Children’s Television Shared Universe

This universe starts sometime before 1982;

## Backstory (pre-1980)

Captain Kangaroo, a friend of Fred Rogers and former associate of Clarabell Clown, was born in 1927. As a young man, Captain Kangaroo was referred to as Robby and in early-1948, Robby became the studio page for a new show called The Howdy Doody Show. The young man soon started to wear a clown outfit to deliver props. Sometime later, he got a clown named Clarabell to help deliver props. The show was becoming a success attracted guest stars. One frequent guest star was Western actor Gabby Hayes, who received his own show in December of 1950, which came on the air before The Howdy Doody Show. Despite bringing one of the show’s most popular characters, Robby along with three other cast members, demanded for a raise. This plan backfired and as a result, the four were fired. This was the second and final time Robby was fired from the show as in 1950, he was let go for “lacking a role in the show’s production”, but was rehired a few weeks later.

Meanwhile, Gabby Hayes had his own children’s show where he told tall tales and used clips from old westerns. The show aired from 1950 to 1954 on NBC and briefly returned to TV on ABC in 1956. Each episode was 15 minutes-long. The floor manager of the show was a young man from Pittsburgh named Fred Rogers, who left the show in 1953 and moved back to Pittsburgh and began working on the newly launched station, WQED.

A few years after being fired from The Howdy Doody Show, Robby was asked to create a children’s show. That show changed his life forever and he became known as Captain Kangaroo. Over the years, many production members changed. Some of those members were David Connell, Jon Stone, Sam Gibbon, Jeff Moss, and Clark Gesner.

Remember that young man Fred Rogers? In 1954, started a program with a woman named Josie Carey called The Children’s Corner. The show featured puppet characters such as King Friday, Lady Elaine, X the Owl, Daniel Striped Tiger, and Henrietta Pussycat. The show briefly aired on NBC during the summer of 1955 as “filler”. NBC wanted to air the show full time, but couldn’t as the network wasn’t allowed rights to the show. Fred Rogers became friends with a staff member named Ernie Coombs. The program ended production in 1961.

In 1963, Rogers and Coombs moved to Canada. Rogers started work on a CBC children’s show called Misterogers and Coombs started his own show which was called Butternut Square. In 1966, Rogers moved back to Pittsburgh and took his show with him, but Coombs remained in Canada. He eventually got a new show called Mr. Dressup which aired on CBC from 1967 to 1996. Meanwhile, Fred Rogers’ show remained only on WQED until February 1968, when his show, Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood debuted nationally on NET (National Educational Television).

Speaking of NET, in 1969, former Captain Kangaroo production members David Connell, Jon Stone, Sam Gibbon, Jeff Moss, and Clark Gesner began working on a new show called Sesame Street. The show featured animated skits and songs along with a diverse cast of human and puppet characters.

## 1980-1998

In September 1980, Howdy Doody and Buffalo Bob visited Captain Kangaroo before filming of an episode began. A year later in 1981, Mr. Rogers and Big Bird visited each other’s TV shows with Big Bird visiting The Neighborhood Make-Believe and Mr. Rogers visiting Sesame Street. Also that same year, Captain Kangaroo had a heart attack but Mr. Rogers visited his hospital room and told him to get well soon. Sadly, within a few years, Captain Kangaroo’s show was cancelled.

While at the park in June of 1985, Howdy Doody and Big Bird had a kindness contest. Spoiler alert, it ended in a tie. Captain Kangaroo, Mr. Rogers, Mr. Dressup, Buffalo Bob, and Clarabell the Clown were some of the people who attended the event.