Bob Keeshan
Bob Keeshan aka Captain Kangaroo, my childhood role model and one of the world's greatest children's television actors of all time.
Captain Kangaroo Tales From Mother Goose and the World of Make Believe
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Release Date: 12/31/1969
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Bob Keeshan at a Glance
Robert James Keeshan (June 27, 1927 - January 23, 2004) was an American television producer and actor. He is most famous as the title character of the children's television program Captain Kangaroo, which became an icon for millions of baby boomers during its 30-year run from 1955-1984.
Keeshan also played the original "Clarabell the Clown" on the Howdy Doody television program.
Keeshan was born in Lynbrook, New York, and attended Fordham University after serving in the United States Marine Corps reserve during World War II. A persistent rumor is that actor Lee Marvin appeared on "The Tonight Show" and said he had served in the Marine Corps fighting alongside Keeshan at the Battle of Iwo Jima. Marvin never told the story, never served on Iwo Jima (having been invalided out after the battle of Saipan months earlier), and Keeshan never saw combat or overseas duty, having enlisted just before the end of the war.
After World War II, network television programs for children were new. On Howdy Doody, an early show which premiered in 1947 on NBC. Debuting on January 3, 1948, Keeshan played "Clarabell the Clown", a silent Auguste clown who mainly communicated by honking horns attached to a belt around his waist (one of the horns meant "yes"; the other horn meant "no"). Clarabell often spritzed Buffalo Bob Smith with a seltzer bottle and played practical jokes. He gave up the role in 1952, and was replaced by another actor.
In August of 1953, Bob Keeshan was back on the air on WABC-TV (New York City), doing a new children's show, Time for Fun, playing the role of Corny the Clown, a clown who spoke. Later that same year, in addition to Time for Fun, Bob began Tinker's Workshop, a program aimed at preschoolers, where Bob played the grandfatherly Tinker.
Developing the ideas from Tinker's Workshop, Keeshan and long-time friend Jack Miller submitted the concept of Captain Kangaroo to the CBS network, which was searching for innovative new approaches to children's television programming. CBS approved the new show, and Keeshan starred as the title character of Captain Kangaroo when it premiered on CBS on October 3, 1955. Keeshan described his character as based on "the warm relationship between grandparents and children." The show was a great success, and he served as host for almost three decades; it ran until 1984.
Frequently recurring characters included Mr. Green Jeans (played by Hugh "Lumpy" Brannum), and puppets such as "Bunny Rabbit" and "Mr. Moose."
The New York Times commented: "Captain Kangaroo, a round-faced, pleasant, mustachioed man possessed of an unshakable calm ... was one of the most enduring characters television ever produced."
He also had a Saturday morning show called Mister Mayor during the 1964-65 season.
After Captain Kangaroo ended, Keeshan hosted 1985's CBS Storybreak, which featured animated versions of children's literature. Keeshan appeared in framing sequences for the animated stories, showcasing the book versions and suggesting similar books for the viewers to seek out. CBS Storybreak is a Saturday morning anthology television series that originally aired on the CBS network during the 1985 season. Hosted by Captain Kangaroo's Bob Keeshan (and in its 1993 return by The Cosby Show's Malcolm Jamal-Warner), the episodes are half-hour animated adaptations of some of the most beloved children's books published at the time of airing, including How to Eat Fried Worms. Other episodes included Dragon's Blood and Ratha's Creature.
Unique for an American television series, the series featured open captions for the hearing impaired during its 1993 reairing, instead of the usual closed captioning.
The episodes were produced by Australia's Southern Star Entertainment and America's Hanna-Barbera Productions for CBS Entertainment. One of its crew, Sander Schwartz, would go on to become the president of Warner Bros. Animation in 2001. Select episodes were released on home video in 1992 under the title Video Storybreak. CBS' first in-house cartoon series since their original Terrytoons, it was nominated for an Emmy for Outstanding Animated Program in the 1985-1986 season. It continued in reruns until 1988 and returned to air in reruns during the 1993 season.
In 1987, Keeshan founded Corporate Family Solutions with former Tennessee Republican Governor Lamar Alexander. The company provided day-care programs to businesses.
Keeshan lived on Melbury Road in Babylon Village, Long Island, New York before moving to spend the last 14 years of his life in Vermont, where he became a children's advocate as well as an author. His memoirs, entitled Good Morning, Captain, were published in 1995 by Fairview Press. He was a strong advocate against video game violence and took part in the congressional hearings in 1993.
He later became an honorary member of Dartmouth College's Class of 1942.
Keeshan died in Windsor, Vermont, on January 23, 2004, at the age of 76 of natural causes. He is survived by three children. His wife of 40 years, Anne Jeanne Laurie Keeshan, had died in 1990. Bob Keeshan's grandson, Britton Keeshan, became the youngest person at the time to climb the Seven Summits when he summited Mount Everest in May 2004. He did so carrying photos of his grandfather, and buried a photo of the two of them at the summit of Everest.
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Growing Up Happy: Captain Kangaroo Tells Yesterday's Children How to Nurture Their Own
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Howdy Doody's Clarabell Clown and the Merry-go-round (Whitman Tell-a-Tale)
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Clarabell the Clown on eBay
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- Captain Kangaroo
Captain Kangaroo Page! One of HUNDREDS of classic TV shows in Tim's TV Showcase!
- Robert Keeshan
Actor: Captain Kangaroo. Keeshan lived on Melbury Road in the affluent neighborhood of Babylon Village... Visit IMDb for Photos, Filmography, Discussions, Bio, News, Awards, Agent, Fan Sites.
- Captain Kangaroo (1955)
Created by Bob Claver. With Robert Keeshan, Hugh Brannum, Deborah Weems. Daily children's program hosted by Captain Kangaroo. Visit IMDb for Photos, Showtimes, Cast, Crew, Reviews, Plot Summary, Comments, Discussions, Taglines, Trailers, Posters, Fan Sites
- Do you remember "Bunny Rabbit" and "Mr Moose" on Captain Kangaroo? - Yahoo! Answers
They would always lure Captain Kangaroo over, and then dump ping pong balls on him ...
Sweet Pickles Books on eBay
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Captain Kangaroo on eBay
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In writing a comment for this lens's guestbook, I realized that my long winded comment, was really the start of an article I should be writing for this lens. So, here it is:
When I was a kid, Captain Kangaroo was my fave show. I loved it and never missed an episode. There were a load of things I liked about this show, it was way better than Sesame Street and the shows they have for kids today: Barney, TellyTubbies, Magic School Bus.... they can't hold a candle to Captain Kangaroo, not in entertainment value or in educational value.
I loved the animals he often had on his show, and I loved the fact that they came from our own local zoo, White's Zoo in Scarbough Maine, where my dad had years ago supplied the animals.
I loved Mr Green Jeans, and Mr Moose, and Bunny Rabbit. I loved the B's in the mailbox and the T in the teacups, both of which were the letters B and T themselves.
None of those things were why I watched the show however. My favorite segment of Captain Kangaroo was "Picture Pages" when Bob Keeshan and Bill Cosby got together to read children's books. Bob read the books, and Bill would ask the kids in the audience questions about the story as it went along.
I esp liked when he'd read the books. Captain Kangaroo had a book club called "Picture Pages", and every months he'd send out this work book, and you could fill in the answers to the questions as he was reading the story on the show. Than at the end of the month you'd send the work book back to him, and he'd send you copies of the books he'd read that month.
The Captain Kangaroo "Picture Pages" segment was the inspiration for the spin off show CBS Storybreak, which aired after Captain Kangaroo went off the air. I watched this series as well, thus farther inspiring my love of books even more.
I must have gotten a couple hundred books from him over the years that I watched his show. My fave books of the ones I got from him, were The Sweet Pickles books. It was the start of my now massive book collection which has over 10,000 books and 7,000 comic books today.
He was such a great guy, if it hadn't been for him, I might not have been the avid book lover that I am today. He was the best role model any child could wish for, I only wish that children of today had a great role model like him to look up too.
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Shout Out For Bob Keeshan!
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I'm looking for some great on-topic lenses to add to my lensroll on this lens and for the featured lens module below. Have you got a lens about Bob Keeshan, Captain Kangaroo, children's shows, children's authors, or children's books? Feel free to leave a link to it in the comment box. Next time I log-in I'll stop by and check it out. I'll feature the ones that are on-topic for my lens, and lensroll most all lenses related to children's tv and books.
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Bob Keeshan aka Captain Kangaroo
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Rusty-Quill
Another very welcome addition to Review Central! May the captain be with you. Posted October 07, 2008 |
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CCGAL
What lovely memories this lens brought back to me! I adored Captain Kangaroo and Mr. Green Jeans. My favorite parts were the ping-pong balls dropping (thanks to Mr. Moose!) and bunny always getting the carrots. Thanks for a wonderful lens on an icon of children's television. Posted September 28, 2008 |
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OldGrampa
I would like to invite you to join my Classic Childrens TV group Posted September 27, 2008 |
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OldGrampa
I loved the Captain Kangaroo show, I grew up watching it. I also just created a new lens devoted to the Captain Kangaroo show, Once it comes out of WIP (tomorrow) I will add your Bob Keeshan lens to the lensroll. Posted September 26, 2008 |
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JenniferAkers
I loved Captain Kangaroo! 5* Lens~ Welcome to our group, Kids TV Shows. Check out your featured Bob Keeshan lens and vote for your favorite network. Posted May 22, 2008 |
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beeobrien
Great lens. Great graphics.5***** Posted April 13, 2008 |
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N376
Excellent work. Your "My Thoughts" really rounded off this lens and made it shine. Posted April 12, 2008 |
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tdove
Thanks for joining G Rated Lense Factory! Posted April 12, 2008 |
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adez7
I used to watch Captain Kangaroo when I was a child every time it came on the TV with out fail! This is a fantastic lens about the man and his TV show. I wish we had more of this type of entertainment for the children today. This is a five star lens well written and produced by a five star lensmaster! GOOD JOB! Posted April 12, 2008 |
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charlino
I grew up with Capt. Kangaroo. Loved his Bunny Rabbit, and puppets, and all. Still brings back good childhood memories. Great information here. Posted April 12, 2008 |
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Winter52
Wow, did that bring back a lot of memories. I too watched him every day and loved Bunny, Dancing Bear and Mr. Green Jeans. Definitely deserves 5 in my book. :) Posted April 12, 2008 |
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EelKat
when I was a kid, Captain Kangaroo was my fave show. I loved it and never missed an episode. I esp liked when he'd read the books. He had a book club called "Picture Pages", and every months he'd send out this work book, and you could fill in the answers to the questions as he was reading the story on the show. Than at the end of the month you'd send the work book back to him, and he'd send you copies of the books he'd read that month. My fave books of the ones I got from him, were The Sweet Pickles books. I must have gotten a couple hundred books from him over the years that I watched his show. It was the start of my now massive book collection which has over 10,000 books and 7,000 comic books today. He was such a great guy, if it hadn't been for him, I might not have been the avide book lover that I am today. Posted April 12, 2008 |
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chefkeem
I've heard about him, of course, during my 26 years in the US. But I grew up in Germany and didn't see any of his shows. Now I know him better. Fascinating guy. He deserves 5*s! Posted April 11, 2008 |
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