![]() ![]() Shortly before his 18th birthday, Bob joined the Marines, and underwent basic training. ![]() Before Bob could discover this for himself, World War II interrupted. A page was a low-level gopher, giving an individual an “in” at NBC, and giving them time to find where, if anywhere, they belonged at NBC. Instead, in his 18th year, he began working for NBC in their page program. His mother died when Bob was only 15, and this deeply impacted him - without the influence of a school guidance counselor, Bob would have stayed mired in his grief. He had a happy childhood, living with his immigrant father, mother, younger sister and two older brothers. Bob was born in Long Island, but moved to Forest Hills, NY shortly after his birth. Follow him at ken-jennings.Better known to millions of viewers as the original Captain Kangaroo, Long Island native Bob Keeshan first came to national prominence as Clarabell the Clown on the Howdy Doody TV show (1947 – 1952). ![]() He's also the proud owner of an underwhelming Bag o' Crap. Ken Jennings is the author of eleven books, most recently his Junior Genius Guides, Because I Said So!, and Maphead. Quick Quiz: If he had stayed in the Marines, Keeshan could have been promoted to Lieutenant Kangaroo, then Captain Kangaroo, then what rank? still fields many a call from patriotic TV fans wanting to hear stories of Captain Kangaroo’s valor in combat. Keeshan spent the rest of his life denying the war stories, and the Naval Historical Center in Washington D.C. He turned eighteen (and enlisted in the Marine Corps reserves) in 1945, several months after American forces retook Iwo Jima. The only problem: Lee Marvin was injured at Saipan, not Iwo Jima, and Bob Keeshan never served in the Pacific at all. ![]() In the popular memory, this story goes back to something Lee Marvin said on The Tonight Show about Keeshan’s brave service in the Pacific. Rogers, who was supposedly a Marine sniper or Navy SEAL or something.) When Keeshan died in 2004, veterans wrote outraged letters to newspapers complaining that his obituary hadn’t mentioned the medals he won for bravery on Iwo Jima. (Gen X-ers will recall a version of this myth spreading about Mr. Green Genes,” which Zappa recorded on his 1969 album Hot Rats.īut even more persistent was the rumor about Bob Keeshan’s supposed service in World War II. The whole thing snowballed from fan theories about the song “Son of Mr. In reality, though, Zappa was born to Sicilian immigrants Francis and Rosemarie Zappa. According to one extremely popular Baby Boom myth, Frank Zappa was the son of Hugh Brannum, the actor who played Captain Kangaroo’s farmer friend Mr. For thirty years, Keeshan starred as Captain Kangaroo, the most popular children’s TV host of his era.Īs with most fixtures of American youth culture ( Pop Rocks, The Wizard of Oz, that “Paul” kid on The Wonder Years), a series of weird urban legends grew up around Captain Kangaroo’s show. (If they used Fahrenheit there, which they don’t.) Jeopardy!’s Ken Jennings apparently has a trip to Australia on his mind this month: he’ll be here all August debunking mountains of marsupial misinformation for Woot!īob Keeshan was not taxonomically a marsupial he just played one on TV. Travel experts say that late August is actually a beautiful time to visit Australia: airfares are still low, the beaches of the north are warm, and even Sydney usually gets up into the mid- to high 60s most days. Are you sweltering in the August heat? Let’s spare a thought this month for our brothers and sisters of the Southern Hemisphere, just coming out of their chilly winter months. ![]()
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