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The story of how a group of high-minded New York liberals created the most celebrated franchise in the history of children’s television is long and complicated. But at its core, it comes down to this: Sesame Street’s primary competitor, Captain Kangaroo—the man himself— could be a shockingly nasty piece of work. A fiery Irishman who liked his Johnny Walker Black early and often, the Captain—a/k/a Bob Keeshan—crudely denigrated his writers’ work in public, fired staff on impulse, and paid skinflint wages. Were it not for his backstage tyranny, his skilled directing team might never have bolted CBS en masse for an even lower-paying gig at an untested public-television show starring a green frog.

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