In February 1954, Captain 11 debuted on WMIN, Channel 11, featuring a young Jim Lange as the host of the program. It was the beginning of a long career in television for Lange, who would gain greater fame as the host of The Dating Game on ABC. Jim Lange died on Tuesday, February 25 at […]
A couple weeks ago I posted about the Captain 11 mystery. I was sharing Captain 11 photos with Jim Lange and he pointed out that two of the photos were not him. The pictures were clearly not Chris Wedes either. After some further discussion with Jim and Al DeRusha, a floor director at WMIN in […]
This week, I was fortunate to meet up with Jim Lange, the first Captain 11 on WMIN. We sat down at the Pavek Museum of Broadcasting for an interview about the early days of the Twin Cities kids shows. Jim, Julian West and myself also went to dinner to celebrate Jim’s birthday this week. Of […]
I had previously identified this photo as Jim Lange, but it is not! Jim Lange originated the role of Captain 11 on WMIN in late 1953. He played Captain 11 until November 1954. Eventually Chris Wedes took over as Captain 11. But between Jim Lange and Chris Wedes, another actor played Captain 11. At this […]
In 1955, Jim Lange was Captain 11 on Channel 11 in the Twin Cities. This is a very rare premium from that show. Apparently it was a “Rocket Ranger Kit” that you could send away for. This small envelope was packed full of all sorts of cool things You got an official photo of Captain […]
The early days of WMIN, channel 11, featured a number of children’s programs. One of the first, starting in 1954 was Captain 11, which aired on weekday afternoons and featured old movie serials such as Buck Rogers and The Lost Jungle. According to channel 11 director Al DeRusha, the set was made of parts from old pinball machines […]
Jim Lange as Captain 11, Steve Cannon as Wrangler Steve and Roger Awsumb as Casey Jones are shown together here. The three of them appeared together at Excelsior Amusement Park on August 7, 1954. The heavily promoted event was called WMIN-TV Kids Day. The ad below was featured in the Minnesota edition of TV Guide. from […]
