https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=brCNJHFdYFI
This is “Geezer Memories Week” at Literature R Us. I was actually a little old for Captain Kangaroo (aka Bob Keeshan), which didn’t premiere until I was 10, and a great deal of the time I “watched” it only because my little sisters were watching as I got ready for school. Still, I appreciated the show’s low-key wit and admired the Captain’s obvious respect and affection for his audience, and his gentle encouragements—“Today is another “Be Good to Mother Day”, one of the 365 Be Good to Mother Days each year.”
I originally hoped to find one of my very favorite childhood TV memories, a wonderful bit in which the Captain and Mr. Green Jeans (Hugh Brannum) would lip synch the “Rain in Spain” bit from My Fair Lady. The Captain played Liza Doolittle, and Keeshan would really throw himself into the role, dressed in Liza’s “London Flowergirl” outfit (though in MFL Liza had progressed beyond her street rags) and flinging his arms outward with delight as s/he mastered the upper-class “long a”. Mr. Green Jeans was equally outrageous, dressed as an English judge, wearing a gown and wig and wielding a pince-nez to cue and correct his charge. The two performed the bit over and over again—I’m sure I saw it at least half a dozen times. Apparently, Lerner and Lowe (and Andrews and Harrison) didn’t object.
The Captain’s shows were all performed live, and CBS didn’t bother to keep the kinescopes (filmed versions used for the West Coast), so, apparently, no “Rain in Spain”. This is a full episode, from 1961, as I remembered the show, seemingly the only one of the early shows available. As the sixties wore on, the quality of the show was recognized, and lots of “big stars” would drop in, but I was long gone by then and missed all of that.
Much of this show is taken up with a great deal of Marx Brothers-style slapstick provided by Mr. Green Jeans (in disguise as “the Professor”), along with dancer George Zima and juggler Irving Harmon (neither much of a name these days, of course). Green Jeans/Brannum unleashes his inner Groucho to a surprising degree, bossing everyone around, the Captain in particular. The three are there officially to clean up the Treasure House, though that doesn’t happen, but Brannum and Keeshan do take turns dressing up as Cinderella. Later, we learn that boy peacocks are prettier than girl peacocks. Both Keeshan and Brannum served in the Marines. There are also three episodes of “Tom Terrific”.
I confess that I skipped ahead to offer this precis. The show probably works better if you’re six.
Michael Pannoni was able to locate this rarity.
