So the Captain was in his 30s when I used to watch him, I thought he was a lot older. I watched every morning for a few years. There was a lot of competition for that “kids” morning spot. I think there was some “Uncle Bob” guy we watched for a year or so, then of course Ray Rayner. But the Captain was the first I remember. Farewell good captain.
HUH?!?!?
I looked up Ray Rayner to make sure I have the spelling right, and I find this!!!
Just before the school bus picked us up, my bro and I used to have one last cup of hot cocoa and watch the Captain and Mr. Greenjeans. We watched year-round of course, but it was the winter mornings that were special.
Not sure how the real life actor parallelled the life of Fred Rogers, but he sure kept this immigrant youngster entertained and I appreciated his television “friendship”.
Sorry for the shocker, cc - I mentioned this in MsRobyn’s thread (“Death was a busy boy”) but didn’t think to mention it elsewhere. I feel just as you do; to wit:
I’m a member of the Howdy Doody / Ding Dong School generation, so I’m afraid I was past the Captain’s “target demographic” when he became popular. Still, the memory persists of a kind, quiet, accepting man—the kind of person you could tell your secrets to, and he’d respect them.
Which leads to the obvious question: has Phred Felps condemned him to hell yet?
I am seriously bummed on hearing this news. I grew up with the Captain and his friends, and I feel like a big chunk of my childhood has gone with him.
Several posters have mentioned Tom Terrific and Manfred, but nobody yet has mentioned the villain in that cartoon, Crabby Appleton. You know,
My name is Crabby Appleton,
I’m rotten to the core!
I do a bad deed everyday
And sometimes three or four!
Why can I remember cartoon jingles like that, when sometimes I forget important current things?
Did anyone else like it when they read books, and turned the illustrated pages on screen? I recall a story about a young boy in China, who used a cormorant to fish. He kept a string tied around it’s neck, so it couldn’t swallow what it caught. Years later I read a National Geographic article on China, and learned that that fishing method really was used.
My first exposure to the story of Stone Soup was in one of those books.
Did anyone else here have the record of folk songs the Captain and Mr. Greenjeans did? I recall “One More River”, and “Waltzing Matilda” were on it. For the latter they sang the song, then stopped and explained all the Australian slang terms used, then sang it again, and you realized now you could understand it!
I wish there was some way I could send a condolence message.
In a sense, he is responsible for me being on the SDMB today. You see, I come from a Francophone family and in the late 50s-early 60s we had a TV antenna on the roof of our house and every morning, I was watching Captain Kangaroo on one of the two American channels we were able to get at the time (IIRC, it was Channel 3 CBS Burlington VT) and by watching this show, I learned to speak and understand English. By starting me at an early age, he provided me with opportunities that I would appreciate later on. So long and good sailing.
I grew up watching the Captain, but I don’t remember too much about the show, sadly. The one segment that I do remember was the “Simon” cartoon “Oh I know my name is Simon…” When Mike Myers coopted that for one of his characters on SNL, I was not amused.
On one of the outtake shows, they had a blooper from the early b&w days of Captain Kangaroo. It was when the show was still airing live, and the Captain was talking to Mr. Moose, who’d forgotten his line. The Captain was gently prodding Mr. Moose (who thought they were still doing rehersal and not on the air) for his line.
Captain: What was it you were going to say, Mr. Moose?
Mr. Moose: I was gonna say, I was gonna say… What the hell was I going to say?
No idea of what the Captain’s response to that comment was, because the TV audience (and me at home) burst into such loud laughter that his words were drowned out.
I know that during his later years, Mr. Keeshan toured the country talking about children and television. Roughly ten years ago he was in Nashville giving a talk and one of the local TV stations interviewed him. He said that the most common comment he got when people ran into him on the street was, “You mean, you’re not dead yet?” He found it funny.
Another of the great’s is gone, and sadly, there’s no one to replace him, nor do kids growing up these days get the benefit of seeing his show in reruns. The world is a better place for his being here, and a lesser one for his passing on.
If you ever write your own biography, that would be a fantastic opening line.
Does anybody remember the New Captain Kangaroo (with a new look and cast) from the late 1990s? I didn’t think so. Nostalgia won out (twixt Clarabell and Cap’n, pretty much anybody who was a child between the Korean Conflict and the end of MAS*H had too many fond memories of Bob Keeshan) and it quickly went the way of The New Monkees .
One of my favorite toys when I was an itty bitty gay boy in Weokahatchee, AL, was a Dancing Bear that was as big as I was. You strapped his feet onto yours and he was the last dance partner with whom I seemed able to communicate in any way.
I also remember trying to build a TV set out of a shoebox and a rose because “the gloved hands” (did they have a name?) built one out of them on The Captain’s Place.
RIP, Captain.
Pointless P.S.:One of the first urban legends I can ever remember hearing was that Mister Greenjeans (Hugh Brannum 1910-1987) was a cokehead. Did anybody else ever hear this one?
The bad part was that I heard it from a fourth grade teacher at my elementary school who was asking parents to boycott CK due to this (who probably later performed the Heimlich on a kid who mixed Space Rocks with Pepsi before attending a prayer vigil for Cindy Brady’s tragic death from being drug by a schoolbus [though in some versions it was Joanie from HAPPY DAYS who met this fate] then went home to watch Baretta with that nice Robert Blake). If Mr. GreenJeans was a coke user he kept it safely hidden from any proof (though in his autobiography Mr. Moose did admit to dropping acid with John & Yoko in Montreal and to converting Cat Stevens to Islam in order to win an inter-network bet with King Friday XIII, and I wonder if Bunny Rabbit, along about the time of his break-up with Mamie Van Doren, was forced to check into rehab after he punk’d the Captain by switching the Ping Pong balls for golf balls, but I understand he’s been sober ever since) .
Oh, come on, people; I’m tired of hearing this. What about Blue’s Clues? Sure, Steve moved on, but the show continues, and perhaps there will come a day when people in their forties debate over who was the best BC host.
A lot of people thought Howdy Doody was junk when it was on the air. Now it’s part of the Golden Age of TV. A lot of people thought Mr. Rogers was a “fruit”, in the early days of his show, but last year, a whole nation mourned his passing. Time alone can judge children’s programming.
I know I watched him for at least a short time when I was young (if I’ve got the story straight, the show actually helped me learn to tell time, because I knew when the hands were in the right place, it was time to turn it on!) but I’m afraid I just don’t remember. I guess I was too young, and didn’t watch for long enough for it to sink in the way Mr. Rogers did. (sniffle)
We only had one TV station here when I was a kid and it didn’t come on until the afternoon. The station had to opt for certain programs and others never made it on the air. So I never saw a single episode of Howdy Doody, but we did have the Mickey Mouse Club and Annette’s boobs. I don’t recall ever seeing the Capt. either until I had my own kids, but I know he is an icon for many.
I read this in one of the obituaries for him. He would only accept sponsors that encouraged education and creativity, such as Play-Doh and Etch-a-Sketch.
Sadly, a number of people involved with the Captain are dead. Hugh “Mr. Greenjeans” Brannum died in 1987, and Lionel Wilson, who did the voices for Tom Terrific, died last year. Wilson did some other cartoon voicework as well, working mostly with Tom’s creator Gene Deitch. His last voice role before his death is one of my personal favorites-the ornery Eustace on Courage the Cowardly Dog.
I was born too young for the Captain, and long after Howdy ran his course, but I pay my respects to a man who, like his contemporary Fred Rogers, was a kind, gentle fellow in a world usually filled with fast-paced frantic fun.
Rilchiam - all right fine so you won’t shed any tears for the Captain.
I’ll use Eve’s nomenclature and say I too was a Captain Kangaroo kid.
His show was not some mindless cartoon drivel that only promoted merchandising. The Captain made kids think.
I am sure many of the “Dopers” probably knew he was a US Marine (joined at the very end of WW2 when he turned 18). Despite his “jarhead” background, he was always kind and friendly. He seemed like a Walter Cronkite for the elementary school generation. He was an incredibly beneficial influence to an entire generation.
So long Captain, you will be missed.
Although Keeshan DID join the Marine Corps during WW2, he was still in training camp when the Japanese surrendered. He never saw action of any kind, never CLAIMED to have seen action. And yet, every few months, he’d have to refute claims that he and his alleged best buddy Lee Marvin were heroes at Iwo Jima.
Keeshan had to keep denying such stories on a regular basis. No doubt, with his death, we’ll be hearing them again.
This had been one of my favorite parts of the show. I managed to find The Banana Man after wading through a bunch of sites about Bananaman, a later children’s show.
Losing The Captain and Ray Rayner in the same week; my childhood is slipping away from me.
