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KS, I was thinking the same thing; it's surprising to learn that he was only in his 30s when I watched him.

 

Maybe that is why I thought he was dead already. When I saw the story online I had to check the date to make sure they hadn't recycled a story from a few years ago. I must have mixed him up with someone else, and I don't think it was "Mr. Rogers," who did die within the last year. "Mr. Rogers" was slightly after my time, while Capt. Kangaroo was my time.

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I wasn't over on this side of the pond for Captain Kangaroo. I did visit the web page and just loved what he had to say about parents being the role models for their children.

While I am in no way a TV snob, I don't watch that much network TV. While I do admire the way that some shows have gone out of their way to show how diverse America has become. Many are just plain bad. Todays sitcoms aren't even funny.

Eamonn

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Agreed. The theme song is one of those tunes that stays with you the whole day. I always wondered why he didn't just hang up the keys instead of walking around jingling them. But I guess my time was back with a radio show called, I think, 'Gill Who Mahoney and his magical leprechaun band'. Later it was Andy Devine's Saturday morning TV show. I can still hear him saying, "Pluck your magic twanger, Froggie!" Those memories really stick with a person.

 

Edited Part: Eamonn, One of my all time favorite shows was a UK sitcom, 'All Creatures Great and Small'. Thought you'd like to know.(This message has been edited by packsaddle)

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What a great show. I remember he always had "stuff" in those big coat pockets. What will happen now to Bunny Rabbit, Mr. Moose, Grandfather Clock, and the Magic Drawing Board? I suppose Mr. GreenJeans will have to take all his animals back to the farm too. And what of Tom Terrific? And Crabby Appleton?

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"Did "All creatures great and small" have anything to do with Dr. James Herriot?"

 

That was the first of the series. I read the entire series and assumed that they were autobigraphical. Imagine my surprise when he died and I learned that his name wasn't Herriot and the stories were made up. :-(

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The Captain was always a little strange to me. Did he dye his hair or was it naturally white or was it a wig, maybe a powdered wig? I couldn't figure out the big ring of keys or those big pockets. What was he Captain of anyway? I kind of thought he was a conductor on a train or the engineer of the train but neither is a Captain.

 

Mr. Greenjeans didn't seem to fit either. He seemed like a kindly gruff Kansas farmer. His friendship with the Captain made it seem like he was avoiding his duties on the farm.

 

Why a moose? Was the setting in Maine or Canada?

 

The Captain was always so old and now he is dead after so many years? Are Captains supposed to be old? Was he a retired army Captain and if so, why wear such unusual clothes? I thought maybe he was a shop keeper but he didn't really lock anything up, so why the keys? I couldn't figure out if he was funny or trying to teach a lesson or trying to teach a funny lesson. He was a little scary but I liked him anyway and now he is gone. I wished I could have sat down with him and got some answers but most likely I would have only been disappointed.

 

It is sad to see him go even though I haven't watched him in all of these years but I still think about him.

 

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You're overanalyzing, Fuzzy. It could be that there was a moose puppet laying around the studio from some other defunct show, and some stage hand said, "Hey, why don't you use Mr. Moose here!" Voila! A legend is born.

 

As the good Dr. Freud once said, "Sometimes a cigar is just a cigar."

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bsat4jb, As Fat Old Guy says, that was the pen name of James Alfred Wight who was, in fact, a veterinarian. But again as FOG says, the stories are not strictly autobiographical but rather borrow from his experiences. Still a great series, though.

 

I just heard that Keeshan was formerly a Marine, evidently quite accomplished in a number of other pursuits. When asked how he could do all that AND have a family, he replied that he doesn't watch television. What a great guy!

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I heard this in a SM minute and assumed it was authentic. I've also seen many sites that claim it is an "urban legend." While I believe it is a fact that Capatain Kangaroo was a former marine, I doubt the following really took place.

 

Captain Kangaroo was a member of the USMC and involved in the initial landing of Iwo Jima.

 

Here is dialog between Lee Marvin and Johnny Carson:

 

Carson, "Lee, I'll bet a lot of people are unaware that you were a Marine in the initial landing at Iwo Jima...and that during the course of that action you earned the Navy Cross and were severely wounded."

 

"Yeah, yeah... I got shot square in the ass and they gave me the Cross for securing a hot spot about halfway up Suribachi... bad thing about getting shot up on a mountain is guys gettin' shot hauling you down. But Johnny, at Iwo I served under the bravest man I ever knew... We both got the Cross the same day, but what he did for his Cross made mine look cheap in comparison. The dumb bastard actually stood up on Red Beach and directed his troops to move forward and get the hell off the beach. That Sergeant and I have been lifelong friends. When they brought me off Suribachi, we passed the Sergeant and he lit a smoke and passed it to me lying on my belly on the litter and said, 'Where'd they get you Lee?' I responded 'Well Bob, if you make it home before me, tell Mom to sell the outhouse!' Johnny, I'm not lying, Sergeant Keeshan was the bravest man I ever knew. Bob Keeshan. You and the world know him as Captain Kangaroo."

 

(This message has been edited by acco40)

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