# Dancing Bear from Captain Kangaroo **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [February 10, 2008, 9:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dancing-bear-from-captain-kangaroo/437071 "2008-02-10T21:01:05Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![twickster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ec9cab/32.png) [@twickster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/twickster)\ **Post date:** [February 10, 2008, 9:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dancing-bear-from-captain-kangaroo/437071/1 "2008-02-10T21:01:05Z")
**CateAyo** and I are BSing about Dancing Bear from Captain Kangaroo – he asked “what was with the muzzle,” and my answer was “a muzzle? I thought that was his nose.” Neither of us can find a decent picture, though. Anyone with superior google-fu want to make us look like idiots, please? TIA ---
**Author:** ![pinkfreud](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pinkfreud/32/17603_2.png) [@pinkfreud](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pinkfreud)\ **Post date:** [February 10, 2008, 9:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dancing-bear-from-captain-kangaroo/437071/2 "2008-02-10T21:06:23Z")
I always thought that was his nose. He didn’t seem like the sort of bear who would need muzzling. Here’s a not-very-large [picture](http://www.chitarivera.com/images/chita%20river%20captain%20kangaroo%20small.jpg). And here’s [another](http://www.flickr.com/photos/houseofpingting/369567127/). ---
**Author:** ![Chanteuse](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/9de053/32.png) [@Chanteuse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chanteuse)\ **Post date:** [February 10, 2008, 9:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dancing-bear-from-captain-kangaroo/437071/3 "2008-02-10T21:10:46Z")
Here’s a little [video performance](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C55I188FQpY) for your enjoyment! 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![TWDuke](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/e495f1/32.png) [@TWDuke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TWDuke)\ **Post date:** [February 10, 2008, 9:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dancing-bear-from-captain-kangaroo/437071/4 "2008-02-10T21:16:56Z")
Or is it a fried egg? ---
**Author:** ![twickster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ec9cab/32.png) [@twickster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/twickster)\ **Post date:** [February 10, 2008, 9:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dancing-bear-from-captain-kangaroo/437071/5 "2008-02-10T21:32:25Z")
[QUOTE=Chanteuse] Here’s a little [video performance](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C55I188FQpY) for your enjoyment! 🙂 [/QUOTE] Wow. Just … wow. I think it says quite a bit about the Boomers that that was our formative TV. And **pinkfreud** – excellent work! Thanks! ---
**Author:** ![ZenBeam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/3ab097/32.png) [@ZenBeam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ZenBeam)\ **Post date:** [February 10, 2008, 11:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dancing-bear-from-captain-kangaroo/437071/6 "2008-02-10T23:14:10Z")
> [@](#): > > And here’s [another](http://www.flickr.com/photos/houseofpingting/369567127/). _ **Mrs.** _ Moose??? ---
**Author:** ![Terrifel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/c68b51/32.png) [@Terrifel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Terrifel)\ **Post date:** [February 10, 2008, 11:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dancing-bear-from-captain-kangaroo/437071/7 "2008-02-10T23:25:58Z")
[QUOTE=twickster] Wow. Just … wow. I think it says quite a bit about the Boomers that that was our formative TV. [/QUOTE] Surely not? The Platonic love between a dancing bear and a variably sized Raggedy Ann doll is a timeless story if there ever was one. The brief glimpse of special guest Doug Henning in the final frame, however, is a screaming indictment of the formative entertainment Captain Kangaroo saw fit to inflict on children during the '70s. I feel confident stating that the Boomers had it sweet and easy by comparison. If you had problems integrating Dancing Bear into your life, I have two words for you: _Slim Goodbody._ ---
**Author:** ![Slithy\_Tove](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/slithy_tove/32/18248_2.png) [@Slithy\_Tove](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Slithy_Tove)\ **Post date:** [February 10, 2008, 11:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dancing-bear-from-captain-kangaroo/437071/8 "2008-02-10T23:28:08Z")
Even when little, I could tell that Dancing Bear’s nose was a screen so the guy inside could see out. And sometimes you’d see the shadow of the guy behind Magic Drawing Board. But the Captain had that Postmodernist thing going on: the humor on the show as a wink at us who’d figured it out, and he didn’t talk down to us. Not as far out there as Soupy Sales, but not a “no gags” place like Mr. Rogers’. ---
**Author:** ![twickster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ec9cab/32.png) [@twickster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/twickster)\ **Post date:** [February 11, 2008, 12:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dancing-bear-from-captain-kangaroo/437071/9 "2008-02-11T00:54:50Z")
[QUOTE=Slithy Tove] Even when little, I could tell that Dancing Bear’s nose was a screen so the guy inside could see out. [/QUOTE] Na na na na na na na I can’t _hear_ you. ---
**Author:** ![RealityChuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitychuck/32/195_2.png) [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)\ **Post date:** [February 11, 2008, 1:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dancing-bear-from-captain-kangaroo/437071/10 "2008-02-11T01:19:26Z")
[QUOTE=twickster] Wow. Just … wow. I think it says quite a bit about the Boomers that that was our formative TV. And **pinkfreud** – excellent work! Thanks! [/QUOTE] The clip was from after the Captain was cancelled by CBS and went to PBS, which puts it from 1986 or later. How tell? On CBS, the Captain wore a blue coat; on PBS, it was red. I always felt the big black dot in the middle of Dancing Bear’s face made him look just too weird. ---
**Author:** ![ZenBeam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/3ab097/32.png) [@ZenBeam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ZenBeam)\ **Post date:** [February 11, 2008, 1:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dancing-bear-from-captain-kangaroo/437071/11 "2008-02-11T01:36:35Z")
> [@](#): > > How tell? On CBS, the Captain wore a blue coat; on PBS, it was red. Cite? Because I came across [this picture of Captain Kangaroo’s jacket](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mr._Moose), and was surprised that it was black, and _thought it was supposed to be red_, and I watched him circa 1970. Generally, websites agree that his jacket was red, although [this site](http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/CaptainKangaroo) says “A syndicated revival of Captain Kangaroo was attempted in 1997, with bearded actor John McDonough in a blue jacket.” Anyone know why the Smithsonian’s jacket is black? ---
**Author:** ![kittenblue](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/ba8739/32.png) [@kittenblue](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kittenblue)\ **Post date:** [February 11, 2008, 1:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dancing-bear-from-captain-kangaroo/437071/12 "2008-02-11T01:44:24Z")
Yep, that is one flat muzzle. But I don’t think I ever noticed as a kid. ---
**Author:** ![Terrifel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/c68b51/32.png) [@Terrifel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Terrifel)\ **Post date:** [February 11, 2008, 2:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dancing-bear-from-captain-kangaroo/437071/13 "2008-02-11T02:28:49Z")
[QUOTE=ZenBeam] Anyone know why the Smithsonian’s jacket is black? [/QUOTE] I expect that’s the original jacket (or one of them) from the show’s beginning back in 1955, which was of course broadcast in black and white-- so there’d be no point for a bright red jacket back then. I don’t think the red jacket had a badge either. I definitely recall the red jacket from my childhood, and it’s unlikely that I was still watching the Captain during his PBS years. (Unlikely, but not impossible…) The groovy white piping was kind of reminiscent of **The Prisoner** in a way, vaguely. Maybe those ping-pong balls were embryonic Rovers? Any hoo… [here’s a YouTube clip](http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=4367649834245787590&q=captain+kangaroo&total=179&start=0&num=10&so=0&type=search&plindex=4) which appears to depict a broadcast from WBNG, the Binghamton NY CBS affiliate. The date given is 1976, and the red jacket is present and accounted for. So I feel better. Also, apparently Dolly Parton’s coming over! How about that. [The Captain with the PicturePages guy, circa 1980.](http://www.mystiesplace.com/pages/picturepages/images/pp024.jpg) Whatever happened to that guy anyway? ---
**Author:** ![Tabula\_Rasa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/a9adbd/32.png) [@Tabula\_Rasa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tabula_Rasa)\ **Post date:** [February 11, 2008, 8:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dancing-bear-from-captain-kangaroo/437071/14 "2008-02-11T08:41:55Z")
[QUOTE=twickster] **CateAyo** and I are BSing about Dancing Bear from Captain Kangaroo – he asked “what was with the muzzle,” and my answer was “a muzzle? I thought that was his nose.” TIA [/QUOTE] That is what is generally referred to as “implied snoutage”. See the unpublished private correspondence of Derrida and Lacan , especially from the era of _The Structuralist Controversy_ (also Derrida’s later work on Heidegger), for analysis of concentric, contrasting, circular nasal representations especially as commentary on olefaction in the nuclear age. ---
**Author:** ![Chanteuse](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/9de053/32.png) [@Chanteuse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chanteuse)\ **Post date:** [February 11, 2008, 9:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dancing-bear-from-captain-kangaroo/437071/15 "2008-02-11T09:30:49Z")
[QUOTE=Terrifel] If you had problems integrating Dancing Bear into your life, I have two words for you: _Slim Goodbody._ [/QUOTE] :eek: Oh, mercy, I’d forgotten all about [THAT](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5mc6kTkG_Jk) freak! Thanks a heap–when come back, bring brain bleach! ---
**Author:** ![Marlitharn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/779978/32.png) [@Marlitharn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marlitharn)\ **Post date:** [February 11, 2008, 10:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dancing-bear-from-captain-kangaroo/437071/16 "2008-02-11T10:11:52Z")
[QUOTE=Terrifel] [The Captain with the PicturePages guy, circa 1980.](http://www.mystiesplace.com/pages/picturepages/images/pp024.jpg) Whatever happened to that guy anyway? [/QUOTE] I used to _beg_ my parents and grandparents to send off for PicturePages so I could play along. I never did get them. Re: Slim Goodbody. I can remember being emotionally traumatized by a cliffhanger storyline involving him being tortured. To this day all I have to do is close my eyes and I can vividly see him screaming. I don’t know what the plot was, or why he was being tortured, or who was torturing him; hell, I couldn’t even remember the little freak’s name until I just read it in this thread. But his screaming face is burned into my brain. I don’t like it. ---
**Author:** ![twickster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ec9cab/32.png) [@twickster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/twickster)\ **Post date:** [February 11, 2008, 2:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dancing-bear-from-captain-kangaroo/437071/17 "2008-02-11T14:23:30Z")
[QUOTE=Tabula Rasa] That is what is generally referred to as “implied snoutage”. See the unpublished private correspondence of Derrida and Lacan , especially from the era of _The Structuralist Controversy_ (also Derrida’s later work on Heidegger), for analysis of concentric, contrasting, circular nasal representations especially as commentary on olefaction in the nuclear age. [/QUOTE] Heh. You’d think we would have covered that element, given that both **CateAyo** and I have social science doctorates. ---
**Author:** ![Dinsdale](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/97f17d/32.png) [@Dinsdale](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dinsdale)\ **Post date:** [February 11, 2008, 2:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dancing-bear-from-captain-kangaroo/437071/18 "2008-02-11T14:42:09Z")
This TV-addicted kid’s mom preferred that I start my mornings with the Captain, which she considered more “wholesome” than Ray Rayner with his cartoons! Just to let you young’uns realize how hard we had it back then, I had to listen for sounds of my mom coming from the other room, and quickly switch between channel 9 and 2 WITH NO REMOTE CONTROL! Oh the horrors! Anyone else in the mood for a little Tom Terrific? Oh no - PING PONG BALLS! I can’t remember exactly who it was, but a few years back I was at a party where one woman said her dad was the man in the Dancing Bear suit. If I could remember exactly who she was, perhaps I could get a definitive answer on this crucial question. ---
**Author:** ![jali](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ecae2f/32.png) [@jali](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jali)\ **Post date:** [February 11, 2008, 3:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dancing-bear-from-captain-kangaroo/437071/19 "2008-02-11T15:07:37Z")
I loved seeing these! I sang along with the song. ---
**Author:** ![Duck\_Duck\_Goose](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/50afbb/32.png) [@Duck\_Duck\_Goose](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Duck_Duck_Goose)\ **Post date:** [February 11, 2008, 3:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dancing-bear-from-captain-kangaroo/437071/20 "2008-02-11T15:19:09Z")
My mother never tires of relating the way I was terrified of the Dancing Bear at age 4 (which would have been in 1959), and would go hide behind a particular armchair whenever he came on. I can still hear the theme song in my head, you know. It will be with me until the day I die. Dunno whether to bless or curse [Youtube.](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q3w7w58CREY) Watching that opening, it strikes me what a _kind_ face Bob Keeshan had. Oh, and, as for “Boomer formative experience”, it has to be in B & W or it ain’t the real deal. Just sayin’… 😃 [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dancing-bear-from-captain-kangaroo/437071.md?page=2)