Childrens
Captain Kangaroo – Peter and the Wolf (1960)
I thought it was time to start adding a few oddball records to my site since the last couple of posts have actually been pretty decent albums. This just happen to be the first one that I grabbed from the stack. I’m not implying ahead of time that this isn’t a good album, it’s just a little odd based on the cover photo. The puppets are all kind of creepy and they give me the heebee jeebees.
Bob Keeshan, of course, was the man behind Captain Kangaroo which aired from 1955 until 1984. Heck, I grew up watching him. His type of corny children’s entertainment would never make it today in an era when a television show requires multiple explosions per minute in order to retain a child’s attention. And that’s a shame, really. I have tremendous respect for anyone like Bob or Fred Rogers who believed so much in being a positive role model for children that they never succumbed to the pressures of celebrity and became a scumbag philanderer, junkie, or wife beater. Here’s a nice dated video from the black and white days to give you an idea of what the show was like.
After viewing that, my first thought is “Wow! The fact that I liked the show as a kid makes me wonder if my mom dropped acid while she was pregnant with me”. Actually……that would explain a couple of things……So anyway, I figured this record would be pretty awful and I licked my chops as I gave it a spin……..but dammit!……. it’s actually pretty clever. Man I hate that.
The Captain narrates the story of Peter and the Wolf while the orchestra uses different instruments as the voice of each character. Heck, I’m not a kid and I was actually pretty entertained by the whole thing. Although as Mrs. Vinyl points out, I’m entertained by a lot of things that are meant for children. The enthusiasm exhibited by the Captain comes off a little corny but what the heck, I doubt that kids would want to listen to my monotone babbling and delirious rantings so it’s difficult to fault the Captain’s delivery.
Maybe I’m just getting soft in my old age but I just can’t bring myself to rip the Captain. Sure his shtick is dated but the man did what he believed in until the day he died. It’s hard not to appreciate that. I guess it’s time to start digging for something awful from my collection. I’m getting tired of being nice.
Tracks:
Side One – Captain Kangaroo w/Orchestra
Continue reading Captain Kangaroo – Peter and the Wolf (1960)
