beamjockey (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
beamjockey) wrote2008-03-03 05:25 pm
beamjockey) wrote2008-03-03 05:25 pm
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Return of the Banana Man
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,![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
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.
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.