TV SERIES · 1955– · USA
Captain Kangaroo
30 archived facts 5 topics 1 source Last reviewed Oct 2026
All facts (30)
- #001
Captain Kangaroo was America's longest-running children's television series until Sesame Street (1969) surpassed it in 1999. It remains the longest-running children's series on American commercial television.
- #002
Most network shows were broadcast in color by the mid-1960s. CBS did not convert the Captain's early-morning program to color until 1967.
- #003
The series premiered on CBS on the same day that The Mickey Mouse Club (1955) premiered on ABC.
- #004
Among all of the Captain's animals on the series, Mr. Moose was the only one who talked.
- #005
Despite the show's iconic nature and lasting popularity, it was never officially released on home video/DVD or on any streaming service. Very little film footage of the series survives, and the rights to what remains belonged to Bob Keshan and then to his estate, which held the film assets tightly.
- #006
Captain Kangaroo and his team hosted CBS's Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade in the 1960s.
- #007
Captain Kangaroo got his name from the large, pouch-like pockets on his jacket.
- #008
When the series began, the Captain wore a navy blue jacket with large pockets. In later seasons he wore a bright red jacket.
- #009
On the first show of each month, the Captain prepared a birthday cake for all the children who had birthdays that month.
- #010
Beginning in 1974 and continuing through the rest of the 1970s and into the 1980s, the series opened with various people wishing the Captain "good morning." Most of the openings featured non-celebrities, but some included stars from TV shows such as The Bob Newhart Show, The Price is Right, Match Game, M*A*S*H, Alice and One Day at a Time, most of which aired on CBS, as well as characters connected to another network, including William Shatner and Leonard Nimoy dressed as Captain Kirk and Mr. Spock, characters from the Peanuts cartoon, Big Bird from Sesame Street and Fred Rogers from Mister Rogers' Neighborhood. The "good morning" montage always ended with the Captain himself returning the greeting before the opening title sequence aired.
- #011
Secondary characters joined the series after Robert Keeshan's Saturday series "Mister Mayor" was cancelled. These included Dudley D. Dudley, whose job was to be a spare statue, Rollo the Hippopotamus and Aunt Maude.
- #012
Over the series' roughly 30-year run, Keeshan performed as the Captain more than 9,000 times.
- #013
At the end of each episode, the Captain encouraged parents watching the series to spend quality time with their children every day, and often demonstrated various creative ways to do so. This later evolved into him saying, "Well, what would you like to do today? You know, it could be a beautiful day for it…", followed by a song while short film clips of many different things were shown, and the song ended with the singers saying, "There's so much to do. These are just a few." Then it returned to the Captain, who closed with: "Whatever you do, I hope you have a great day."
- #014
Hugh Brannum based the character of Mr. Green Jeans on the Little Orley stories he told while performing with the Fred Waring orchestra.
- #015
Other regular features included the Magic Drawing Board and the Captain's "Story Reading" sessions, which introduced children to stories such as Curious George, Make Way for Ducklings, Stone Soup, Caps for Sale and Mike Mulligan and His Steam Shovel. Sweet Pickles books also appeared.
- #016
Keeshan also had a recurring role as the Town Clown, a pantomime piece set in and around the exposed wagon home of a hobo-like circus clown. Like his Clarabelle character on Howdy Doody, the Town Clown never spoke.
- #017
The series was designed by and starred Bob Keeshan, who based it on "the warm relationship between grandparents and children."
- #018
Among the familiar props was a mock-up of a talking cathedral-style radio that Keeshan briefly named Radio. Keeshan turned Radio's large knobs to start the conversation. Recalling old Atwater Kent cathedrals, Radio once had a rather interesting conversation with a smaller transistor radio on one of the programs. There was also a giant Colgate toothpaste box with a large wind-up or clockwork key beside it. Keeshan turned the key to play a jingle for the series' sponsor, Colgate Toothpaste ("Colgate Fluoride M-F-P/Helps Prevent Cavities/And the Taste is Great, Naturally!").
- #019
With the addition of Mr. Baxter in 1968, the series became one of the first racially integrated children's shows. The character was not intended to be African American. Stage Manager James E. Wall expressed interest in playing the role and pointed out the need for such participation in the series. The producers agreed to cast him after Wall agreed to audition.
- #020
Captain Kangaroo had a loose structure, built around life in the "Treasure House" (later known as "The Captain's Place"), where the Captain (whose "kangaroo" name came from the large pockets on his jacket) would tell stories, meet guests and perform silly shows with ordinary characters, both people and puppets.
- #021
The series often included simple black-light theater segments using paper or cardboard cutouts, usually operated by a hidden puppeteer.
- #022
Its final PBS broadcast aired on August 21, 1992.
- #023
During its first four years the series was broadcast live on the East Coast and in the Midwest, and was distributed to the West Coast on kinescope because Keeshan would not perform the show live three times a day.
- #024
In 1986, American Program Service (now American Public Television, Boston) integrated some newly produced episodes with reruns of past episodes and distributed the newer version of the series on PBS until 1993.
- #025
On the last day of the month, the Captain would tell his young viewers that he would not see them for another month, even though the next day was the first of the new month.
- #026
Until 1974, the theme was a song titled "Puffin' Billy," written by Edward White. It was written in honor of a train.
- #027
Carmino Ravosa was the series' songwriter from 1975 to 1977.
- #028
Although paper cutout versions of stories such as The Little Snowman were shown at certain times of the year, such as the Christmas season, no one could know exactly what would happen from one episode to the next.
- #029
Advertisements for the clay-like arts and crafts toy for children (and former wallpaper cleaner) are considered to be what gave Play-Doh its first major success. Manufactured and marketed by Hasbro, Play-Doh was still one of the most popular arts and crafts products for children in 2021.
- #030
The Jack and the Beanstalk routine featuring the Captain and the Town Clown has a flaw, in that Jack does not need to say "Hello, my name is Jack" to his own mother.
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