On this day, June 27, 1927, Captain Kangaroo was born.
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Keeshan in 1995
Born: Robert James Keeshan; June 27, 1927; Lynbrook, New York, U.S.
Died: January 23, 2004 (aged 76); Windsor, Vermont, U.S.
Alma mater: Fordham University
Occupation(s): Television host, producer, actor
Years active: 1947–2004
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
Bob Keeshan was born to Irish parents[3] 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 continuously dispelled the rumors.
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Tue Jun 27, 2023: On this day, June 27, 1927, Captain Kangaroo was born.
Mon Jun 27, 2022: TV actor Robert Keeshan was #BornOnThisDay, June 27, 1927.
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But after I was about four I didn't watch it anymore. My younger siblings had no interest in it.
Funny sort of half way related story...
Several years ago I lived in touristown and it was small, compact, workers lived in town and when the day was over, partying began. I was singing with a little combo one summer, we had a standing gig every weekend at a local bar so we did a lot of our rehearsing after work, out on the front porch where tourist would be walking by. Some would stop and listen sometimes.
Now my band mates were not young or pretty boys, we were kind of old and the lead musician, Jack, looked a lot like Captain Kangaroo with a ponytail and no teeth. The other just looked like somebody who slept in the woods at night except when at work or playing at the bar. We were acoustic and they were damn good pickers.
So one evening we were on the porch and had already had a drink and a hit or two, putting' down some righteous blues when a group of three guys, beyond their forties, stopped and caught most of a pretty good run through Stormy Monday. At the end they applauded and two started to wander off but the third guy comes up the little sidewalk and kind of taps Jack on the side of his arm with the back of his hand and says,
"Hey, did anybody every tell you that you like like Captain Kangaroo?"
To which Jack, in his uniquely snarky style, snapped back,
"I AM fuckin' Captain Kangaroo!"
Which stunned the guy, like he wasn't really sure if that was true. He made a less than relaxed and very confused exit to rejoin his buddies. After they were out of sight we laughed our asses off, we were not exactly sober so it was pretty funny to us.
