October 3, 2025

Captain Kangaroo on the small screen

 ~    

Bob Keeshan & Bunny Rabbit      
       
       
       
 
Seventy years ago today, on Monday, October 3, 1955, the television series, Captain Kangaroo premiered on the American television network CBS.        
 
 
 
 
The show was conceived by Bob Keeshan, who also played the title character "Captain Kangaroo", and who based the show on "the warm relationship between grandparents and children". Keeshan had portrayed the original Clarabell the Clown on the NBC The Howdy Doody Show (link below) during the network's early years.          
 
I was familiar with the show because I had to baby sit my brothers who liked to watch all the kid shows in the early fifties; Howdy Doody, The Mickey Mouse ClubKukla, Fran and Ollie, etc. 
 
 
Fran AllisonKukla, Fran and Ollie
 
 
I hated them with the exception of two kid's shows, Tom Corbett, Space Cadet and Captain Video and His Video Rangers (no surprise there) but it was the only way to keep them quiet, so, I got to learn all the different characters in each of them.                
       
His name "kangaroo" came from the big pockets in his famous blue coat (at the time I didn't know the color because it was black & white TV). Keeshan was only 27 years old when he created the kangaroo persona; he would perform storytelling, meet guests, and engage in silly stunts with regular characters, both humans and puppets. He performed as the Captain more than 9,000 times over the nearly 30-year span of the show.       
       
Captain Kangaroo was the longest running American children's television show until 1997 when it was surpassed by Mister Rogers' Neighborhood, which itself was surpassed by Sesame Street in 2003
 
Captain Kangaroo is still the longest running children's TV series by episode count with 6,090. When one counts the 65 edited versions (severely altered re-runs) that aired on PBS the episode count goes up to 6,155. Second-place holder Sesame Street has aired 4,731 episodes till now.
       
        
w/Nipsey Russell - 1971 
press photo 
 
 
Keeshan once offered a stern rebuke to parents at the time. “I am so often asked: ‘How do I get my children to read?’ Well, your children are coming home and watching you watch television,” he observed. “You are the role model for your children. If you want them to read, try picking up a book once in a while.”         
  
 
with Bruce Jenner in 1978 
CBS press photo 
 
 
Keeshan teamed up with former Texas governor Lamar Alexander to launch Corporate Family Solutions in 1987. The company operated workplace childcare centers for companies including Sears, Toyota, and Turner Broadcasting, the Los Angeles Times reported in 1997.   
         
 
Bob Keeshan & crew
        
 
Keeshan moved to Vermont in 1990 and made a home for himself in the town of Norwich. And later that decade came the publication of children’s books Keeshan wrote, including 1996’s Hurry, Murray, Hurry! and Alligator in the Basement, and 1997’s Itty Bitty Kitty and Itty Bitty Kitty Makes a Big Splash.       
 
Keeshan died on January 23, 2004, at age 76, with his family saying in a statement the cause of death was a “long illness,            
       
        
        
Viewfinder links:        
         
Fran Allison             
Howdy Doody              
Bruce Jenner             
Tales of Tomorrow        
        
Net links:        
         
TV Insider ~ What Happened to Bob Keeshan After the Show Ended?                   
        
YouTube links:        
        
Captain Kangaroo Show Opening                  
Captain Video and His Video Rangers (show intro)             
The History Guy ~ Good Morning, Captain                
Puffin' Billy (Captain Kangaroo theme)         
Tom Corbett, Space Cadet (1950) (8 videos)          
         
        
         
         

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

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