An Icon of a More Innocent Time Crosses Over
 

There's no getting around it. I am a Baby Boom baby. I was born at the tail end of the unprecedented surge in American births which began shortly after the end of WWII, and continued on into the middle 1960's. As a member of this rapidly aging demographic which threatens to consume Social Security's longstanding surplus and overload our medical infrastructure in the not-too-distant future, I can recall a much simpler, more innocent time. A time when kiddy shows were not about loud beats, radical sk8er doodz or three guys named Ed. I can recall living in a nation that had not yet fully grasped the realities of life's cruelty, a nation fat and happy from the prosperity of the post war decades, a nation where Ward and June Cleaver could conceivably exist somewhere. I remember living in a nation which had not yet turned on, tuned in nor dropped out.

I was a child in a time when murder mysteries were televised regularly, and no blood was ever seen. I sat in front of a black and white picture, nose practically pressed to the screen, and savored the adventures of righteous gunslingers, the antics of a seasick sea serpent, and the warm, reassuring, down home fantasies woven for me by a man universally known to us Baby Boomers as Captain Kangaroo.

Bob Keeshan, who would have already cemented a permanent place in the annals of childrens television programming for his creation and portrayal of Clarabell Clown on the seminal Howdy Doody Show, portrayed the kindly Captain for over 30 years. Accompanied by a motley crew including Bunny Rabbit, Mr. Moose, Grandfather Clock and the original guy next door, Mr. Greenjeans, Keeshan entertained us day in and day out in the warmest and fuzziest of ways. He stimulated our malleable imaginations while at the same time tickling our nascient funny bones. Captain Kangaroo lived in a world of pure fantasy, yet he was as real as the mailman, as kindly as your adopted uncle.

Like his late peer and contemporary, the equally nonthreatening Fred Rogers, Keeshan's long career and incredible impact upon entire generations of children could never happen again in the same way nowadays. Our children today are much more savvy, being constantly bombarded and hyperstimulated by rapid-fire imagery from myriad media sources, or lulled to sleep by ridiculously banal purple sauropods. Captain Kangaroo was the product of a world much less jaded, a world with a slower pace and perhaps even a bigger heart. The good Captain was the creation of an innocent time. Sometimes, I long for those times. Certainly, there was evil and fear and injustice in the world of my childhood, but my memories are of the positives in my youthful world. Captain Kangaroo was one of the biggest for me.

Bob Keeshan passed away today at the age of 76, and with him comes the end of an unrepeatable era of children's television. Never again will we raise a generation of kids on such gentle and original entertainment.

We loved Captain Kangaroo, we Baby Boomers. I suspect we still do; at least, I know that *I* still do. So, out of love and respect for a man who dedicated his life to amusing me, I simply want to say "Thank you, Mr. Keeshan...thank you, Captain Kangaroo. You enriched my life, and gave me many lovely memories, made all the more glowing through the mists of time gone past. You will be missed."

When I read the news the first thing that came to mind is, I wonder if Elspode is on job. No one else I know could honor The Captain as well. Well done Els, as usual.

I only wish I were able to adequately express myself. What I wrote doesn't even come close to what I felt for the man's efforts on behalf of children's entertainment and education.

Irreplaceable people such as Mr. Keeshan deserve to be eulogized with the eloquence of a poet, not the ramblings of an aging fan.

He was always MY favorite as a kid. Mr Rogers was too creepy. And the ping pong balls!!! I loved the ping pong balls!

The eloquent never recognize their eloquence.;)

Let's just call El aging poet from now on. :)

Cap'n Kangaroo is the first face I remember on TV. And I still remember waking up to him and Mr. Greenjeans on cold Scranton mornings.

I hate it that all my childhood heros are leaving us. 76 is just too damn young. I'm not entirely comfortable (to say the least) with this ever-widening chasm that separates even further me from my youth.

And, like Bruce, I wonder what it means that our children will never know someone like that.

My passion for reading and learning started at the Captain's feet. When my mother took me to the library and got me a library card, the book I chose to take home was one that the Captain had read to us earlier that week. I was able to 'read' it because he had already read it to us. I still love the library.

[Don't remember the title. It was about a steamshovel that ended up as the heating plant for an apartment building]

Goodbye Captain. Thanks for the great start.

I remember that book too ...

Could it have been this?

(commentary on modern times ... I go to amazon to search for the book I know exists and find it available on VHS and CD-ROM, but not paper ... unbelievable.)

That book was on Between the Lions a few weeks ago. My kids listened and enjoyed it.

My relationship with Mr. Rogers has been noted. But I also enjoyed the Capt. He was an entertainer. I loved cool and expressionless Rabbit with his hardass glasses and ping pong balls. And I will always have a soft spot for the freaky dancing bear. You got to see his feet. It was this bad costume with a flat nose. Ok- I've gotta hunt for a pic of the bear...see if I'm remembering him right.

Yes it was! Thanks for the post.

Ironic about the amazon thing. OTOH, my kids had a bunch of those interactive cd-roms when they were little. Doesn't seemed to have hurt them any; they love to read. We did read to them a lot, though. Maybe that helped.