rolf harris played the dancing bear on captain kangaroo.
rolf harris played the dancing bear on captain kangaroo.
who played the dancing bear on captain kangaroo?
rolf harris
keeshan also had a recurring role as the town clown, a pantomime piece that took place in and around the exposed wagon home of a tramp-like circus clown. like the character clarabelle that he played on "howdy doody", the town clown never spoke.









































favorite characters on the show were grandfather clock (voiced by cosmo allegretti), rollo the hippo, and dancing bear. dancing bear was mute and only appeared in short subject features. he often danced waltzes to background music.
captain kangaroo
the original theme song to "captain kangaroo" (titled "puffin' billy") was used from 1955 to 1974. it was an instrumental piece of light music, written by edward g. white and recorded by the melodi light orchestra. the track was from a british stock music production library known as the chappell recorded music library, which was sold through a new york agency called emil ascher. the tune's original title referred to a british steam locomotive. the tune was used on various programs on both sides of the atlantic and was already popular in the united kingdom: for example, two years before "captain kangaroo", it served as the wrap-up music for an episode of the radio program "rocky fortune" called "murder among the statues". in the united kingdom, it became famous as the theme to the weekly bbc radio program "children's favourites" from 1952 to 1966, and is still widely recognised by the postwar generation. it was later used in the enid blyton parody "five go mad in dorset" and in a number of british tv advertisements, including a captain sensible spot. the "puffin' billy" theme played as the opening of each episode, with the music continuing until the captain hung his large ring of keys on a nail (which seemed to act as a switch to turn off the music). if the captain's keys ever slipped off the nail, the music began playing again. in 1957, lyricist mary rogers penned lyrics to the tune, creating a newly titled "captain kangaroo" song.
captain kangaroo