The following is an excerpt from a new book I am writing tentatively titled "TV Stories," recalling many amusing, heartwarming and confounding anecdotes collected from my 35 year career in commercial television.
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Among the celebrities that I worked with at WBNS-TV was Captain Kangaroo—Bob Keeshan. He was the host of the CBS morning children’s show, “Captain Kangaroo” that ran on CBS from 1955 till 1984.
For the TV History buffs among the Dear Readers of this, Bob Keeshan also played Clarabell the Clown on the “Howdy Doody” shows of black and white TV in the late 1940’s and early 1950’s.
Captain Kangaroo aired from 8:00 to 9:00 in the morning and was followed on our station by “Luci’s Toyshop,” from 9-10:00, forming a two hour block of live television for pre-school children.
In 1971, the Easter Seal Society of Ohio hosted a Fashion Show as a fund raiser at the Ohio Theatre in downtown Columbus. Captain Kangaroo was to be the host of the stage show, featuring children with disabilities.
Because he was coming to Columbus for the Sunday afternoon event, I called CBS, as Producer-Director of “Luci’s Toyshop,” and asked if the Captain would come over after his appearance for Easter Seals, and tape a couple of promos for our children’s show. “Yes,” was his publicist’s reply; he had an hour that he could devote to promotion by coming to our station before catching his plane back to New York; however, I would have to supply transportation to the station and then to the airport. My 1970 Toyota Station Wagon would serve as the taxi, with me as the driver for the Captain.
I showed up at the Ohio Theatre while the two hour Fashion Show was winding down. Waiting off stage in the wings as the Captain’s theme song played, I watched the conclusion as he waved goodbye to the audience and exited while the big, burgundy stage curtains closed.
Introducing myself to him, he was gracious and then said, “Ron, I know that you have a crew waiting for me at your station, but I need to take an extra twenty minutes here to do something.”
People were filing out the center aisles, slowly as children using wheelchairs and those walking with aids worked their way out the back doors of the large theatre. The Captain motioned for me to follow him as we crossed the stage to the wings on the other side.
In that area were about twenty children lying in beds, unable to sit or stand, waiting to use the big double doors to exit to the alley for transportation. Because of their conditions, these children had not been able to participate in the stage show, so to make their time special, Captain Kangaroo spent the next twenty minutes touching them, speaking with them and their parents, signing autographs for them, getting pictures taken with each of them.
Bob Keeshan understood the power of his character, Captain Kangaroo—and also understood the responsibility of it. The scene was joyous, moving and unforgettable.
Bob Keeshan, 1927-2004.
Link to: Captain Kangaroo Theme -- "Puffin' Billy"
