Bob Keeshan
Robert James Keeshan (June 27, 1927 – January 23, 2004) was an American television producer and actor. He created and played the title role in the children's television program "Captain Kangaroo", which ran from 1955 to 1984, the longest-running nationally broadcast children's television program of its day. He also played the original Clarabell the Clown on the "Howdy Doody" television program. Early life. Keeshan was born to Irish parents in Lynbrook, New York. After an early graduation in 1945 from Forest Hills High School in Queens, New York, during World War II, he enlisted in the  United States Marine Corps Reserve, but was still in the United States when Japan surrendered. He attended Fordham University on the GI Bill. He received his bachelor's degree in education in 1951. An urban legend claims that actor Lee Marvin said on "The Tonight Show" that he had fought alongside Keeshan at the Battle of Iwo Jima in 1945. Over time this legend has been published verbatim. Other legends had compounded on it, such that Keeshan was a trained killer, that he was awarded the Navy Cross, that he was a tough sergeant who saved the lives of dozens  of men and women in the war, and that he destroyed a German tank in action in North Africa (an apparent confusion with a similarly named British soldier). However, Marvin never made the statement (he never served in Iwo Jima, but was wounded during the Battle of Saipan). Keeshan never saw combat in Europe or Japan, having enlisted too late to serve overseas. The Naval Historical Center in Washington D.C still receives calls asking for verification of Keeshan's "heroic" war service. Keeshan spent his life denying the rumors. Television career. Network television programs began shortly after the end of  the war. "Howdy Doody", which premiered in 1947 on NBC, was one of the first. Starting on January 3, 1948, Keeshan played Clarabell the Clown, a silent Auguste clown who communicated by honking several horns attached to a belt around his waist. One honk meant "yes"; two meant "no". Clarabell often sprayed Buffalo Bob Smith with a seltzer bottle and played practical jokes. Keeshan had conflicts with Smith and in late 1952 left the show, or possibly was fired, after hiring an agent for himself and other workers on the show. By September 21, 1953, Keeshan came back to local  TV on WABC-TV, Channel 7 in New York City, in a new children's show, "Time for Fun". He played Corny the Clown, and this time he spoke. Later that same year, in addition to "Time for Fun", he began "Tinker's Workshop", a program aimed at preschoolers, where he played the grandfather-like Tinker. Developing ideas from "Tinker's Workshop", Keeshan and his long-time friend Jack Miller submitted the concept of "Captain Kangaroo" to the CBS network, which was looking for innovative approaches to children's television programming. CBS approved the show, and Keeshan starred as the  title character when it premiered on CBS on October 3, 1955. He described his character as based on "the warm relationship between grandparents and children". The show was an immediate success, and he served as its host for nearly three decades. Recurring characters included his sidekick (and fan favorite) Mr. Green Jeans (played by Hugh "Lumpy" Brannum), Dennis (played by Cosmo Allegretti), and puppets such as Bunny Rabbit and Mr. Moose. "The New York Times" commented: "Captain Kangaroo, a round-faced, pleasant, mustachioed man possessed of an unshakable calm ... was one of the most enduring characters television ever produced." Keeshan  also had a Saturday morning show called "Mister Mayor" during the 1964–65 season. Keeshan, in his role as the central characters in both "Captain Kangaroo" and "Mister Mayor", heavily promoted the products of the Schwinn Bicycle Co., a sponsor, directly on-air to his audience. By 1972, he had introduced another character on "Captain Kangaroo" to recommend Schwinn products: Mr. Schwinn Dealer, due to the Federal Trade Commission ruling against children's show hosts directly endorsing their sponsor's products during their programs after 1969. Keeshan had a longtime close friendship with Fred Rogers of "Mister Rogers' Neighborhood". Each paid  visits to the other's show in 1970, and they appeared together on the PBS special "Springtime with Mister Rogers" in 1980. The following year, Rogers appeared briefly in Keeshan's TV special "Good Evening, Captain" (following Keeshan's 1981 heart attack); Rogers and Dick Clark presented Keeshan with flowers at the end of the show. Keeshan did voice recordings for a number of albums for Columbia Records, Golden Records and RCA-Victor. Several were of children's songs performed with other characters from "Captain Kangaroo", but other albums included "A Child's Introduction to Jazz", narration for "Peter and  the Wolf" conducted by Leopold Stokowski, and "Captain Kangaroo Introduces You to the Nutcracker Suite". Heart attack and cancellation. Keeshan suffered a severe heart attack just moments after stepping off a plane at Toronto Pearson International Airport on July 11, 1981, which pushed the start of a revamped version of his show back to at least mid-August. He had come to the city to accept a children's service award. Keeshan underwent triple-bypass surgery and received an estimated 5,000 get-well wishes from fans during his hospitalization. Following the heart attack, Keeshan received three Emmy awards for Outstanding  Performer in 1982, 1983, and 1984. Despite these accolades, Keeshan's show was shortened from its hour-long format to 30 minutes in 1981, to make room for the expansion of the "CBS Morning News" lineup. The program was retitled "Wake Up with the Captain", and moved to a new 7:00 am time slot. At the start of 1982, the show was rescheduled to an even earlier slot of 6:30 am. In the fall of 1982, CBS installed it as a weekend-only hour offering, and two years later, in the fall of 1984, the show became a Saturday half -hour entry. Tired of CBS's constant reductions of his show, Keeshan left "Captain Kangaroo" when his contract with the network ended in December 1984, just nine months shy of the show's 30th anniversary. By 1987, repeats of the show were airing daily on many PBS stations. Keeshan's show was given a farewell of sorts with "Captain Kangaroo and Friends", a primetime network TV special that aired in 1985. Later life. After "Captain Kangaroo" ended, Keeshan hosted 1985's "CBS Storybreak", which featured animated versions of children's literature. He appeared in framing sequences for the animated stories , showcasing the book versions and suggesting similar books for the viewers to seek out. In 1987, he founded Corporate Family Solutions with former Tennessee Republican Governor Lamar Alexander, which provided day-care programs to businesses. Keeshan lived on Melbury Road in Babylon Village, Long Island, New York, before moving to spend the last 14 years of his life in Norwich, Vermont, where he became a children's advocate, as well as an author. His memoirs, "Good Morning, Captain", were published in 1995 by Fairview Press. He was a strong advocate against video game violence and took part in congressional hearings  in 1993. He also joined with parents' groups in the 1980s who protested children's TV shows based on toys like He-Man and Transformers, feeling that toys turned into TV shows did not teach children anything about the real world. He also made a rare film appearance in "The Stupids" in 1996. Keeshan was an adopted member of the Dartmouth College class of 1942, receiving an honorary doctorate from the college in 1975. He also received an honorary doctor of humane letters by Fordham University in 1975. Le Moyne College, a Jesuit liberal arts college in Syracuse, New York , awarded him an honorary doctor of humane letters in 1983. He was awarded an honorary doctorate by the College of New Rochelle in 1985, after serving for several years on its board of trustees. In 1997, he received an honorary doctorate from Middlebury College, the alma mater of his grandson Britton Keeshan, for his work in children's literacy. That year he starred as the Wizard in the St. Louis Muny outdoor theater production of "The Wizard of Oz". In the 1990s, Keeshan expressed an interest in bringing back a new version of "Captain Kangaroo" as a gentler and kinder  answer to the violent cartoons on children's television. Despite having sponsors and television stations lined up, he was unable to obtain permission from ICM, the company that owned the rights to "Captain Kangaroo" at that time. Death. Keeshan died in Windsor, Vermont, on January 23, 2004, at age 76. He was survived by three children: Michael Derek, Laurie Margaret, and Maeve Jeanne. His wife of 45 years, Anne Jeanne Laurie Keeshan, died February 25, 1996. Keeshan's grandson, Britton Keeshan, became the youngest person at that time to have climbed the Seven Summits by climbing Mount Everest in May  2004. He carried photographs of his grandfather on that ascent, and buried a photo of the two of them at the summit. Keeshan was buried in Saint Joseph's Cemetery in Babylon, New York. Awards. Keeshan received many awards, including: