Captain Kangaroo Where Are You? Don DeForge, VMD Silver Sands Veterinary Center

Captain Kangaroo Where Are You?

Don DeForge, VMD

Silver Sands Veterinary Center

11Jun2015

Parents are the ultimate role models for children. Every word, movement and action has an effect. No other person or outside force has a greater influence on a child than the parent.

Bob Keeshan

Pioneering children's television-Bob Keeshan

 Howdy Doody, was an early children's show which premiered in 1947 on NBC! 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 on Howdy Doody. One horn meant "yes"; another meant "no". Clarabell often sprayed Buffalo Bob Smith with a seltzer bottle and played practical jokes. Keeshan gave up the role in 1952, and was replaced.

Developing 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. CBS approved the show, and Keeshan starred as the title character when it premiered on CBS on October 3, 1955  

Keeshan described his character as based on "the warm relationship between grandparents and children." The show was an immediate success, and he served as its host for nearly three decades.

The New York Times commented: "Captain Kangaroo, a round-faced, pleasant, mustachioed man possessed of an unshakable calm ... was one of the most enduring characters television ever produced."  Recurring characters included his sidekick (and fan favorite) Mr. Green Jeans(played by Hugh "Lumpy" Brannum) and puppets such as "Bunny Rabbit" and "Mr. Moose".

In the 1990s, Keeshan expressed an interest in bringing back a new version of Captain Kangaroo to television as a gentler and kinder answer to the violent cartoons on children's television. Despite having sponsors and television stations lined up, Keeshan was unable to obtain permission to go ahead from ICM, the company which owned the rights to Captain Kangaroo.

Death

Keeshan died in Windsor, Vermont, on January 23, 2004 at age 76

A Commentary:

Where have all of the Captain Kangaroo's of the world gone.  The people who love children and want them to grow with the values of love and respect.  I am talking about those who believe that being nasty is one of the more complex ways to live your life and being kind and gentle is the easiest.  

Fred Rogers wrote: “If you could only sense how important you are to the lives of those you meet; how important you can be to the people you may never even dream of. There is something of yourself that you leave at every meeting with another person.” 

― Fred Rogers

Many grew up with "Mr. Rogers Neighborhood" as they did with "Captain Kangaroo" in children's television programming.  "Mr. Roger's Neighborhood" always began with the special song he would sing seen below:

 

Won't You Be My Neighbor? (Song)

Written by Fred Rogers | © 1967, Fred M. Rogers

---

It's a beautiful day in this neighborhood,
A beautiful day for a neighbor.
Would you be mine?
Could you be mine?

It's a neighborly day in this beauty wood,
A neighborly day for a beauty,
Would you be mine?
Could you be mine?

I have always wanted to have a neighbor just like you!
I've always wanted to live in a neighborhood with you.
So let's make the most of this beautiful day,
Since we're together we might as well say,
Would you be mine?
Could you be mine?
Won't you be my neighbor?
Won't you please,
Won't you please?
Please won't you be my neighbor?

Today, we live in a world where neighbor's don't speak to each other and many times do not like each other.  Fences are built to exclude. Opening our arms and embracing our neighbors as written by Fred Rogers is a vacancy in society.  It was the concept of inclusion rather than exclusion that Fred Rogers talked to his viewing children's audience about each time his show aired.

Maybe Yogi Berra had it right!

A nickel ai"A nickel ain't worth a dime anymore!" Yogi Berra

We must work to re-create simplicity for our children.  Simplicity in time; simplicity in school; and simplicity in daily activities.  I have written in the past that electronic baby -sitters must be locked up and replaced by love; value instruction; and more family gatherings.

It was a tradition in our home to sit around the dinner table each night and discuss the day each one of us had experienced.  With three boys each two years apart, it was quite easy to find not only stories but great adventures to dialogue.  My parents used our daily experiences as ways to teach us right from wrong; good from bad; and what it meant to help others.  Love was always in our home.  It could have been disguised at times in parental discipline but the discipline-quite passive in nature-brought us closer to what it meant to help, share, and care.

Captain Kangaroo and Mr. Rogers were extensions of these lessons that showed us that others besides our parents................ believed life could be more meaningful if we used our time to show appreciation for all of the gifts that we had been given by those who loved us.  My father worked hard and my Mom worked harder as homemaker for a large family.  As he spent 12 hours a day in his job, she spent even longer hours cooking, cleaning, canning, managing a garden, and finding ways to stretch my father's weekly paycheck to give their children all that they needed.

My parents taught me the principles that Leo Buscaglia wrote in his Seven Posulates of Love.  They did not know Leo Buscaglia....they were taught love in their families and brought this love to their children.

Dr. Leo Buscaglia puts his premise of LOVE poetically yet unambiguously in seven postulates:

One cannot give what he does not possess. To give love you must possess love.

One cannot teach what he does not understand. To teach love you must comprehend love.

One cannot know what he does not study. To study love you must live in love.

One cannot appreciate what he does not recognize. To recognize love you must be receptive to love.

One cannot have doubt about that which he wishes to trust. To trust love you must be convinced of love.

One cannot admit what he does not yield to. To yield to love you must be vulnerable to love.

One cannot love what he does not dedicate himself to! To dedicate yourself to love you must be forever growing in love. Dr. Leo Buscaglia 

If you have questions or comments about this blog written by Dr. DeForge.....Please E-Mail him at: DonDeForge@aol.com -He wants to hear from you!
Don DeForge, VMD
Silver Sands Veterinary Center
Medical Director
11Jun2015