Captain Kangaroo
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Captain Kangaroo was a children's television series which aired weekday mornings on the American television network CBS from 1955 until 1984, then moved to the American Program Service (now American Public Television, Boston) to air syndicated reruns of past episodes in 1992. The show was produced and the title character played by Bob Keeshan, who based the show on "the warm relationship between grandparents and children." Keeshan was the original Clarabelle the Clown on the Howdy Doody Show.
It had a very loose structure, built around life in the "Treasure House" where the Captain (whose name came from the big pockets in his coat) would tell stories, meet guests and indulge in silly stunts with regular characters, both humans and puppets. The show was live for its first four years, and was in black-and-white until 1966. In 1981, CBS shortened the hour-long show to a half-hour.
In the TV season of 1997-1998, an All New Captain Kangaroo was attempted, starring John McDonough. Keeshan was invited to appear as "The Admiral", but after seeing sample episodes declined to appear or have any association with it. The show inspired a spinoff, Mister Moose's Fun Time.
Contents |
[edit] Cast
Other actors in the show included:
[edit] Hugh 'Lumpy' Brannum
Hugh Brannum played the Captain's main sidekick Mr. Green Jeans and other less-frequently seen characters, such as the New Old Folk Singer, who played a double bass (or "bass fiddle") as if it were a guitar, and Mr. Bainter, the Painter.
[edit] Cosmo 'Gus' Allegretti
Cosmo Allegretti created and performed several of the show's best-known puppet characters, including Bunny Rabbit, who always tricked the Captain into giving him carrots, and Mr. Moose, whose riddles and knock-knock jokes invariably ended with hundreds of ping-pong balls cascading from above and hitting the Captain on the head. Allegretti was also the actor portraying the Dennis the Apprentice, Miss Frog, Mr. Whispers, Dancing Bear and Grandfather Clock characters.
[edit] Sam Levine
Levine played an unusual, mute character known as The Banana Man, who produced huge bunches of bananas from within his coat. He would also magically pull watermelons from his pockets.[1]
[edit] John Burstein
John Burstein joined the show in 1980 as Slim Goodbody, a man wearing a bodystocking which showed the internal organs of the human body painted on it in their appropriate locations.
[edit] Bill Cosby
Bill Cosby was a regular on the show in the 1970s and 1980s; he did a "Picture Pages" segment (as had the Captain himself).
[edit] Debbie Weems
From 1973 until 1977 Debbie Weems was a regular on Captain Kangaroo. She played many roles, including Debbie the newspaper reporter, and was also an active puppeteer who did the voice for Baby Duck. Weems also sang on many episodes and put out an album of songs from Captain Kangaroo.
[edit] Mr. Baxter
Mr. Baxter was a regular on the show in the 1970's. A kindly, African-American man, he added a sense of calm to the show when all others around him may have been caught up in the silliness. He also starred with the Captain and Mr. Greenjeans in a made-for-TV movie (shown on the program about once a year throughout the '70s.) in which the trio travels to a Caribbean island to confront the playfully evil villian, Garumph (played by Cosmo Allegretti).
[edit] Cartoons
A cartoon starring a funnel-capped shape-shifting 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 a nemesis, Crabby Appleton. Other cartoons included Lariat Sam.
The Canadian-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 UK-produced cartoon Ludwig about a magical egg-shaped robot was also included about that time.
Also appearing in the 1970s was The Most Important Person, a short series of five-minute segments on the importance of life. Interestingly, these segments would later be incorporated into most syndication prints of The Underdog Show.
[edit] Special guests
Among the special guests who made periodic appearances were ventriloquist Shari Lewis and Lamb Chop, her sheep puppet. Mister Rogers (Fred Rogers) appeared in a mid-1970s episode, where he and the Captain try to restore an old gramophone. Comediennes Imogene Coca and Minnie Pearl made guest appearances, as did opera star Roberta Peters, talk show host Phil Donahue, his wife actress Marlo Thomas, actor and folk singer Theodore Bikel, game show host Bill Cullen, singer Pearl Bailey, and actresses Penny Marshall and Cindy Williams. One of the "Good Morning Captain" openings of the mid 70's featured Brett Somers, Charles Nelson Reilly, Richard Dawson, Gene Rayburn and Johnny Olsen all wishing the Captain a good morning from The Match Game set.
[edit] 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 and Make Way for Ducklings. The Sweet Pickles books were featured.
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 of Clarabelle that he played on Howdy Doody, the Town Clown never spoke.
[edit] Theme song
The original theme song to Captain Kangaroo (titled Puffin' Billy) was used from 1955–1974. It was an instrumental, written by Edward G. White. The track was from a British stock music production library known as the Chappell Recorded Music Library which was sold through a New York agency called Emil Ascher. The tune's original title referred to a British steam locomotive. (This tune was used on other programs on both sides of the Atlantic. For example, two years before Captain Kangaroo, it served as the wrap-up music for an episode of the radio program Rocky Fortune called "Murder Among the Statues", starring Frank Sinatra.) The "Puffing Billy" theme played as the opening of each episode, with the music continuing until the Captain hung his large ring of keys on a hook (which seemed to act as a switch to turn off the music). If the Captain's keys ever slipped off the hook, the music would begin playing again.
In 1957, lyricist Mary Rogers penned lyrics to the tune, creating a newly titled Captain Kangaroo song.
In 1974, a new theme song was composed for Captain Kangaroo, written by composer Robert L. Brush. As the new theme used similar melodic elements from the original theme, Edward G. White's name was added to the song credits.
The lyrics to the second Captain Kangaroo theme song were simple, consisting of two sets of rhymed couplets:
- Good morning, Captain, let's come on out and play!
- Good morning, Captain, it's going to be a perfect day!
- Get your crayons and your paper and your pencil, too
- And come on out and play with Captain Kangaroo!
[edit] Schedule history
For the first three months, Captain Kangaroo was seen every weekday morning. Thereafter, the successful Captain was also seen on Saturday mornings. Except for preemption for news coverage, notably the three-day continuous coverage of the assassination of John F. Kennedy in 1963, and a few shows that were 45 minutes, the show aired a full 60 minutes on weekday mornings and Saturday until 1981. One exception was the 1964 to 1965 season, which saw the broadcast replaced on Saturdays by a Keeshan vehicle called Mr. Mayor.
In the fall season of 1981, to make room for CBS Morning News, the show was moved to an early time slot and cut to 30 minutes sporting a new title Wake Up with the Captain. A few months later, the CBS Morning News was made a two hour show and Wake Up with the Captain was moved to a very early time slot where ratings were hard to find. Later, the show lost its weekday presence and was shown on the weekends in a one hour version. New episodes were shown on Saturdays and a rerun aired on Sundays. In the fall of 1984, it was trimmed again to 30 minutes. By the end of the year, it was canceled.
The show was on the air for 29 years, making it one of the longest-running network children's program series. Sesame Street, insulated from the Nielsen Ratings wars, has had a run of 37 years as of 2006. Several of the original Sesame Street writers and producers were hired from the Captain Kangaroo staff.
[edit] Popular culture
The Statler Brothers 1965 hit song Flowers on the Wall features a reference to the show in its chorus.
In the Doctor Who episode "Remembrance of the Daleks", the Captain Kangaroo theme music is clearly heard during a cafe scene.
In the 'Weird Al' Yankovic song "The Brady Bunch", a line goes like this:
Hey, you can watch 60 Minutes,
Even Captain Kangaroo...
Frank Zappa wrote a composition named "Mr. Green Genes" on his album Uncle Meat and a sequel, "Son of Mr. Green Genes" on his album Hot Rats. This led to the urban legend that Zappa was the son of the actor who played the character Mr. Green Jeans on Captain Kangaroo.
In a rendition of the VeggieTales song, The Pirates Who Don't Do Anything, Relient K sings "we don't smoke, we don't chew, we watch Captain Kangaroo!"(lyrics)
[edit] External links
Categories: 1950s American television series | 1960s American television series | 1970s American television series | 1980s American television series | 1990s American television series | CBS network shows | Children's television series | PBS network shows | Peabody Award winners | Television programs featuring puppetry | Fictional captains
