Talk:Captain Kangaroo

Untitled

Also among the toons, or so I've heard, was Mighty Manfred the Wonder Dog, created by Terrytoons. Can anybody cite a source? Trekphiler 00:03, 6 January 2006 (UTC)

Manfred the Wonder Dog was a sidekick to Tom Terrific, as the story notes. In my Captain-watching years, I never saw him in his own cartoon. - DavidWBrooks 00:53, 6 January 2006 (UTC)

Mentioned in a song in Pulp Fiction

The first time I heard about Captain Kangaroo was in the song "Butch" sings to himself when he goes back to fetch his watch from the appartment in the Pulp Fiction movie by Quentin Tarantino. Maybe it's worth mentioning here?

I think it definitely is worth mentioning as this was also the first time I'd ever heard about the show. I was surprised it hadn't already happened so I started a "popular culture" section and mentioned the reference in there. --Thoughtcat 08:49, 21 October 2006 (UTC)

Not sure how relavent or truthful a statement about "numerous people born after 1960" not knowing what Captain Kangaroo was is. I was born in 1975, but watched his show until its cancellation.141.156.31.249 17:54, 8 December 2006 (UTC)

That song was from a group known as The Statler Brothers and the song title was Flowers on the Wall. I don't think mentioning the Pulp Fiction relation to the song is necessary since it's mentioned in the song's main article. A mention of how this song in particular references the show might be a good idea though as there are numerous shows, covers, and articles that reference the song (which is not a reference to the show itself directly) --Poet  Talk  15:40, 14 April 2009 (UTC)

Theme Song Lyrics

I seem to remember the theme song having lyrics like,

   "Good Morning Captain, Hello how d'you do?
   Wake up the sunshine, it's a brand new day for you"

or something to that effect. I can't google the lyrics to confirm this.

—The preceding unsigned comment was added by [[User:A2Z|A2Z]] ([[User talk:A2Z|talk]] • [[Special:Contributions/A2Z|contribs]]) 23:03, 9 May 2006 (UTC).

So far, http://www.vnews.com/06012004/1787480.htm and http://lowesboards.sportingnews.com/groupee/forums/a/tpc/f/189000495/m/318103357 are the only sites I can find to support my recollection of the theme song lyrics. Is this enough confirmation to justify editing the article?

A2Z 00:25, 11 May 2006 (UTC)

The lyrics to "Good Morning, Captain" are as follows"

   "Good Morning, Captain
    Won't you come on out and play?
    Wake up the sunshine and share this friendly day.
    Good Morning, Captain,
    It's A smiling song we sing 
    'Cause we're happy to see you
    and the good times that you bring.
    Hey, good morning, hello, how do you do?
    Good Morning, Captain (repeated twice)
    Good Morning, 
    Wake up the sunshine
    and share this friendly day."

Thanks for the lyrics. I think the lyrics quoted in the article is confusing the show's theme song with the lyrics for the Picture Pages segment, which goes somehting like:

         "Picture Pages, Picture Pages,
          Now it's time for Picture Pages,
          Time to grab a crayon or a pencil.

          Picture Pages, Picture Pages,
          Now it's time for Picture Pages,
          Time to have Bill Cosby do a Picture Page with you"

Feel free to correct me if I'm wrong, as I'm quoting from a distant memory.--A2Z 19:41, 2 May 2007 (UTC)

User:A2z Are you fairly sure of the lyrics you posted? I mean no disrespect whatsoever, but I seem to recall the lyrics more like the earlier poster with ""Good Morning Captain, Hello how d'you do?" I could certainly be wrong because that is actually all I remember of the lyrics. It could well be I'm getting confused with the chorus part of the song. Wish I could find a video of the show and see. But regardless thanks for posting the lyrics to both of the songs you did. CK brings back a time and place that only exist now in my mind. I never cared for Mr. Rogers, but CK was King.Bad S Mini (talk)MG —Preceding comment was added at 08:35, 24 November 2007 (UTC)

Merge proposal

The entire Wake Up with the Captain article almost duplicates what's already found in this article. I suggest we just make that article redirect to this one. hateless 05:55, 26 June 2006 (UTC)

Yes. - DavidWBrooks 10:36, 26 June 2006 (UTC)

possible add to Special Guests

I know the Dancing Bear made appearances on Andy Williams' show/specials, late 60s and/or early 70s. Might be worth a mention. I don't know if Williams appeared on KK in turn.

-- The Bear on the Andy Williams show was not Captain Kangaroo's Dancing Bear. The Andy Williams bear was played by Janos Prohaska. He also played the Horta in the Star Trek episode "Devil in the Dark"

sentence unclear

"Captain Kangaroo was a children's program which aired weekday mornings on the United States television network CBS from 1955 until 1984, then moved to the American Program Service (now American Public Television, Boston) to air syndicated reruns of past episodes in 1992."

CBS 'til '84, "then" moved to another network 8 years later? "Then" suggests the move was immediate. I'd fix it but I don't know if was airing anywhere during those 8 years.

...and I remember seeing latter day reruns on PBS.

Banana Man

The section on Cosmo 'Gus' Allegretti mentions the Banana Man. But the link provided takes one to a completely different Bananaman (one word), a cartoon about an apparently somewhat clutzy superhero.

I remember the Banana Man would come out in a large, elaborate costume and start taking bananas and other fruits, including a watermelon or two, out of the pockets. He'd also take out these folded boards that he'd unfold and assemble into a miniature train. He'd put the fruits in the train car, then he'd sit on the engine and ride off.

He never spoke. In a high-pitched falsetto, he'd go "Oh, Oooh, WOWWW!" Now and then he'd go "EEEEEEEeeeeeee," still in falsetto, dropping an octave in the middle.

Some time ago I read (on the Web--that's all I remember) that his costume was so complicated he couldn't clean it. Over the years, they'd refilm the skit from time to time--new set, or whatever. On the days when they'd film it, everybody who didn't absolutely have to be there would take the day off, because the costume smelled so bad.

Stephen Kosciesza 140.147.160.78 15:08, 4 August 2006 (UTC)

Tha Banana Man was played not by Cosmo Allegretti, but by Sam Levine.

Here is a link to a history of the Banana Man: http://facweb.furman.edu/~rbryson/BananaMan/index.html

I have vague childhood recollections of seeing Banana Man on Captain Kangaroo too, Stephen. Thanks for providing that web site. Quite an interesting, eccentric character. The info on that site is a bit disorganized, so it's hard to put together a coherent vision of the guy from it. Sounds to me like our Banana Man (or Banana Men, if I gather correctly) deserves his own article. --Rizzleboffin 17:50, 4 August 2006 (UTC)

Don't want to take credit I don't deserve. The correction about Cosmo Allegretti versus Sam Levine, and the link to the Banana Man site isn't from me. I don't know who put that in. I'm adding an extra indentation to keep the thread clear. 140.147.160.78 21:19, 19 October 2006 (UTC)Stephen Kosciesza

Ludwig

As a Brit who remembers the Ludwig cartoon I was surprised to see no standalone entry for it. As I recall, Captain Kangaroo wasn't shown in the UK so it seemed right that Ludwig should have its own entry, so I cut out the explanatory text from the Cartoons section and used that as the basis for a new Ludwig (cartoon) entry. --Thoughtcat 09:58, 21 October 2006 (UTC)

Original theme music--heard in Doctor Who??

The theme music to the original Bob Keeshan series, the "Puffin Bill" instrumental, was used in a late episode of "Doctor Who." I was startled to hear it, and I always wondered how that came to happen; was there some connection, or was it just a coincidence?

It was a Sylvester McCoy (the seventh Doctor of the regular TV series--the last before the series went on hiatus, so it was years after the original Captain) episode. The Doctor and his then-companion Ace landed in their space/time vehicle in a bus holiday resort in Wales in the late 1950s. The background music was what I knew very well as the Captain Kangaroo theme. 140.147.160.78 19:41, 26 October 2006 (UTC)Stephen Kosciesza

Slim Goodbody

Didn't the Slim Goodbody live-action shorts air as part of Captain Kangaroo at one point? I have a storybook LP that has "as seen on Captain Kangaroo" (with a picture of Bob Keeshan) emblazoned on the cover. - Pennyforth 20:35, 7 February 2007 (UTC)

Doesn't the reference to him in the article cover that? - DavidWBrooks 21:56, 7 February 2007 (UTC)

I missed it before, my bad. - Pennyforth 21:02, 8 February 2007 (UTC)

No - good; you asked. Bad is slapping something into the article without checking. ... And I can one-up your Slim Goodbody storybook LP. I've got a couple of Captain Kangaroo LPs from my youth, including Mr. Green Jeans explaining the meaning of "Waltzing Matilda" to a confused Captain. - DavidWBrooks 21:57, 8 February 2007 (UTC)

I liked the film footage of the Macy's Thanksgiving parade that he would sometimes show. Does anybody know the song that he would play while showing this clip?

Fair use rationale for Image:Captain Kangaroo.jpg

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Confused Timeline

This needs to be fixed: "aired weekday mornings on the American television network CBS from 1955 until 1984, then moved to Public television when the American Program Service distributed the program with some newly produced segments which were integrated into reruns of past episodes from 1986 - 1993."

I don't think episodes from 1986-1993 were in the past in 1984, but that is what this sentence leads one to believe. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 64.147.67.22 (talk) 21:42, August 28, 2007 (UTC)

Some citations needed

This is a nice article, clearly written by knowledgable people who like their subject. It definitely could use a handful of in-article references to various sources.

24.130.11.114 (talk) 03:17, 29 March 2008 (UTC)

Schwinn

Is the Schwinn marketing really notable enough to deserve its own section? Rees11 (talk) 01:45, 30 April 2009 (UTC)

Arguably, yes. It's startling to today's TV audience, especially in line with the posthumous imagine of Keeshan/Captain as a sort of educational-TV Ganhdi for kids. I have just removed a bit of the more overheated language in the section. - DavidWBrooks (talk) 01:52, 30 April 2009 (UTC)

Thanks, I think it's better now. I'm still not convinced it's notable under Wikipedia guidelines, as all of the content comes from a single source, and this sort of thing was SOP for children's TV at the time. And the Captain endorsed lots of products, so singling out Schwinn seems a but unfair. But I have no sources so I'll let it stand. Rees11 (talk) 12:06, 30 April 2009 (UTC)

Speaking as somebody who is old enough to have watched it in those years, I have only the vaguest memory of Schwinn selling on the show - but then again, I was only 5 or 6. Schwinn was definitely synonymous for bicycle in American suburbia of the 60s. - DavidWBrooks (talk) 17:17, 30 April 2009 (UTC)

Keys

I always thought the music, Puffin Billy, was made from the keys when they jiggled. That's why the music stopped when they rested on it's hook. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 149.32.192.33 (talk) 11:41, 13 October 2009 (UTC)

Sources and citations

This is article is woefully undersourced. I've added a couple of articles in the ELs that a fellow editor with time to do so might be able to use. -- 207.237.230.157 (talk) 01:20, 5 April 2010 (UTC)

Cosmo "Gus" Allegretti

What ever became of this man? Is he still alive? I've searched the Internet time and again, but can find next to nothing about him.GermanShepherdsPie (talk) 08:24, 20 May 2011 (UTC)

Allegretti died July 26, 2013 -

http://www.csmonitor.com/The-Culture/Family/Modern-Parenthood/2013/0807/Cosmo-Allegretti-Captain-Kangaroo-character-behind-Dancing-Bear-and-Mr.-Moose Irish Melkite (talk) 11:54, 8 August 2013 (UTC)

Not the longest-running children's show

I beg to differ regarding the claim in the first section that Captain Kangaroo was the longest-running children's television show.

That honor is held by Chief Halftown, a show with cartoons and tales told by a full-blooded Native American from the Seneca nation, hosted by Traynor Ora Halftown (who was a full-blooded Seneca in real life) on WPVI-TV in Philadelphia. Chief Halftown ran from 1950-1999. Bill S. (talk) 04:29, 12 February 2012 (UTC)

I've added "nationally broadcast" to the article to address this point. JTRH (talk) 06:24, 12 February 2012 (UTC)

A wonderful example of why wikipedia has survived and thrived, despite all the flaws. - DavidWBrooks (talk) 13:28, 12 February 2012 (UTC)

Arts & Crafts Segment

I seem to remember a segment where Captain Kangaroo brought out a box (shoebox?) with paper, scissors, tape, string, etc. to make pictures & things. I can't remember the details (what they called the segment, who else participated, etc.) It wasn't even mentioned in the main article, and that was what I was looking for! Can anyone out there help me out with more information? --72.161.222.231 (talk) 17:27, 3 June 2012 (UTC)CLynn 2012/06/03 12:25PM

Popular culture section

Popular Culture sections are usually a mess of trivia, but at the moment the article's is excellent: A short summary of the weird Frank Zappa urban legend, and a tight list of songs mentioning Captain Kangaroo. These sections exist to indicate how much the article's topic is known in the outside world (so to speak) and this one does just that. No need to rewrite it, cut it, or integrate it elsewhere.

I'm posting this note because somebody has tagged the section; I have removed the tag and this is the Talk page explanation. No tag should ever be placed or removed with a Talk page discussion. - DavidWBrooks (talk) 12:41, 26 July 2012 (UTC)

The Zappa legend is unsourced. By appearances, this might be non-trivially sourced in reference to Hot Rats or Zappa. There is nothing to indicate that any reliable source discussing Captain Kangaroo discusses this legend. If, on the other hand, a reliable source that is primarily about Capt. Kangaroo discusses this, it might belong here. We do not have that source.

The songs that purportedly mention Capt. Kangaroo are trivial references. Imagine what the article God would look like with such a list. Again, a reliable source discussing a song/album that says it refers to Capt. Kangaroo might merit inclusion in the article about that song/album. Unless a reliable source primarily discussing Capt. Kangaroo refers to the song, this is trivial. - SummerPhD (talk) 14:46, 26 July 2012 (UTC)

If there's a reliable source (and Googling "Zappa" and "Captain Kangaroo" produces 214,000 hits, so there most likely is), it doesn't matter whether it's a source primarily about Zappa or primarily about Captain Kangaroo. JTRH (talk) 15:37, 26 July 2012 (UTC)

That there "most likely is" a source is immaterial. Is there a reliable source or not?

As for it not mattering, my discussion above resonates elsewhere. Wikipedia:Relevance_of_content#Interactions_between_subjects states, "A fact that connects two subjects may be appropriate for mention in the article of one, but not the other. This is often the case with creative works: what is important within the creative work may not exert a measurable influence on the other subject." This mostly addresses the song issue (as discussed).

Wikipedia:Handling_trivia#Connective_trivia discusses connective trivia (such as the legend connecting Zappa -> Green Jeans -> Captain Kangaroo. "Some trivia is important to only some of the subjects; much trivia appearing on Wikipedia is of this variety." A biography about Zappa shows some relevance to Zappa, but not to Green Jeans and on to Capt. Kangaroo

An example I find particularly illustrative is Gerald Ford. Chevy Chase's depictions of him enforced the public perception of Ford's clumsiness and is discussed in numerous sources about Ford (and numerous sources about Chase as well). Including this information in Chevy Chase and Gerald Ford makes sense. The depiction of Ford as one of The X Presidents, however seems utterly trivial in the Gerald Ford article. No sources primarily discussing Ford that I am aware of discuss this reference.

I am not saying there are not reliable sources primarily discussing Captain Kangaroo (Gerald Ford) that discuss the Frank Zappa legend (The X Presidents). I am saying I have not found any and there are none in the article. - SummerPhD (talk) 16:29, 26 July 2012 (UTC)

"When trying to decide if a pop culture reference is appropriate to an article, ask yourself the following:

1. Has the subject acknowledged the existence of the reference?
2. Have reliable sources that don't generally cover the subject pointed out the reference?
3. Did any real-world event occur because of the reference?

If you can't answer "yes" to at least one of these, you're just adding trivia. Get all three and you're possibly adding valuable content." WP:IPCEXAMPLES - SummerPhD (talk) 16:36, 26 July 2012 (UTC)

I added a source which discusses the rumor and its persistence in popular culture. JTRH (talk) 17:49, 26 July 2012 (UTC)

Producer and writer Bob Claver

According to the website "filmreference" Bob Claver produced and wrote the shows first 1000 shows. According to an interview with Claver "Bob Claver: I worked for a small production company in Chicago for a month. They needed to open up a New York office. I was the only bachelor and had just got out of the Army and college. So I went off to New York, and got a room in this awful hotel. We were working on two kid’s show, and had an hour to fill from 12 – 1 every day. One show was a disaster, but the other was a show called “Time For Fun” with Corny the Clown – who was actually Bob Keeshan.

GH: Captain Kangaroo?

BC: Yes. That ultimately led to my first really big network job: I was the associate producer, and wrote the first 5 years of The Captain Kangaroo Show”. It was a big hit and totally confused the head of CBS. He couldn’t understand one reason why anybody would watch that show. His final word was, “Start it, and if you have any trouble, call me.” I quit after 5 years. I was the Executive Producer by then. I was too young to get locked into that kind of thing. It ran for 26 or so years. " — Preceding unsigned comment added by Rohrmanjim (talk • contribs) 02:35, 28 July 2012 (UTC)

The Captain's thanksgivings

I seem to recall that in the mid-60s to early 70s, the Captain hosted the Thanksgiving special,"The CBS ALL-AMERICAN Thanksgiving Day Parade." This included segments from Macy's parade, the TG Parade in Montreal, Canada (filmed at another time, as the Canadian TG is dated differently) a segment from Philadelphia, featuring Mummers, and lastly, the Honolulu TG Parade, sub-hosted by Jack Lord (Five-O's McGarrett of the 60s) riding a white horse. In between the parade segments, we joined the Captain in a plush living-room type setting, with fireplace and loaded table, evoking warm and fuzzy thanksgiving day feelings, while he prepped us for the next parade segment. If I AM remembering correctly, I'll say that CBS hasn't had as good Parade Hosting OR Coverage since then. Can someone confirm or deny my memory?? — Preceding unsigned comment added by 75.171.135.58 (talk) 04:57, 28 March 2015 (UTC)

It sounds like a CBS (national) airing, with local cutaways. That said, Captain Kangaroo would be an odd choice for Philly segments (IIRC, this show was film in NYC). Are you sure you don't mean Captain Noah (Philly produced show, but at the ABC affiliate)? - SummerPhD (talk) 05:13, 28 March 2015 (UTC)

Any collections of shows exist?

I was wondering if any collections (besides the Captain Kangaroo TV Show Bob Keeshan DVD which if reviews are to be believed is horrible and only has two shows) exist or if most episodes were lost due to the wiping and junking common to US TV up to the 1970s.--BruceGrubb (talk) 18:55, 11 August 2016 (UTC)

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Another Wikispecial Biographical Photo

my question: is this an article about Captain Kangaroo, or Nipsey Russell? otherwise, here is another trait of a wikispecial biographical photo: use a photo in which the subject of the biography is in a secondary, peripheral or unfavorably illuminated position. seriously, is there a wikipedia policy that requires unrecognizable, uninterpretable, botched, blocked, or otherwise useless portrait photos of its biographical subjects? this policy should be written out so that it can be challenged by the readers. Drollere (talk) 03:35, 26 July 2017 (UTC)

Finding good photos of people that we can legally use is hard. You are welcome to add a better one. - DavidWBrooks (talk) 10:58, 26 July 2017 (UTC)

Time slot

I removed a sentence that said CBS "allowed" affiliates to air local programming, etc., at 9 AM ET. The network didn't program in that time slot in the Eastern Time Zone, but the network schedule started at 9 Central and Pacific. But networks don't "allow" affiliates to run local programming; the affiliates completely control when they choose to pick up the network. Unfortunately, my edit summary was inadvertently truncated. JTRH (talk) 19:03, 10 October 2017 (UTC)

Song list

Saved below FYI from a previous (deleted) edit. The News Hound (talk) 01:41, 22 November 2021 (UTC)

Songs included "Captain Kangaroo", "The Captain's Place", "Little Mary Make Believe", "Dennis Anyone", "Guess Who I Am", "Little Black Frog", "How Does the Jelly Get in the Donut", "There's a Hole in the Bottom of the Sea", "Erie Canal", "Horse in Striped Pajamas", "The Littlest Snowman", "Daniel the Cocker Spaniel", "You Can Grow Up to Be President", "Spend Some Time With Your Child", and many more. Carmino Ravosa was a songwriter on the show from 1975 to 1977.[12] Some well-known songs would be interpreted by puppet characters, such songs as "Minute Waltz", "Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious", "On the Good Ship Lollipop", "Yellow Submarine", "I Love Onions", et al. The show also introduced young viewers to actual rock songs, accompanied by proper film or videotaped footage or puppet action, with such songs as "I'm a Train" (Albert Hammond), "Celebration" (Kool and the Gang), "Private Eyes" (Daryl Hall & John Oates), et al. On the first show of every month, the Captain had a birthday cake for all of the children with birthdays that month.