Return of the Banana Man

[beamjockey]

You may know that I am fond of a performer I saw often in my childhood: The Banana Man.

He appeared from time to time on Captain Kangaroo, the long-running morning show. I have been frustrated to find that most of my contemporaries don't remember him. He had a very strange act that is hard to describe.

For years I quested, through libraries and across the Net, to gain a few hard-won facts about TBM. Eventually, in 2004, polyfrog was able to obtain a VHS tape so I could see a performance once again. This was a glorous experience.

Well, perhaps all things eventually come to Youtube. (Until the takedown notice arrives-- I arrived too late to view the infographic opening from The Kingdom recommended by various blogs a few weeks ago).

The original Banana Man was Al Robins, who toured the vaudeville stages of America. Here he surfaces as "The Walking Music Shop" in Seeing Red, a 1939 short film emceed by Red Skelton. There don't seem to be any bananas in sight. Maybe they came later.

Al Robins, a gifted propmaker, eventually sold his act to Sam Levine, who was the Banana Man I saw on TV in the Sixties. Here's a Captain Kangaroo appearance, claimed to be from 1969. (I am surprised it is that late.)

Now you can see what I was raving about all these years.

Your headquarters for Banana Man scholarship is Rhett Bryson's excellent site. Don't miss Joe Lee's recollection of TBM in comic form.

Comments

[tanac.livejournal.com]

I think I understand more now about how you got to be the way you are.

Very odd.

[beamjockey.livejournal.com]

Not something I understand all that well!

[peteralway.livejournal.com]

My recollections of the Banana Man are pretty vague. I grew up on captain Kangaroo, though. And my first reaction to this video (keep in mind I;m on dialup, so I'm seeing this in 2-second increments) was "Captain Kangaroo's suit is red?"

You see my dad felt that color TV was a big scam to sell you what was essentially 3 TV's in one, when you could see things perfectly well in black and white. He refused to buy one, and only got one when Dave was grown up and had a full-time job and bought him a color set. So to me, Captain Kangaroo's suit was, and always will be, grey.

And I think that 1969 is a likely date--you'll notice that Keeshan uses the expression "The Captain's Place." When I was little, I believe that he called it "The Treasure House." At some point I think they even renamed the show "The Captain's Place."

I do remember the La-la-^LA-la thing, too.

[beamjockey.livejournal.com]

My dad had more or less the same attitude. The Captain's uniform was black with white trim. My imagination told me that it was navy blue.

CBS went to color in 1967. We continued to watch black & white TV until the youngest Higgins left for college, around 1979. I get the impression that allowing kids to watch color TV would make them soft and undisciplined.

Once John was in college, my dad bought a color TV. My mom was astonished to learn that different Muppets were different colors.

The Captain's costume and the Treasure House got upgraded a number of times over the years. The intro you are seeing was shot for a 1985 videotape called The Captain and His Friends, but the Banana Man clip is much older.

This picture suggests that his original uniform was really black:

[bibliofile.livejournal.com]

My dad was like that too. I agree with the principle, sometimes: to this day I refuse to pay extra for the caller ID service, which doesn't cost a phone company anything to provide.

My brother and I chipped in and bought them a color TV, finally, in the early '80s. He also bought cars without air conditioning (until 1979) and refused to acquire any AC for the house.

I don't remember The Banana Man at all. Now he strikes me as more surreal than anything. I also feel amused to learn that Carrot Top's act can trace its origins back to vaudeville, it seems.

[bigbumble.livejournal.com]

I remember watching The Banana Man on Captain Kangaroo as a kid. The only disconcerting thing about the YouTube version is that it is in color. We had a black and white TV while I was in elementary school. Much mimicking of his voice occurred on the days of his appearance. The absolute silliness of the act was irresistible.

[(Anonymous)]

Wow, I so remember that. That clip could very well be from later than 69 just from comparing how "The Captain" looks vs pics from known dates.

But is it? I Don't Know.. *ACK PING PONG BALLS!!!*

[drzarron.livejournal.com]

Ack.. that was me.

[stickmaker.livejournal.com]

Even as a kid, I noticed that there was never anyone else around when the Banana Man was on set. Reading about this years later, it turned out the elaborate suit could not be cleaned and smelled so bad by that time that no-one else on the show would go near it.

[(Anonymous)]

Sam Levine (known to me as Sammy Vine) was a former partner of my father (George Marvin) and a third man named Irving Lane in an act known as The Radio Ramblers. Sammy had disappeared for a while and resurfaced doing the old A. Robins act The Banana Man. I was told that he bought the act from Robins but don't know if that is true. Be well and happy. Steve Marvin

[beamjockey.livejournal.com]

Steve, it's a pleasure to hear from you. I see that the Radio Ramblers made several comedy shorts for Vitaphone and continued their stage act for many years.

Could you give me a way to contact you? My e-mail address is higgins (at) fnal (dot) gov.

[(Anonymous)]

i had your exact same experience - my family thought i was nuts - thanks to people like you that post this info, I've been able to prove that I'm not crazy - at least about this! Bob Novak