![]() Lumpy’s real name was Hugh Brannum, but the world knows him as Mr. Bob had described his character as based on “the warm relationship between grandparents and children.” He went on to be Captain Kangaroo for almost three decades. CBS premiered the show on October 3, 1955, the same day Walt Disney’s Mickey Mouse Club began on ABC. Here are over 20 facts about the beloved Captain Kangaroo program that most people don’t know: That same year he began an additional role playing the grandfather type character of Tinker for preschoolers in Tinker’s Workshop. It was in this work that Bob and long-time friend Jack Miller developed the concept of Captain Kangaroo. In 1952 he returned to TV in a speaking role as Corny the Clown in Time For Fun at WABC-TV where Lumpy was playing. It just so happened that Lumpy began hosting his on New York WABC-TV local TV series, Uncle Lumpy’s Cabin in 1951.īy the following year, Bob left Howdy Doody as Clarabell over a salary dispute. This group had a regular radio show when Bob first became acquainted with Lumpy. Later Lumpy joined the Four Squires and afterwards moved on as a musician for Fred Waring and His Pennsylvanians. One horn for “yes.” Two honks meant “no.”īob met a fellow Marine known as “Lumpy,” a musician who had played in the Marine band during the war. On January 3, 1948, Bob was promoted to the role of Clarabell the Clown, a silent prankster who communicated by honking horns connected to a waist belt. He was paid so little that the show’s host Buffalo Bob Smith would give Bob $6 after every show. ![]() ![]() On the GI Bill, Bob attended Fordham University and Hillsdale College just about the time television network programs began airing.īob soon found a job with NBC Studios working as a page doing odd jobs for Howdy Doody, a pioneer children’s show which premiered in 1947. He had not yet been sent to an overseas assignment when it was announced that Japan had surrendered. In 1945, because of World War II, he enlisted in the United States Marine Corps Reserve. Green Jeans the father of musician Frank Zappa?Ĭaptain Kangaroo, Bob Keeshan, a native of Lynbrook, New York, graduated early from Forest Hills High School in Queens, New York. Lamar Alexander co-founded Corporate Family Solutions, an organization that provided day-care programs to businesses around the country.Did Captain Kangaroo fight at Iwo Jima with actor Lee Marvin? In 1987, Keeshan and former Tennessee Gov. "I don't think it's any secret that Fred and I were not very happy with the way children's television had gone," Keeshan said. When Fred Rogers, the gentle host of "Mister Rogers' Neighborhood," died last year, Keeshan recalled how they often spoke about the state of children's programming. No other person or outside force has a greater influence on a child than the parent." "Every word, movement and action has an effect. "Parents are the ultimate role models for children," he said. ![]() And he spoke wherever he went about the importance of good parenting. He was critical of today's TV programs for children, saying they were too full of violence. Keeshan, who moved to Vermont in 1990, remained active as a children's advocate, writing books, lecturing and lobbying on behalf of children's issues. 3, 1955, and Keeshan remained in that role until 1993. Later he played Corny the clown, the host of a noontime cartoon program in New York City. His first television appearance came in 1948, when he played the voiceless, horn-honking Clarabell the Clown on the "Howdy Doody Show," a role he created and played for five years. Keeshan, born in Lynbrook, N.Y., became a page at NBC while he was in high school. He also personally supervised which commercials could air on the program, and promoted products, such as Play-Dough and Etch-a-Sketch, which he saw as facilitating creative play, while avoiding those he felt purely exploitative." "Keeshan wanted nothing that would come between him and the children in his television audience and so spoke directly to the camera. "Unlike many other children's programs, Captain Kangaroo was not filmed before a studio audience and did not include children in its cast," says the Museum of Broadcasting on its Web site. "I was impressed with the potential positive relationship between grandparents and grandchildren, so I chose an elderly character," Keeshan said. But the show revolved about the grandfatherly Captain Kangaroo, whose name was inspired by the kangaroo pouch-like pockets of the coat Keeshan wore.
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