Arka Evren

TV SERIES · 1955– · USA

Captain Kangaroo

30 archived facts 5 topics 1 source Last reviewed Oct 2026

25 Interesting Facts About Captain Kangaroo

  1. #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.

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  2. #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.

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  3. #003

    The series premiered on CBS on the same day that The Mickey Mouse Club (1955) premiered on ABC.

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  4. #004

    Among all of the Captain's animals on the series, Mr. Moose was the only one who talked.

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  5. #006

    Captain Kangaroo and his team hosted CBS's Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade in the 1960s.

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  6. #007

    Captain Kangaroo got his name from the large, pouch-like pockets on his jacket.

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  7. #008

    When the series began, the Captain wore a navy blue jacket with large pockets. In later seasons he wore a bright red jacket.

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  8. #009

    On the first show of each month, the Captain prepared a birthday cake for all the children who had birthdays that month.

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  9. #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.

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  10. #012

    Over the series' roughly 30-year run, Keeshan performed as the Captain more than 9,000 times.

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  11. #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."

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  12. #014

    Hugh Brannum based the character of Mr. Green Jeans on the Little Orley stories he told while performing with the Fred Waring orchestra.

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  13. #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.

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  14. #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!").

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  15. #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.

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  16. #021

    The series often included simple black-light theater segments using paper or cardboard cutouts, usually operated by a hidden puppeteer.

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  17. #022

    Its final PBS broadcast aired on August 21, 1992.

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  18. #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.

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  19. #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.

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  20. #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.

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  21. #026

    Until 1974, the theme was a song titled "Puffin' Billy," written by Edward White. It was written in honor of a train.

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  22. #027

    Carmino Ravosa was the series' songwriter from 1975 to 1977.

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  23. #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.

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  24. #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.

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  25. #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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