Children's entertainment has lost another icon...

Bob Keeshan, AKA Captain Kangaroo, had as much longetivity as Mr. Rogers, who died last year.

Bob was known to kids in the 1950s as Clarabell the Clown on Howdy Doody.
Host Buffalo Bob Smith, who was known to be an egomaniac, reportedly disliked Keeshan, and replaced Bob with another Clarabelle, thinking no one would know the difference. Kids, however, noticed right away and letters poured into NBC demanding Keeshan returned. Keeshan did return, but later left in the late 50s to become Captain Kangaroo.

Keeshan remained Captain Kangaroo until the early 80s. Children tuned in to see Mr. Moose trick the Captain into having ping pong balls dropped onto his head, the silent yet smart Bunny Rabbit, the sleepy Grandfather Clock, and the old, wise Mr. Greenjeans, an avid farmer.

Before the turn of the century, Captain Kangaroo resurfaced, without Keeshan. While many elements of the original show remained, and John Mc.Donough was a likeable Captain, the new version failed to click with the new generation. Adults were turned off too, with a dorky, much younger guy playing "Greenjeans", and two new characters, a mischeivious kangaroo, and a computerized character named Digit. Keeshan said in an interview that he had regretably sold the rights to his show to Saban, and couldn't buy them back when the opportunity arose. Saban, who might be best known for Mighty Morphin Power Rangers, offered Keeshan a guest spot, but Keeshan declined.

To relate this to game shows, the Match Game panel once did a "Good Morning Captain!" cameo which was a standard in the 70s version of Captain Kangaroo.
Bob did do occasional game show appearances, on Celebrity Sweepstakes, and (I think) the original HS. Any others?

He was also portrayed by Jim Belushi in one of the best SNL game show sketches: Jackie Rogers Jr.'s One Hundred Thousand Dollar Jackpot Wad! Some of the jokes are a little harsh, and things get a little dark towards the end, but it was all in good fun. The link takes you to a transcript of the sketch JRJOHTDJW!

Although I never saw Captain Kangaroo, my siblings loved the show. My mom still cracks up thinking about all those ping pong balls flying around.

If lived or grew up in Chicago Ray Rayner passed away this week .

Other Captain Kangaroo memories...

The series also featured Dennis the Apprentice (played by Cosmo Angretti), Debbie Weems, Slim Goodbody & (of course) Bill Cosby with his PicturePages.

Bill Cullen guest starred on one episode when Bunny Rabbit appeared on a fictional game show hosted by Cullen.

On Remote Control, the contestant chose a bad channel (The Weather Channel) & ended up getting ping pong balls dropped on him! Ken Ober quips, "I guess we owe a residual to Captain Kangaroo!"

And let's not forget that Marcia Brady thought nobody could top Captain Kangaroo until Desi Arnaz Jr. came along (LOL)!

On the 25th Anniversary special, Jean Stapleton portrayed the oldest fan of Captain Kangaroo!

It was disappointing that CBS News wanted to compete against Today & Good Morning America, having Captain Kangaroo moved to the weekends. Some affiliates didn't carry the Captain (including KHOU). But KHOU did carry the last few weeks of the series when it ended its CBS run in 1984.

In a mildly interesting coincidence,

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Today's FJ asked for the only female character in any of the Winnie the Pooh books. It was Kanga, the mother of Roo.

Another GS-relevant post about the Captain: I remember a musical bit where they would play a rendition of the song "Hambone" and during an instrumental break between the lyrics, three wooden puppet-type men would be made to dance along side each other on a miniature mock stage. Every time I saw that--back when I was six or seven or eight--I immediately thought of the opening shot of "To Tell The Truth" with the two impostors and the one real guy coming into view after the curtain was raised.

A lot of people would consider that a sign of whacked-out thinking. But *you* wouldn't, would you??

Yes, the Town Clown was Keeshan.

And, for obvious reasons, I'm a bit disappointed that Dancing Bear didn't get more of a mention in the obits :(

OB GameShow: Among the anchors of the CBS Morning News, which preceded the Captain on most CBS stations, was occasional game show host Mike Wallace.

I was reading (sort of like hosting, only it wasn't televised) for a high school quiz tournament Saturday, and the question writer cleverly put in a timely toss-up question about Captain Kangaroo, specifically noting the death of Bob Keeshan.

It wasn't surprising, but maybe a little disheartening, to find out that these incredibly bright high schoolers had no frame of reference for the show, and clues in the question about Mr. Moose, Bunny Rabbit, Grandfather Clock, Dancing Bear, and Mr. Green Jeans were completely lost on them. They only got it when the topical reference to Keeshan's death came up.

I had the chance to meet Keeshan back when he was doing college tours following the cancellation of his show. Very nice, very smart man who cared passionately about the young people (he NEVER called them "kids") whose lives he touched.

He was a great guy.

Although I never got to see the original CBS version, it came back on PBS in the 80's.

And the other characters were awesome. Keeshan and the gang would really brighten the days of many youngsters.

One other thing I wanted to note about Bob Keeshan. He was a page at NBC, and became friends with Stu Kerr, who later became a local TV personality in Baltimore. Stu also made guest appearances on Captain Kangaroo as the character "Scoop Toop", a newspaper reporter. Stu died 10 years ago. I met Stu not long before he died, and he had the same sort of mentality as Keeshan... very soft spoken, friendly, and no ego at all. Bob Keeshan and Stu Kerr had one other connection. Both had played clowns on TV. Stu Kerr was one of the many Bozo the Clowns (there were many local versions). Stu told me of all the roles he played, Bozo was the one he liked the LEAST. He flatly turned down the offer at first, but the producers were persistent, and Stu reluctantly agreed to play the part.
Another clown connection... Willard Scott was another Bozo the Clown, and he also created the first Ronald Mc.Donald. Stu also claims to have the first late night TV show, before Steve Allen, and was a pioneer of the "music video", where he lip synced and danced to (at the time) popular songs

Stu did host a local game show of sorts, called Dialing for Dollars, where he was referred to as "Mr. Fortune".

...you can't mention Tom Terrific without adding his sidekick, Mighty Manfred, the wonder dog...both busy fighting Crabby Appleton. There was a frequent visitor named The Banana Man, who hauled around little train cars filled with bananas. And yes, I remember "hambone", too. And "When there's a shine on your shoes...", and the neat theme song, listed on a production CD as "Puffin' Billy". I wonder if the Captain's "magic drawing board" helped inspire the technology on Dotto? :-)

Thanks, Captain.