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Cap'n Mitch
Story and interview by Meg Peterson |
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| To see him today is to recognize the appealing smile and humble manner. Agruss was perhaps one of the first to format a kiddie show where the attention was on the children (he only allowed six to eight children on the show and there was no live audience). It wasn't merely an accident that Agruss had a commanding, if easygoing, stage presence. Some may be surprised to know that he is a trained Shakespearean actor and has worked with and around some of the more famous actors of our time. It was this theatrical discipline, Agruss believes, that made his style of kiddie show work. |
Mitch Agruss got his first television job in New Haven, Conneticut as Captain Soloman Seawhiskers. |
Agruss went to drama school with the Program Director at a TV station in New Haven (WNHC) and he asked him to audition for the part of a live host for a Popeye cartoon show. Agruss got the job ("It sounded like a weekly salary, recalls Agruss") and became Captain Soloman Seawhiskers (it was a nautical theme for Agruss right from the start). There he developed the format for the show: dealing with the children with respect and having the attention on them. It was the fastest growing children's program on any of the "triangle stations" and Agruss remained on the show for two years, 1958-1960. Then, he returned to go back on a national Shakespearean tour. |
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"There were patterns on
the show that the children liked", says Agruss. "The kids
got to use the spyglass and introduce cartoons with the all-familiar
"cartoon ahoy"!". And our favorite cartoons were on:
Space Angel, Clutch Cargo, Mr. Magoo, The Mickey Mouse Club, Superman,
and Speed Racer, to name a few. |
Agruss recalls the charming setting of the show as if it were yesterday. "A wheelhouse of a riverboat took up the entire set and the backdrop was a chalk drawing of a section of the river along the Garden Highway". "People used to drive along the river looking for that part of the river so they could see the "Valley Queen"! The show started with music and video. The kids would line up on the 'dock', walk down the gangplank (to the sound of nautical music), introduce themselves (what a thrill for these children!), ring the bell and take their seats on the 'boat'." On the boat was the treasured 'secret cargo'. One lucky child, though random selection, but was finally given free reign to utilize the format that he had developed so successfully in Connecticut. In the first year of the show, Channel 13 accomplished what it setout to do: they dominated the children's market in ratings. Soon things changed with new ownership and personality identification was no longer the desired intent. Agruss no longer made the public appearances that had played such a big role in developing his TV personality. The change to national programming, while still in its infancy, was beginning its imminent domination of children'stelevision programming.
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Cap'n Mitch Agruss moved on to Channel 40 in
1968 and remained successful with the format he created, but was told
he had to change his name. Now "First
came regulation, then deregulation," Agruss continued, "There
was concern about the commercialized influence over children's audiences
that pitch people were having. Then regional and national business came
in and they |
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