It's Tom Terrific And Mighty Manfred The Wonder Dog!

I bet you remember Tom Terrific. I just loved it! What a great cartoon. My friend once gave me a brand new giant red plastic funnel and I wore it like a hat, just like Tom Terrific. This was about 5 years ago.
Simple and sweet, in case you have forgotten, Tom Terrific was a boy hero who lived in a tree house. Thanks to his magic funnel cap, he could transform himself into anything and also became smarter.
Tom Terrific debuted in 1957 on the Captain Kangaroo show. The budget was small, but the imaginative scripts and stylized designs hid this fact. The scripts were simple and the music was minimal too, mostly just an accordion. Lionel Wilson did all of the voices.
Each episode on the Captain Kangaroo show consisted of a 5 minute cliff hanger everyday and in a week the story was completed. Confident, but never violent, Tom Terrific took on a variety of criminals. They were Sweet Tooth Sam, The Gravity Maker,The Silly Sandman, Captain Kidney Bean and his arch enemy, Crabby Appleton who was rotten to the core.
Here is a flash back for you:
My name is Crabby Appleton,
and I am simply awful.
It does my heart a lot of good
to do a deed unlawful!
I'm fond of gloom, impending doom,
I think good deeds are sappy!
I laugh with glee. It pleases me
when everyone's unhappy!
Mighty Manfred The Wonder Dog was always at Toms side. Manfred really never liked the whole crime busting routine. He was a big baggy-eyed pooch who would rather avoid trouble than stop it. To him, a big long nap would beat a good deed any day.
There were twenty-six full adventures or 130 episodes of the cartoon over a four year period.
"When there is trouble,
I'm there on the double,
From Atlantic to Pacific,
They know Tom Terrific!

Good Morning Captain!

How perfect is that? Do you realize that Captain Kangaroo was the longest running children's show? It spanned from 1955-1984. Remember his pals, Mr. Green Jeans. Mr. Moose, Bunny Rabbit and Grandfather Clock? It all took place in the Treasure House.
Bob Keeshan was the Captian and before that he was Clarabelle on the Howdie Doody Show.
Think about it. Television was brand new and millions of kids were watching. Their moms were buying the toys, cereal, and Poll Parrot shoes he endorsed. Unfortunately, Keeshan was fired and Clarabelle was replaced. You can't fool a kid when it comes to a clown. They knew he was an impostor and wrote the stations in a rage. The real Clarabelle was rehired, but then fired again after two weeks over a money dispute.
At the age 28, Bob Keeshan became the Captain. Remember Mr. Moose dropping all the ping pong balls at the punch line of his knock knock jokes? Wasn't Mr. Rabbit so cute when the Captain fed him carrots? Grandfather Clock was the resident poet and Dancing Bear was just too cool.
Bob Keeshan was all about the kids. He was an advocate of children's education and learning. He can never be replaced.

Good Morning, Captain: Fifty Wonderful Years with Bob Keeshan, TV's Captain KangarooGood Morning Captain -Captain Kangaroo Original Cast Music from the CBS TV Show!