Countin’ flowers on the wall
That don’t bother me at all
Playin’ solitaire ’til dawn with a deck of 51
Smokin’ cigarettes and watchin’ Captain Kangaroo
And so sang the Statler Brothers. Maybe, they didn’t watch Captain Kangaroo, but millions upon millions of kids did from 1955 though 1984 – 29 seasons and 6,090 episodes. For three decades, Captain Kangaroo was America’s babysitter. In the early years, at exactly 8 AM, kids perched on the floor in front of their Sylvania black and white TVs and watched Captain Kangaroo and his friends – Mr. Green Jeans, Grandfather Clock, Dennis, Bunny Rabbit, Rollo the Hippo, Dancing Bear and Mr. Moose. One of the show’s long-running gags was the “Ping-Pong Ball Drop”, instigated by the telling of a joke (usually a knock-knock joke) by Mr. Moose, in which the punchline included the words “ping-pong balls”. At the mention of those three words, a shower of ping-pong balls was released from above on the Captain.
Children of all ages roared in laughter.
Captain Kangaroo was the brainchild of Bob Keeshan, who created and starred in the title role. Keeshan also played the original Clarabell the Clown on the Howdy Doody Show.
When the show began in 1955/56, I was a little old to appreciate it, but my younger sibs, each and every one, watched Captain Kangaroo. Later, my own children cherished the morning hours with Captain Kangaroo, enjoying his zany adventurers with Mr. Green Jeans and the many others.
When presenting the format to CBS, Keeshan described his character as based on “the warm relationship between grandparents and children”. He filled that role to perfection. The show was an immediate success, and Keeshan served as its host for nearly three decades.
Today, there are only a handful of quality programs for children. Where Saturday mornings were once dedicated entirely to children’s features and cartoons, now it’s sports. And after school, it’s more sports, news, and soaps.
But for 29 years, Captain Kangaroo served as one of the most beloved television characters of all time. Then he left, leaving many of us just drawin’ flowers on the wall.
