![]() If only I ran a studio, the world would be a brighter place. I don’t require much: hand puppets without wooden heads. Unfortunately, they were on screen too little of the time. And I was none too keen on Captain Kangaroo, because I only liked Mr. Rogers’ Neighborhood because the puppets were awful. Of course, he’s more well-rounded than Bunny Rabbit he also writes poems, because he’s the reincarnation of his namesake. ![]() Thus, the first thing I created in the “Post-Postmodern Comedy Hour” was Wordsworth-a carrot-stealing, rabbit hand-puppet who is an homage to Mr. Whether via the con or the sneak, carrots would soon be his. What I did not forget was all the larceny that Bunny Rabbit committed. ![]() In reality, there were no lenses in the glasses, so I think it was a fashion statement. I guess the idea was that he was farsighted. And something I had lost but regained from the picture is the memory that Mr. It is a sad statement that Marcel Proust warned us about, coming up on 100 years ago: we lose the past. The picture caught my eye not because of the Captain but because of the little guy he’s holding: Mr. It was from a blog post from 23 January 2004, the day that Bob Keeshan (AKA Captain Kangaroo) died. But we got rid of those.I was looking up “French antique folding chairs” when I came upon the picture on the left of Captain Kangaroo. Did he know they were coming? Of course, he says, I was the executive producer of the show.ĭid they hurt? Well, only in the beginning, when we used golf balls. I think its growing.Īnd what of the infamous ping-pong ball drop when at least once a show the Captain would be pelted with ping-pong balls because of something Mr. Whats happening to your nose, Andrew? Keeshan asks, laughing. A public relations man offers an explanation of how the hotel chain came to hire Keeshan. And he has a deadpan, slightly subversive, but gentle sense of humor. There is nothing childlike about Keeshan, but he has no trouble thinking of the world with a childs outlook. Keeshan is also partners with Lamar Alexander, former Tennessee governor and education secretary, in a company-based child-care program. He flies around the country speaking on childrens issues from the causes of crack babies to the importance of sex education. Since January, he has been chief spokesman for the Coalition for Americas Children, made up of groups as diverse as the American Academy of Pediatrics and the American Association of Retired Persons. ![]() Keeshan, a former Marine, isnt timid about leveraging the Captain into the adult world. When you travel to most places, kids are viewed not as guests of the hotel but as pests in the hotel. Its a program that for the first time recognizes children for what they are, he says. The Embassy Suites properties that participate (the one on International Drive is the first Orlando location involved) have child-proof rooms, staff trained to accommodate children, supervised play centers, even a child-oriented room service menu that includes peanut butter and jelly sandwiches. Hes in Orlando to promote a new program for Embassy Suites hotels child-oriented hotels. Hes unrecognizable as the Captain when hes dressed in business clothes hes missing the golden-straw, straight-haired wig and the big red jacket. Hes grown into the role he doesnt require much make-up these days to make him look grandfatherly.īOB KEESHAN IS FULL OF SMALL surprises which, in retrospect, arent all that surprising. 28 it died for lack of a corporate sponsor.īut Keeshan is eager to get it back on the air. The show has been off the air only since Aug. I modeled the Captain on the old toy-maker, the Geppetto-like figure.Ĭaptain Kangaroo ran for 30 years on CBS, then got bumped to public broadcasting, where its profile seemed to recede. I was intrigued with the warmth that can develop between a grandfather and a child, he says. He came across just the way Keeshan wanted him to as a grandfatherly type. Green Jeans.Ĭaptain Kangaroo was the Walter Cronkite of the kiddie set. It was before the network morning news shows, and many of the baby-boom generation had their breakfast cereal every morning with the Captain, Mr. BOB KEESHAN WAS ONLY 28 when he created Captain Kangaroo in 1955.
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