
Keeshan also had a Saturday morning show called Mister Mayor during the 1964–65 season. was one of the most enduring characters television ever produced." The New York Times commented: "Captain Kangaroo, a round-faced, pleasant, mustachioed man possessed of an unshakable calm. Green Jeans (played by Hugh "Lumpy" Brannum), Dennis (played by Cosmo Allegretti), and puppets such as Bunny Rabbit and Mr. Recurring characters included his sidekick (and fan favorite) Mr. The show was an immediate success, and he served as its host for nearly three decades.įrom left: Dancing Bear, Bunny Rabbit, Captain Kangaroo, Grandfather Clock, Mr. He described his character as based on "the warm relationship between grandparents and children". CBS approved the show, and Keeshan starred as the title character when it premiered on CBS on October 3, 1955. ĭeveloping ideas from Tinker's Workshop, Keeshan and his long-time friend Jack Miller submitted the concept of Captain Kangaroo to the CBS network, which was looking for innovative approaches to children's television programming. Later that same year, in addition to Time for Fun, he began Tinker's Workshop, a program aimed at preschoolers, where he played the grandfather-like Tinker. He played Corny the Clown, and this time he spoke.
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īy September 21, 1953, Keeshan came back to local TV on WABC-TV, Channel 7 in New York City, in a new children's show, Time for Fun. Keeshan had conflicts with Smith and in late 1952 left the show, or possibly was fired, after hiring an agent for himself and other workers on the show. Clarabell often sprayed Buffalo Bob Smith with a seltzer bottle and played practical jokes. Starting on January 3, 1948, Keeshan played Clarabell the Clown, a silent Auguste clown who communicated by honking several horns attached to a belt around his waist. Howdy Doody, which premiered in 1947 on NBC, was one of the first. Network television programs began shortly after the end of the war. Television career Keeshan as Captain Kangaroo Keeshan continuously dispelled the rumors.
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The Naval Historical Center in Washington, D.C, still receives calls asking for verification of Keeshan's "heroic" war service.

Keeshan never saw combat in Europe or Japan, having enlisted too late to serve overseas. However, Marvin never made the statement (he never served in Iwo Jima, but was wounded during the Battle of Saipan). Other legends had compounded on it, such that Keeshan was a trained killer, that he was awarded the Navy Cross, that he was a tough sergeant who saved the lives of dozens of men and women in the war, and that he destroyed a German tank in action in North Africa (an apparent confusion with a similarly named British soldier). Over time, this legend has been published verbatim. Īn urban legend claims that actor Lee Marvin said on The Tonight Show that he had fought alongside Keeshan at the Battle of Iwo Jima in 1945. He received his bachelor's degree in education in 1951.



He attended Fordham University on the GI Bill. After an early graduation in 1945 from Forest Hills High School in Queens, New York, during World War II, he enlisted in the United States Marine Corps Reserve, but was still in the United States when Japan surrendered. He also played the original Clarabell the Clown on the Howdy Doody television program.īob Keeshan was born to Irish parents in Lynbrook, New York. He created and played the title role in the children's television program Captain Kangaroo, which ran from 1955 to 1984, the longest-running nationally broadcast children's television program of its day. Robert James Keeshan (J– January 23, 2004) was an American television producer and actor.
