'Say please and thank you, and be good to your mother'
Goodbye, Captain Kangaroo. We'll miss you.
Before Fred Rogers ever changed his clothes on camera, before Sesame Street, before the Beatles had sideburns, before Pee Wee Herman taught us what to do when we heard the word of the day, before there was any such thing as a Teletubby, we had Bob Keeshan's Captain Kangaroo. Those of us so old that we remember the day the television came into our homes saw him almost literally from the moment our parents plugged the thing in and turned it on: only he was a she back then, playing Clarabell, a mute transgendered clown on the Howdy Doody Show who spoke only with bicycle horns. When he showed up again as Captain Kangaroo, we never made the connection to Clarabell, especially since somebody else was playing her by then.
Bob Keeshan had to wear makeup to become Captain Kangaroo as well: when he started playing the old man in uniform, he was still young. Did he imagine then that he'd be playing that character for 37 years?
In addition to teaching his young viewers manners, Captain Kangaroo showed us how to make just about anything out of shoeboxes. He taught us the advantages and disadvantages of going around with a bunch of carrots in your pocket. And his Treasure House had that kitchen door that was in two pieces, so that when Mister Green Jeans dropped by, the top part was usually open so he didn't even need to knock. He had Bunny Rabbit (hence the carrots) and Mr. Moose and a talking Grandfather Clock. He also had some toon friends, including Tom Terrific and Manfred the Wonder Dog.
The Captain also did his best to fight the commercialization of children's television, even though he was on a commercial network himself for most of his career. In his spare time (he said he didn't watch much television himself), he wrote books.
But Captain Kangaroo was more: one of the first, and perhaps the last, of those rare people who seem able to see their viewers from inside the television, whether they're live or on tape (or even DVD). The Romper Room lady could, but only when she was using her Magic Mirror. Mister Rogers could, and so could Jack LaLanne. Now Denise Austin may be the only one left. The Captain not only seemed able to see us, he understood a lot of things about us that our parents didn't, like this: "Play is the work of children. It's very serious stuff."
We'll still be able to see Captain Kangaroo on video for generations to come, but that's not the question. The question is, will he still be able to see us?
posted by Janet Dagley Dagley @6:47 PM
|
24.1.04  |
|
