Captain Kangaroo
championed TV for kids
By Joanne Ostrow Denver Post TV/Radio Critic
The Captain was 76 when he died Friday morning. To children of the 1950s, he
seemed that old when he started the longest-running kids' series on network
television.
Millions of baby boomers knew Bob Keeshan as Captain Kangaroo, beloved for his
walrus mustache, Dutch boy bangs and big red coat with giant kangaroo-like
pockets. Many of us didn't know the coat was red until years later, with the
spread of color TV.
Keeshan, who died in Vermont after a long illness, made his debut on "Captain
Kangaroo" on CBS in 1955. Though grandfatherly in appearance and manner, the
producer-performer was only 27 at the time.
"I was impressed with the potential positive relationship between grandparents
and grandchildren, so I chose an elderly character," Keeshan said, according to
The Associated Press.
In a statement issued Friday by his son, Michael, Keeshan's family said: "Our
father, grandfather and friend was as passionate for his family as he was for
America's children. He was largely a private man living an often public life as
an advocate for all that our nation's children deserve."
"Captain Kangaroo" was an early-morning fixture on CBS until 1985 when it was
canceled to make way for an expanded news show.
"Kangaroo," trimmed and bounced to lousy time slots more than once, ran for 30
years before moving to PBS for six more years. As the Captain, Keeshan poked
around the Treasure House, talking to puppets and his buddy Mr. Green Jeans,
played by Hugh "Lumpy" Brannum, as well as that punster Mr. Moose, the
carrot-nabbing Bunny Rabbit, the poetry-spouting Grandfather Clock and the
erudite Word Bird.
Long before "Sesame Street" and unlike today's irony-infused animated kidvids,
Keeshan's show was quaint and simple, a blend of knock-knock jokes and gentle
moral teachings for the first TV generation. A popular cartoon segment that
debuted within the show was "Tom Terrific," about a little boy who could morph
into anything, and his sidekick, Mighty Manfred the Wonder Dog.
Throughout his life, Keeshan was honored as a longtime children's advocate and
believer in the educational power of television (the show won six Emmys and
three Peabody Awards). He began the now-common practice of inserting "bumpers"
to separate program content from commercials.
Keeshan was an outspoken critic of violence on television - the only "rough
stuff" you ever saw on his show was when the Captain would be caught under a
cascade of pingpong balls. He also urged tighter controls on tobacco
advertising. Keeshan testified before Congress in 1986 in support of a bill
intended to limit the amount of television aimed at children.
Born on Long Island, N.Y., on June 27, 1927, Keeshan served in the Marine Corps
reserves during World War II but did not see action. He worked as an NBC page
and was an assistant to radio personality Bob Smith. Keeshan went along when
Smith's show "Puppet Playhouse" evolved into NBC's "Howdy Doody Show."
It was on that series that Keeshan launched his screen career as the mute,
horn-honking Clarabell the Clown, a role he played for five years. He was fired
from the role, in part because parents complained that his seltzer-spraying
antics as Clarabell got kids too excited before dinner.
According to Stephen Davis' authoritative book about "Howdy Doody," called "Say
Kids! What Time Is It? Notes from the Peanut Gallery," Keeshan was dumped mainly
so that the show could cast a more musically talented, theatrically trained
dancer and mime. After an avalanche of letters complaining that the replacement
was not the "real" Clarabell, NBC rehired Keeshan.
Clearly Keeshan's talent, like that of Fred Rogers, derived more from being a
comforting presence than being a skilled performer.
Later, Keeshan appeared on ABC as Corny the Clown and Tinker the Toymaker, the
prototype for "Captain Kangaroo." Producers who worked for Keeshan handed down
his philosophy about children's TV programming to the next generation of hit
series. "Kangaroo" producer David Connell went on to help create "Sesame Street"
in the 1960s; puppeteer Kevin Clash moved from "Kangaroo" to "The Muppets,"
where he created Elmo and other icons of children's entertainment.
When Fred Rogers of "Mister Rogers' Neighborhood" died last year, the AP quoted
Keeshan as saying the two veterans often lamented the state of children's
programming.
"I don't think it's any secret that Fred and I were not very happy with the way
children's television had gone," Keeshan said.
Keeshan married in 1950. His wife, Jeanne, died in 1990. He is survived by their
three children and six grandchildren.