James Earl Wall (December 12, 1917October 27, 2010"James E. 'Jimmy' Wall dies at 92; played Mr. Baxter on 'Captain Kangaroo'"
''Los Angeles Times'', 28 October 2010.) was an American

stage manager Stage management is a broad field that is generally defined as the practice of organization and coordination of an event or theatrical production. Stage management may encompass a variety of activities including the overseeing of the rehearsal p ...

and actor. Having performed on radio, theater, and in the Army during

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the World War II by country, vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great power ...

, Wall worked as a stage manager on Broadway before being hired as the stage manager for the children's television series ''

Captain Kangaroo ''Captain Kangaroo'' is an American children's television series that aired weekday mornings on the American television network CBS for 29 years, from 1955 to 1984, making it the longest-running nationally broadcast children's television progr ...

'' by CBS in 1962. In an interview clip that aired on the October 28, 2010, ''

CBS Evening News The ''CBS Evening News'' is the flagship evening television news program of CBS News, the news division of the CBS television network in the United States. The ''CBS Evening News'' is a daily evening broadcast featuring news reports, feature s ...

'', Wall recalled how he made the case to ''Kangaroos producers for an

African-American African Americans (also referred to as Black Americans and Afro-Americans) are an Race and ethnicity in the United States, ethnic group consisting of Americans with partial or total ancestry from sub-Saharan Africa. The term "African American ...

character. However, he still had to audition for the role which became Mr. Baxter, a teacher and

's neighbor.James E. Wall
at Honorary Unsubscribe Wall joined the cast in 1968, remaining with the show until 1979; he made a guest appearance in 1981. He was also the stage manager for 41 consecutive years on the US Open Tennis Championships telecasts. Wall was presented with the

Directors Guild of America The Directors Guild of America (DGA) is an entertainment guild that represents the interests of film and television directors in the United States motion picture industry and abroad. Founded as the Screen Directors Guild in 1936, the group merg ...

's Franklin J. Schaffner Achievement Award in 1994. He continued to work for CBS in semi-retirement until 2009.

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* {{DEFAULTSORT:Wall, James 1917 births 2010 deaths Actors from Wilmington, North Carolina Male actors from North Carolina United States Army personnel of World War II African-American male actors African-American radio personalities American male television actors 20th-century African-American people 21st-century African-American people