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MICH-ELLANY

The savior a plaything? Jesus Christ!

Experience
Ann Arbor's newest
Night Club & Lounge

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INTERVIEW
Bob Keeshan
'Captain Kangaroo' worries about
television's violence and commercialism
Many of us grew up watching Captain Kangaroo, Bunny. Rabbit, Mr.
Moose, and Mr. Green Jeans. Bob Keeshan created the Captain in 1955,
when the hour-long show began its extraordinarily successful 29-year run
on CBS. It reappeared on PBS this year and is broadcast locally on
Detroit's Channel 56. The Captain and his show have won many awards,
including six Emmies. Keeshan, 59, and his wife, Jeanne, live in
Babylon, N.Y. They have three children and four grandchildren. Keeshan,
who will make an appearance Sunday at the McAuley Health Center, was
interviewed by Daily staff reporter Melissa Birks.
Daily: You had no formal education in anything like, for instance, child
psychology; how did you know how to make the Captain effective?
Keeshan: I don't think there's any big need for formal education in
these things. We learn in many ways; I learned the hard way perhaps.
Most people know that my introduction to television was purely
accidental. In the very beginning, I was an undergraduate on my way to
law school and a radio host asked me to help with a program because
nobody else would help him and that was Bob Smith, and it was to
become Howdy Doody. The reason nobody else would help him was
because there were only 80,000 TV sets in the country and two stations
on the network. I was happy to earn the additional income by helping
him. But of course in five years, many things happened. One, I went on
the program and created the character Clarabelle. Then television grew
from 80,000 sets to 30 million in the country and the networks spanned
from coast to coast and now everybody wanted to become involved in it,
and I was a pioneer. The third most important thing was I had become a
parent and was viewing television from a parental point of view,
concerned about its effects and impressed with its potential for doing
good for young children.
D: Did doing the show affect the way you raised your own children?
K: Absolutely not. We never talked about the program. They never knew
anything about it. How can you burden children with that? It's hard
enough to grow up without having a celebrity as a father. Who needs
that?
D: Did they watch the show?
K: I don't know if they did or they didn't. I don't think they watched it
any more or less than anything else, but they never associated their father
with The Captain. When they were older and realized it, they were beyond
the show and people in the community never made anything of it and
they grew in a normal way. I think I could have been a business.
executive or an airline pilot and their lives would not have been very
much different.
D: As for being on~television in the '50s and '60s, what constraints did
Continued on Page 11

G. I. JOE, KEN AND BARBIE,
Jesus.
It was bound to happen sooner
or later. Kids were going to get
bored with conventional toys and
decide to play with their savior,
Jesus. That's right, kids are playing
with God these days, or at least a
replica.
According to an article on the
front page of the Nov. 9 Detroit
News, Eden Books of Centerline
Michigan, sells, among other
religious toys, a Jesus doll (made
by the Rainfall Company). As one
might imagine, Jesus is selling
well.
Dorothea Rafinski, manager of
the bookstore, told The News: "In
our 'heroes of the kingdom' doll
collection, the Jesus doll has
outsold all other figures. He's
outsold Moses and John the
Baptist, and Peter." Christ's retail
value is $11.95. Don't forget, God
can be a great stocking stuffer. I'm
still waiting for the Jesus Mighty
Miracle Stunt Set. If you're
wondering, Jesus' white robe (with
a purple sash) is included.
According to Rafinski, at this time
their are no Jesus accessories.
Perhaps in the near future, the Jesus
OFF THE WALL
READ ME, FOR I AM WRITTEN
-Graduate Library
HMq CIH
JJAW alHT aGI8I }IOUTh MI
-Graduate Library
'JooU act uo sslgq i 'M1s 'u0
-Graduate Library
Just remember, when you point
your finger you've got three more
fingers pointin' back at you
-Angell Hall
(Under a "Sub 1 East" sign)
A FUCKING MAZE DOWN
HERE
I SAW A MINOTAUR IN SUB 1
WEST
OH?
Ile must have gotten lost!!
I hunt Minotaurs! He's dead!
-Graduate Library-
Poets were put on this world to test
our patience and endurance.
-Mason hall
I'm not afraid to die
But it scares me to think about it
Never loved you
But I sure think about you
(in reply)
Not profound in the least.
-Graduate Library

gMIKE
FISCH
doll will be advertised on
television- crown of thorns sold
separately.
The creation of a Jesus doll
raises some moral questions. Do we
want our children to play with
Christ or to love and respect him?
You know the way kids play with
dolls. They contort the arms and
legs into strange positions;
sometimes they give their dolls a
haircut (often without scissors).
When a kid gets bored with a doll
he throws it. Little boys love to get
their dolls into fights. Little
Tommy is bound to wonder if
Rambo could take Jesus. Sure,
Jesus has eternal life, but Rambo's
got an Uzi.
What do you say when your
youngster comes up to you and
cries, "Mommy, Jesus' arm is
broken!"?
"Don't worry Tommy. Says
here on the package that if Jesus is

defective within one year of
purchase we can return him for a
new one."
Imagine the hullabaloo under the
Christmas tree: "Johnny got The
Masters of the Universe and all I
got was Jesus. Jesus doesn't have a
battle command station, or a
photon decimator or anything."
Could the Jesus doll be an
indication of trends in the sectarian
toy and gift market? Wouldn't it be
comforting to store hot coffee in a
Son of God thermos? Or to put
Susie's peanut butter sandwich in a
Resurrection lunchbox?
The way I figure it, Jesus dolls
should either be free, or more
expensive than your ordinary G.I.
Joe with Kung Fu grip. It just
doesn't seem right to pay more for
a G.I. Joe than for God, or to pick
up Jesus for 25% off with a
coupon, and a three dollar factory
rebate.
I wonder how Christ might feel
about being made into a doll. One
thing's pretty sure: He's mighty
proud to know that He's selling
better than all of Rainfall
Company's other religious toys
-even the Born Again Bunny at
$18.95.

FILMS:

in the new
Holiday Inn West
Happy Hour Monday-Friday
4pm -8pm
Live Entertainment Nightly
featuring:
THE RAGE
Proper Dress & ID Required
(21 & older)
2900 JACKSON ROAD

at the Michigi
7:00 SUNDAY, NOVEMBER 16
"THE ADVENTURES 0
Dir Will Vinton -(1986) 93m.
A fantasy account using claym
American author's characters
voice of James Whitmore as Ma
7:45 MONDAY, NOVMEBER 17
"GINGER AND FRED"
Dir. Frederico Fellini
Marcello Mastroianni and Gui
"Italian Astaire and Rogers" w
united for one last dance as part
7:45 TUESDAY, NOVMEBER 18
"KAOS" (1985-Italian) 18
Dir. Paolo and Vittorio Taviani
Based on a collection of five s
which all deal with Sicilian peas;
century.
7:00 WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER
"THE SURE THING" (19
Dir. Rob Reiner
Two college students - one tr
holiday break to meet a girl his
"sure thing," the other a straigt
her boyfriend are thrown togs
trek West and their bickering slo
See all these great films projected on the
Michigan Theater. Call 6688397 for more
films is $3.50 for a doublebill or a single
citizens $2.75. Tickets go on sale one-N


One-time Sex Pistols bassist Sid Vicious (Oldman) recording "My Way."


'""


PRINT FROM THE

PAST

" 4 Michigan March -
ing Band members
watch the Wolver -
ines from the
sidelines during a
1958 football
match.
DAILY FILE PHOTO
THE DAILY ALMANAC

expected a serious answer) ever
grilled Malcolm McLaren on the
Deeper Questions when he first
unleashed the Sex Pistols on the
world-Cox's movie deserves an
equal chance to survive on it's
manic energy alone.
And survive it does. Despite an
extremely lethargic last third, Sid
And Nancy is a great little flick.
It's all here-Sid slapping a music
critic upside the head with his bass;
Sid nonchalantly shooting up for
the first time; Sid helping Nancy
through a rough night by fatally
stabbing her in the gut. Cox's
penchant for symbolism and surreal
imagery sometimes skirts the line
of pretentiousness-the shot where
Sid and Nancy make out against a
back-alley dumpster while junk
falls around them in slow motion
leaps over that line with both feet.
And it's puzzling that Cox would
feel the need for surrealism in the
first place, given the bizarre,
hallucinatory world he's working
within. But when the final product
comes out as spellbinding as Sid
And Nancy, you gotta allow the
man his little quirks.
Gary Oldham (Sid) and Chloe
Webb (Nancy) perform admirably in
the rather difficult task of bringing
back to life two characters who very.
few audiences are going to find even
tolerable, much less likeable. Webb
whines and whines and bitches and
whines, and you just hate her so
much, and want to slap her upside
the head with a bass so much, that

only in retrospect does it sink in
that she gives a hell of a good
performance. Oldham looks like he
was born to play Sid Vicious, and
he carries his birthright so naturally
that the question of "acting" seems
moot; for two hours, he is Sid
Vicious. Both leads are upstaged,
however, by a pair of their co-stars:
an intense, John Cleese look-alike
named Drew Schofield who plays
Sid's slightly-more-on-the-ball
frontman, Johnny Rotten, and
David Hayman as that great rock-
and-roll swindler, Malcolm Mc-
Laren. Both of these actors add an
element of fun and theatricity to the
film which compliments Cox's
style far better than the more heavy-
handed portrayals of Webb and
Oldham, and when they step out of
the picture, the movie takes an
immediate spiraling nosedive.
Sid And Nancy is not going to
wring any great emotions out of
you on either end of the spectrum.
The tender scenes between the two
don't ring true, because when
they're not being tender they're
being shallow, irritating-as-hell
assholes. Likewise, scenes that
should inspire absolute horror (like
Nancy pathetically begging Sid to
kill her and then off himself) just
don't bite, mainly because of the
numbing effects that 111 minutes
of that stuff creates. Still, as a
voyeuristic look at a time and place
that most people still know very
little about, Sid And Nancy delivers
the goods with a vengeance. 0

° EVE
M A G A Z I N E
NECTARINIBLR
- B IO

FRIDAY
TOP 40 DANCE
with the
WIZARD

SATURDAY
MODERN MUSIC MI
With DJ Roger Lelievre
Generol Public Ticket and Record Give A

U

MONDAY
MODERN MUSIC
With Great DJ
Tom Simonian

WEDNESDAY
Live on Stage


50 years ago-November
15, 1936: After much criticism
of woefully inadequate men's
housing at the University, The
Daily reported initial results of a
"nation-wide investigation" polling
officials from 75 universities about
men's dormitory facilities, which
were virtually non-existent on
Michigan's campus. Three-quarters
of the schools said they provided
men's housing. The University of
Iowa provided rooms for 910 men;

Michigan's Fletcher Hall, the only
men's facility here, housed 58
students.
15 years ago-November
15, 1971: The Women's crisis
center opened on the second floor of
the Union, "a place for women to
get help from other women." The
center offered counseling on
abortion, suicide prevention, and
drugs, plus information on
contraceptives and medical exams.

NEVILLE BROTHEL

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PAGE 10 WEEKEND/NOVEMBER 14, 1986 -

WEEKEND/NOVEMBER 14, 1986