but Keeshan's voice was dubbed onto the cartoons for their U.S. airing.
Another British-produced cartoon, Ludwig, about a magical egg-shaped robot, was also included around the same time as Simon. The cartoon's musical score consisted of selections from the works of Beethoven.
Also appearing in the 1970s was The Most Important Person, a series of five-minute segments on the importance of life, and The Kingdom of Could Be You, a series of five-minute segments on the importance of careers and the work world.
The cartoon series called The Toothbrush Family was based on an extended family of hygiene utensils, as the name suggests; they would embark on adventures based in the bathroom, like water skiing in the tub, or rescuing friends caught in the drain. Episodes were generally a few minutes each and basically revolved around teaching children the importance of oral hygiene.
A silent cartoon in the 1970s named Crystal Tipps and Alistair featured the adventures of a young girl and her dog. Later reruns were narrated by the voice of Mr. Moose. Another British favorite, The Wombles, was also featured.
The Red and the Blue shorts from Italy, as well as The Undersea Adventures of Captain Nemo, featuring a family of sea explorers, were also shown.
"Good morning, Captain!"
Starting in 1974, the show opened with different people wishing the Captain "good morning". Many of the openings featured noncelebrities, but some featured stars from TV shows, most of which broadcast over CBS. The montage of "good mornings" always ended with the Captain himself returning the greeting before the opening sequence.Regular features
Other regular features included The Magic Drawing Board and the Captain's "Reading Stories" sessions, which introduced kids to stories such as Curious George, Make Way for Ducklings, Stone Soup, Caps for Sale, and Mike Mulligan and His Steam Shovel. The Sweet Pickles books were also featured.Songs were a regular part of the show, from "Captain Kangaroo" to many traditional tunes to popular songs interpreted by puppets. Carmino Ravosa was a songwriter on the show from 1975 to 1977.
On the first show of every month, the Captain had a birthday cake for all of the children with birthdays that month.
Keeshan also had a recurring role as the Town Clown, a pantomime piece that took place in and around the exposed wagon home of a tramp-like circus clown. Like the character Clarabelle that he played on Howdy Doody, the Town Clown never spoke.
Favorite characters on the show were Grandfather Clock, Bunny Rabbit, Rollo the Hippo, and Dancing Bear. Dancing Bear was mute and only appeared in short subject features. He often danced waltzes to background music.
One of the show's long-running gags was the "Ping-Pong Ball Drop", instigated by the telling of a joke by Mr. Moose, in which the punchline included the words "ping-pong balls". At the mention of those three words, a shower of ping-pong balls was released from above on the Captain.
The show often had simple black light theatre segments using paper or cardboard cutouts. A notable recording of a popular song, such as Judy Garland's Decca recording of "Over the Rainbow", Mary Martin singing "Never Never Land", or Danny Kaye singing "Inchworm" were heard while the cutouts played on the screen, animated by a concealed puppeteer. On other occasions, full-fledged hand puppets "performed" to the song being played.
Also, about two or three times in an episode, short film clips on certain topics played over a song about that particular topic.
Especially in later seasons, the show also featured a running gag in selected episodes during which the Captain would try to perform a particular activity three or four times, only to fail in a different way with each attempt.
Familiar props included a mockup of a talking cathedral-style radio that Keeshan simply called Radio. Keeshan would turn the large knobs on Radio to get a conversation going. Reminiscent of the old Atwater Kent cathedrals, Radio had a rather interesting conversation with a smaller transistor radio in one show. Also featured was a huge Colgate toothpaste box with a large windup or clockwork key on the side. Keeshan turned the key to play a jingle for the show's sponsor, Colgate Toothpaste.
At the end of each episode, the Captain always encouraged parents watching the show to spend some quality time with their children every day, and he often demonstrated various creative ways in which to do so. In later seasons, that changed to him saying, "Well, what would you like to do today? You know it could be a good day for..." then a song would list many different activities while short film clips of each corresponding activity are presented, then the song ended with the singers saying, "There's so much to do. These things are just a few." Then it would cut back to the Captain, who would sign off with, "So whatever you do, have a great day!"