• Post Reply Bookmark Topic Watch Topic
  • New Topic
programming forums Java Mobile Certification Databases Caching Books Engineering Micro Controllers OS Languages Paradigms IDEs Build Tools Frameworks Application Servers Open Source This Site Careers Other Pie Elite all forums
this forum made possible by our volunteer staff, including ...
Marshals:
  • Campbell Ritchie
  • Jeanne Boyarsky
  • Ron McLeod
  • Paul Clapham
  • Liutauras Vilda
Sheriffs:
  • paul wheaton
  • Rob Spoor
  • Devaka Cooray
Saloon Keepers:
  • Stephan van Hulst
  • Tim Holloway
  • Carey Brown
  • Frits Walraven
  • Tim Moores
Bartenders:
  • Mikalai Zaikin

RIP Captain Kangaroo

 
Sheriff
Posts: 6450
  • Mark post as helpful
  • send pies
    Number of slices to send:
    Optional 'thank-you' note:
  • Quote
  • Report post to moderator
http://www.usatoday.com/life/people/2004-01-23-kangaroo-obit_x.htm
Anyone watch him when they were young?
 
mister krabs
Posts: 13974
  • Mark post as helpful
  • send pies
    Number of slices to send:
    Optional 'thank-you' note:
  • Quote
  • Report post to moderator
Used to watch him all the time. I thought he died years ago.
 
Ranch Hand
Posts: 1376
  • Mark post as helpful
  • send pies
    Number of slices to send:
    Optional 'thank-you' note:
  • Quote
  • Report post to moderator
Damn.
I'm actually just a little melancholy here today. It's not been a good week for us Chicagoland baby boomers, nor a good year.
In the last 12 months, we've lost three of our most beloved children's TV icons: Fred Rogers, Ray Rayner and now Bob Keeshan, with Bob and Ray passing on just two days apart.
We've lost a few over the years. Frazier Thomas was perhaps the first to go back in 1985, and in 1997 Bob Bell, the original Bozo, left us. These were isolated events, though, and perhaps didn't hit so close to home.
But when MisterRogers died, we could all hear the vast iron bell of mortality tolling mournfully in the background. Many of us learned how to tie our shoes with Fred, or button our sweater or even how to make believe, but this was no pretend: MisterRogers was gone. I still remember when I heard the news - the sad little shiver that went through me.
And now, to have Captain Kangaroo and Ray Rayner both depart within a few dozen hours of one another - well, it's becoming clear that those in my generation are moving to a new stage in life. The death of childhood heroes is a singular event. Those of us with children (or dare I say grandchildren) could justify such milestones as a product of "marrying young", but when someone you grew up with passes on, it marks a different sort of passage.
They were none of them young when they passed, by any stretch, gentlemen in their 60's and 70's for the most part. And yet I remember them through my child's eyes. Doing a little math, they were then the age I am now, so perhaps that's the correlation.
Anyway, I haven't thought of Captain Kangaroo and Mister GreenJeans and Garfield Goose, or Ray Rayner and Chauncy and Chalveston the Duck, for many years now. But they were definitely part of a warm, gentle childhood that I would wish for my new baby. My prayers are with the families, and my thanks to those wonderful people who filled our childhood days with innocent laughter and joy.
Joe
 
Ranch Hand
Posts: 1419
  • Mark post as helpful
  • send pies
    Number of slices to send:
    Optional 'thank-you' note:
  • Quote
  • Report post to moderator
He used to play records with children's song -- which I presumed made them the canonical versions. It was especially exciting when we had the very same performance recorded on those little yellow 78rpm's. (I still remember how annoyed I was in second grade when the kids insisted on singing "Here Comes Suzy Snowman" with incorrect phrasing.)
I notice that Bob Keeshan stopped being Howdy Doody's Clarabelle the Clown long before I ever watched that show. That's good, because I always hated the character. I thought the character was surreal and pathetic, and I didn't understand the fun of laughing at the handicapped. (Clarabelle was a mute; and the jerky way the little red-haired boy moved clearly indicated some sort of neurological condition. Of course, at three I didn't have the vocabulary to express my concerns.)
For similar reasons I disliked Dancing Bear on the Captain Kangaroo show. He never said a word, but had a big black mouth that was always wide open round as if he was trying to scream, but couldn't. Years later, I saw a line from a horror movie ad that reminded me of it -- it went: "I HAVE NO MOUTH, AND CANNOT SCREAM!")
[ January 26, 2004: Message edited by: Frank Silbermann ]
 
Thomas Paul
mister krabs
Posts: 13974
  • Mark post as helpful
  • send pies
    Number of slices to send:
    Optional 'thank-you' note:
  • Quote
  • Report post to moderator

Originally posted by Frank Silbermann:
Years later, I saw a line from a horror movie ad that reminded me of it -- it went: "I HAVE NO MOUTH, AND CANNOT SCREAM!")


"I have No Mouth and I Must Scream" is actually the name of a short story by Harlan Ellison.
 
author
Posts: 9050
21
  • Mark post as helpful
  • send pies
    Number of slices to send:
    Optional 'thank-you' note:
  • Quote
  • Report post to moderator
Hey Capt. Kangaroo is where I learned about rock soup!
 
Ranch Hand
Posts: 1479
  • Mark post as helpful
  • send pies
    Number of slices to send:
    Optional 'thank-you' note:
  • Quote
  • Report post to moderator

Originally posted by Jason Menard:
http://www.usatoday.com/life/people/2004-01-23-kangaroo-obit_x.htm
Anyone watch him when they were young?


I did and so did Joe Pluta. Notice how we turned out as right thinking responsible, law abiding, productive members of society, who support Bush in his war on terrorism. Notice how there is NOTHING remotely similar to The Capt now on TV.
Fear for the fate our Republic...
 
reply
    Bookmark Topic Watch Topic
  • New Topic