Vintage Furry…
Back in the halcyon days of my youth, we had Captain Kangaroo, a benign and kindly grandfatherly-like gentleman who sported a haircut like Moe of The Three Stooges, and held sway in a place called The Treasure House. He is shown in the presence of Mr. Green Jeans (a farmer stereotype), and three of the regular furry cast members, Dancing Bear, Mr. Moose, and Bunny Rabbit. In their day, they were quite iconic…
Now this was all low tech stuff but could be strangely surreal at times, perhaps a distant echo of the Peewee’s Playhouse that would follow decades later. I mean, there was even a talking Grandfather Clock that viewers were expected to call to and wake up! And while his face was incapable of rendering any range of emotion, one wouldn’t want to wake up at night to find Dancing Bear hovering over you. There’s something creepy and unnatural about that cheap fursuit that makes him look like Yogi Bear on a party drug…
Bob Keeshan the titular host previously was Clarabell the Clown on the Howdy Doody show, and his show ran for almost thirty years from 1955 to 1984…
Explore posts in the same categories: animal presence, anthropomorphic, furry, televisionTags: Captain Kangaroo, childrens' television, early furry
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FOXSYLVANIA 
October 5, 2018 at 5:16 pm
Yep! I remember that show. It ran five days a week, with a re-run on Saturday mornings (usually, though not always between 7 and 8 A.M.), on my hometown CBS affiliate. And I probably watched it, on my part, from 1964 to 1977!
I never found it creepy, though. I loved every single aspect of it! Bob Keeshan as the title character (a supposedly retired sea captain). The bespectacled Bunny Rabbit; always stealing carrots. Mr. Moose; telling riddles that always got the good captain showered with ping-pong balls. And Mr. Greennjeans (Frank “Lumpy” Brannum) providing both musical entertainment and educational mini-lectures on various animals; domestic and otherwise.
So influential was this show, on the Baby Boom Generation, that even the legendary Shari Lewis paid tribute to it on one of her own children’s shows!
Her puppet, Lamb Chop, idolized a talking kangaroo…called “Capt. Person.”
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October 5, 2018 at 5:26 pm
“Capt. Person,” not to be confused with “Capt. Obvious…”
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October 5, 2018 at 7:48 pm
“Hey! I resemble that remark. Nyuk-nyuk-nuk!” 🙂
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