The FIRST Captain 11

Hardly a day goes by that there’s not news of another celebrity biting the dust. This morning it was Jim Lange who died of a heart attack in California at the age of 81.My first thought wasn’t so much about this St. Paul, Minnesota native whose claim to fame was as the longtime genteel host of “The Dating Game” on television.

No what initially popped into my head was..had it not been for Jim Lange, there wouldn’t have been a Captain 11.

Back in the early 50’s when television was just getting off the ground, local stations, including WMIN Channel 11 in Minneapolis, were scrambling to find programming to fill all the air time not covered by the networks..which included time in the afternoon when kids got home from school. That gave birth to all kinds of local characters to host kids’ TV shows. They varied from clowns and cowboys to rail engineers and rocket rangers; the latter being the concept for Captain 11.  Young Jim Lange was selected to portray the Captain in 1954  a  uniform was designed and taylor made and a special set constructed with all types of electronic gadgetry surrounding a captain’s chair from which Captain 11 would direct the audience into the past or future with the push of a button and sell Bosco chocolate syrup during the commercials.

That’s Lange as the Captain who apparently sat at his time controls rather than stand in front of them.

Here’s Lange again as the Captain along with Steve Cannon (Longtime grouchy radio host of the Cannon Mess on WCCO) who was Wranger Steve on WMIN and Roger Awsumb was Casey Jones

They did some personal appearances too but nothing like Dedrick ended up doing.

By 1955, it was clear that WMIN’s sister station in Sioux Falls, South Dakota; KELO Channel 11, should have a Captain 11 of its own.  It was “literally” a toss-up between Murray Stewart and Dave Dedrick as to who would fill those Wellingtons. Company president, Joe Floyd, tossed a coin and Dedrick wound up on his way to Minneapolis to be fitted for his first uniform and to undergo basic training with the “other” Captain, Jim Lange.

In all our years on the golf course or just sitting around talking, I don’t recall Dave saying very much at all about that meeting with Lange other than he wasn’t sure the show would last long under the format they were using. And he was right, within a couple years, Jim Lange had moved on to Hollywood and two other guys who were assigned to wear the uniform for WMIN didn’t work out. So that was it.

Chris Wedes replaced Lange

Jack Rebney replaced Wedes

Dedrick was determined to give his Captain 11 staying power and realized the best way to do that was to have an audience in the studio; a “crew” as he called it. How do you do that? Why not invite kids to celebrate their birthday party with Captain 11 on live TV?

Our Captain 11 in one of his first promotional photos.

It was ingenious and every weekday at 4,  no matter the weather, the Keloland lobby smelled like Bazooka bubble gum and was filled with the sound of anxious little voices until the studio door opened and they rushed in to find a seat on the bleachers and then hold their breath as that larger than life figure dressed in dazzling blue with the number 11 embroidered in gold on his  pilot’s hat walked up to the giant time converter machine..turned his magnificent face to the camera and when the little red light came he’d salute and say “Captain Eleven reporting for duty.” Then he’d turn to ask that familiar question, “How’s my crew today?” To which the young audience’s answer FINE would explode from their little bodies whether they actually felt fine or not. Ah, but who could be anything but when in the presence of a hero to three generations of kids.

And just think..none of it would have happened if a guy named Jim Lange hadn’t accepted that first assignment. It just took another guy named Dedrick to complete the mission.

May you both Rest In Peace.