Accepting The Inevitable

I never watched Captain Kangaroo.  I was fourteen when the show premiered on October 3, 1955.  My television fare at that age consisted primarily of television westerns.  I saw the first episode of The Life and Legend of Wyatt Earp which aired on September 6, 1955.

I was a television junkie.  I watched television from the time I awoke until late in the evening.  My television day began with the Today show, which premiered on January 14, 1952, and ended with the Tonight show, which began on September 27, 1954.  I remember with great fondness the early hosts Steve Allen, Ernie Kovacs, and Jack Parr.  I was far more moved by the death of Jack Parr than that of Bob Keeshan which occurred four days earlier.  Mourning is a very personal emotion.

I am a member of the first generation of television watchers, the post-World War Two kids who grew up watching black and white television in the late 1940s through the 1950s.  However, the black and white children’s television era actually divides into two very distinct eras: (1) 1948-1954 and (2) 1955 to 1962.  Children’s television programming was experimental during the first time period.  It matured during the second. Captain Kangaroo was an example of that maturity.

I was seven in 1948.  Television and I bonded immediately.  My after school and weekend viewing included The Adventures of Superman (syndicated July 1951), Captain Video and His Video Rangers (premiered June 27, 1949), The Cisco Kid (syndicated 1950), Hopalong Cassidy (premiered June 24, 1949), Howdy Doody (premiered December 27, 1947), Kukla, Fran and Ollie (premiered November 29, 1948), The Lone Ranger (premiered September 15, 1949), Tom Corbett, Space Cadet (premiered October 2, 1950), Sky King (premiered September 16, 1951), Super Circus (premiered January 16, 1949), two or three shows (I have forgotten the names) devoted to showing B-movie westerns, and several regional circus, cowboy, mystery, and variety theme shows.  As you will note, I was there at the beginning.

Interestingly, I never watched Ding Dong School (premiered December 22, 1951).  Miss Frances did nothing for me.  The same was true for Pinky Lee, whose show began on April 19, 1950, and Rootie Kazootie (premiered December 9, 1950).  I suspect I missed the latter because its schedule conflicted with another show I was watching.

Nighttime television was adult driven.  This did not stop me.  I watched plenty.  I saw most of the early episodes of The Milton Berle Show (premiered September 21, 1948).  In fact, I remember going to a friend’s house to watch the show before a television finally arrived in my parents’ living room.  I was a regular viewer of The Ed Sullivan Show (premiered June 10, 1948 / yes, I was watching in 1964 when the Beatles first appeared), I Love Lucy (premiered October 15, 1951), The Jackie Gleason Show (premiered September 20, 1952), Mr. Peepers (premiered July 3, 1952), You Bet Your Life (premiered October 5, 1950), and many more shows.  Given the number of shows I watched regularly, I look back with amazement that I found time to complete my school homework, practice my trumpet, and be active in the Boy Scouts.  Time must run slower when you are younger.  Today, I never seem to have enough time to accomplish half of what I want to do.

Almost all the stars associated with the shows launched during the first period of black and white television have passed away.  The shows are a rapidly fading memory for the generation who watched them.  With the exception of I Love Lucy, almost none are in syndication.  The 1950s shows that appear on TV Land and other nostalgia-driven cable channels are all from the second half of the 1950s and 1960s.  I watched these shows, but do not remember them with the same level of fondness as I do the first group of shows that played such a major role in my life.

October 3, 1955, was a landmark day in children’s television.  In addition to the premier of Captain Kangaroo, the day also saw the premier of The Mickey Mouse Club.  This would make a great trivia question.  What two children’s shows premiered on October 3, 1955?

I may have been fourteen, but I did watch The Mickey Mouse Club.  You know why.  Whenever I ask members of an audience to name a Mouseketeer, the answer I receive seventy-five percent or more of the time is Annette.  Enough said.

Obviously, I know about the Captain Kangaroo show.  I have to know in my line of work.  The show’s memorabilia appears regularly at flea markets, toy shows, and on eBay.  Being such a television junkie, I never understood how I missed watching it.  The answer became evident in reading the many eulogies for Bob Keeshan.  Captain Kangaroo was a morning show.  In the morning, I watched the Today show before I headed for school.  I wanted to be up on the latest news.

As an aside, I wonder how many individuals remember Continental Classroom, an early morning television show in the mid-1950s that offered college courses.  I was out of bed by 5:30 every morning so I could watch the nuclear physics course.  Its influence was minimal.  Physics was one of my weaker subjects.

Television matured in the mid-1950s.  There was something different about the programs launched in the second half of the 1950s.  Television historians argue that the medium become more professional and sophisticated.  This is true.

However, I believe there is more to the picture.  Eisenhower was inaugurated as president in March 1952.  His arrival in the White House had a profound effect on the mood of the country.  America settled into the post-World War II period.  The family became the dominant social unit.  The Cold War was on everyone’s mind.  Television programming reflected these two concerns.  The Donna Reed Show (premiered September 24, 1958) and Leave It To Beaver (premiered October 4, 1957) built on the family tradition of I Love Lucy and The Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet (premiered October 3, 1952).  The Cold War black and white theme of good versus evil (the guys in the white hats versus the guys in the black hats) was the hallmark of the 1950s western. Gunsmoke arrived on the scene on September 10, 1955, Have Gun, Will Travel on September 14, 1957, and Bonanza on September 12, 1959.  Eventually, these and other western television shows would tackle the social issues of the times but not until the 1960s.

Upon learning of Bob Keeshan’s death, I decided to do a search on eBay to see if the collectibles associated with his show experienced a celebrity bounce, i.e., a momentary surge in value as a result of media attention.  I was surprised to find only a few listings.  Actually, I should not have been surprised because I did the search as “Captain Kangeroo” rather than “Captain Kangaroo.”  I have never been a great speller, a major problem for a writer.  Thank goodness for the dictionary and spell check.

When I did the eBay search using the correct spelling, I found close to five hundred items listed.  Many were for VHS copies of the show.  Captain Kangaroo memorabilia is surprisingly affordable.  Most period items sell for less than fifty dollars with many under twenty-five dollars.  This confirms two of my theories.  First, the number of collectors for juvenile television shows is minimal.  Collectors tend to focus on shows they watched after they reached their seventh birthday.  Second, when the generation who watches a show reaches their late fifties and early sixties, interest in the show’s memorabilia begins to drop off significantly.  The theory is known as “one generation collectibles,” i.e., what is going to happen to the stuff when the generation who grew up with it dies?  Several generations watched Captain Kangaroo.  The first generation is in their fifties.  The others are in their forties.  Given this, prices should be strong.  In the case of Captain Kangaroo memorabilia, maybe the prices I saw were strong prices.  Things do not bode well for the value of Captain Kangaroo memorabilia in 2020.

The Fifties are fading fast, especially the first half of the decade.  The second half of the decade is not that far behind.  It is time for a word of warning to those whose childhood experiences are associated with the 1960s.  You are next.

Although launched in 1955, Captain Kangaroo’s greatest influence was on those who were youngsters in the 1960s.  The Sixties were a long time ago.  Forty years have passed since JFK was assassinated and the Beatles landed in America.  If this makes you feel old, think of what it does to me.

Rinker Enterprises and Harry L. Rinker are on the Internet.  Check out www.harryrinker.com.

Watch Harry as the COLLECTOR INSPECTOR on Friday evenings at 8:00 PM and 12:00 PM ET on Home & Garden Television (HGTV).  Check your local TV schedule for the exact time in other time zones.
 
 

back to top

back to columns page