Because Bob would not perform the show live three times daily, it was broadcast on kinescope for the West Coast. One performance for the East Coast and another for the Midwest. During the first four years, the show was telecast live twice each day. The “Kangaroo” came from the deep pockets in his captain’s coat. On occasion, the Captain could not get the keys to stay on the nail, and when they fell off, the theme music would begin playing again. Then he would put the Treasure House keys on a nail, and the music would stop. Children would get their first glimpse of him. Usually the show began with the theme music starting up, then the Captain would unlock and open the doors of the Treasure House from the inside. “Puffin’ Billy” was actually borrowed from Chappell Recorded Music Library in Britain. The iconic theme song for Captain Kangaroo was not unique to the show. Green Genes” on his 1969 album, Hot Rats. This was not true but many people think the rumor started because of a Zappa composition titled “Son of Mr. Myth #2: Hugh Brannum was the father of musician Frank Zappa. The legend goes that Marvin told Johnny Carson on The Tonight Show about fighting with Keeshan. Myth #1: Bob Keeshan fought next to actor Lee Marvin in the military during WWII at Iwo Jima. Brannum stuck his bleeding hand into his pocket and never broke character for the remainder of the episode. The shows were performed before a live audience and during one taping, a lion cub bit Brannum’s finger and drew blood. Green Jeans was an enhancement of Brannum’s real personality. McGregor, Percy, Uncle Backwards, and Mr. Green Jeans, he played the roles of the Professor, Greeno the Clown, the New Old Folk Singer, Mr. From 1955 until 1984, Brannum not only was Mr. Sometimes he would bring various zoo animals to visit. Green Jeans was a friendly neighbor-handyman who helped the Captain at the Treasure House. His character was loosely based on stories about a boy named “Little Orley” that Lumpy told with the Fred Waring orchestra on the radio and on recordings. 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. Did Captain Kangaroo fight at Iwo Jima with actor Lee Marvin?
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