Kangaroo Love - A Model of Advocacy From A Real Life Hero

Valentine: A Roman Christian that was martyred in the Third Century AD during the persecution of Christians by Emperor Claudius II. Saint Valentine's Day remembers him and a second martyred Valentine: Bishop of Terni in Central Italy.

John 15:12-13 (The Message Bible): Love one another the way I loved you. This is the very best way to love. Put your life on the line for your friends.

Martyrs die for people and for a cause in which they believe, often defining their martyrdom as an act of love and justice. Another way to make a sacrifice of love is to dedicate one's life and work to the betterment of humankind and the earth or the sake of faith. Many individuals have sacrificed love and life in both ways.

Bob Keeshan dedicated his life to the proposition that all children be raised with love. Not only was he Captain Kangaroo (1955 - 1984) beginning in the early television era, but also a renown author and lecturer that worked for children and families until he could no longer work. However, he made it into the 21st Century and lived until 2004. He accomplished so much for humankind, that the US Air Force nicknamed a dress uniform's pockets after him.

Although just 25 when he began work on the concept of Captain Kanagroo as his own creation, Bob Keeshan founded the premise of the show on the richness of relationships he had experienced and seen between grandparents and children.

Grandparents can provide mature care and good stories to children, teaching them the history of their families, their cultures, and their countries. After World War II, American society became more mechanized and families began to fragment, beginning to leave older members alone in nursing homes or even homeless. In one aspect, Captain Kangaroo, attempted to re-establish a role for grandparents in the lives of children. for those kids that had no grandparents, he became the sea captain grandfather, a little like Captain January in an old Shirley Temple film. Mr. Keeshan used to say that as he aged, he just needed increasingly less makeup than on his first show at the Captain.

Baby Boomers were the primary viewing audience in the early days and the show was done live twice each morning, to accomodate different time zones int he US. That was certainly a lot of work.

By the 1990s, many Boomers had become grandparents and moreover, many had gained custody of their granchildren for any of a number of reasons. Boomers' children had fallen prey to death in war, crime, and drugs as well as via natural casues; were imprisoned, were missing - all types of reasons. Government and Public health sponosred programs called Grandparents Raising Grandhchildren were instituted to help, while grandparents were invited into our nation's classrooms as volunteers. The Captain had likely helped as a role model for some of these Boomers during their childhoods.

For abused children, Captain Kangaroo was the only spot in the day besides schooltime in which these kids could receive a kind word.

The Captain's theme song was railroading Puffin" Billy by Edward White, also a children's standard on the BBC Children's Favourites Radio Programme.

Bob Keeshan always worked with children. He was a bottom-rung assistant to Buffalo Bob on the Howdy Doody Show (originally Puppet Playhouse), entertaining the Peanut Gallery and keeping them orderly.

As the original Clarabelle on the Doody Show, he was soon downsized with a number of cast members in NBC shows during Christmastime, 1952. He had become the clown when a network exec told him to create a clown costume so he would not accidentally appear onscreen in street clothes. He did not speak on screen, because he would have to be paid more to do so. The kids were entertained by his irritable, peevish non-speaking clown and laughed their heads off - for which Buffalo Bob fired him twice before the final layoff.

After trying other work, he took part in the show Time for Fun (The Johnny JellyBean Show) as Corny the Clown with a dog sidekick. Within four months, he had a second show - Tinker's Workshop, where he was a toymaker.

The Captain became a combination of a toymaker and a grandfather, evidenced by all the toy making projects he conducted for kids on air. The rubber band-shooting zip gun and the sling shot were ones he had to abandon, however, as violence in America resulted in those and pocket knives being banned from school. A Kindergartner might be arrested for the rubber band gun to day.

Captain Kangaroofirst aired in the fall of 1955. In 1964, Mr. Keeshan also picked up Meet Mr. Mayor; so he almost always appeared on two shows (rather like Canada's Patrick McKenna). In the Captain-Mayor circumstance, Mr. Keeshan planned to go full-time with the Mayor, who was a lot like the Captain, if his over-controlling partner in the first show's production would not sell out to him. The Captain won the fray and the hearts of children for two additional decades.

Interestingly, educator Bill Cosby appeared on the Captain's show from 1980 - 1984, to assist with reading segments.

After the Captain went off the air, Bob Keeshan hosted CBS Storybreak, using stories to offer children enrichment into what he hoped would become lifelong learning before it was a popular phrase.

Throughout his children's programming career, Bob Keeshan was successful in reaching children to create a better life through education and with a sense of humor. Through his actions, he taught their families to insist upon fair wages for fair work and this remains vital today.

He also was able to stand up to over demanding advertisers that might have compromised his service to children. He soon refused ads he felt inappropriate and his cast members stopped delivering commercials, even fun ones like Silly Putty®. Switching the show to the Public Broadcasting System (PBS) evenutally proved more suitable.

Bob Keeshan taught creativity, service, and integrity as well as the importance of an effective education. Reading was a hallmark of every show, from what are now classic children's stories,including No Time for Ducklings, and the Mike Mulligan series. Music was also an important element that included folk songs, children tunes, classics, and even thwe WWII number Flat Floot Floogie and Hernando's Hideaway.

• 1989: Growing Up Happy
• 1996: Good Morning Captain: 50 Wonderful Years with Bob Keeshan, TV's Captain Kangaroo.
• The "Itty Bitty Kitty" children's book series.

After his television career, Bob Keeshan became an active children advocate on a speaker's circuit and guesting to speak about children in a number of media outlets. He was inducted into the International Clown Hall of Fame in 1990.

QUOTES

• One of the big secrets of finding time is not to watch television.
• Parents are the ultimate role models for children. Every word, movement and action has an effect.
• From A. Robins, the original Banana Man: There is a reason for everything that I do. I don't just pull out the broom. No. First, I slip on a banana peel. I get very mad. Then I pull out the broom and sweep it up, so. There must be some sense in clowning. It must be crazy, but there must be some sense in it, just the same.
• From Mr. Moose:Restaur-ant, restaur-ant, but no place to rest your dear old uncle!