The 1950’s and 60’s were a special time for children in Minneapolis, Minnesota. Each day there was a kiddy television show called Lunch With Casey. It featured Roger Awsumb as railroad engineer Casey Jones and aired on WTCN channel 11. Roger Awsumb was born in Saint Paul, Minnesota on July 10, 1928 to Ardin and […]
We are saddened to hear that Bob Duerr has died at the age of 92. Duerr was a frequent guest on Lunch with Casey, bringing various animals from the Como Park Zoo to the program. He was a noted expert on reptiles and hosted a snake exhibit at the Minnesota State Fair for over 40 […]
This is a VERY SMALL list of known personal appearances by Casey and Roundhouse. They appeared throughout Minnesota and Wisconsin on a regular basis, almost every weekend! They probably visited thousands of parks, schools, parades, shopping centers and tourist attractions from the early 1950’s and to the time the left us. These are known, documented […]
An article in the Minneapolis Tribune, dated May 5, 1967, provides a glimpse at the various local children’s programming in 1967. I don’t have the full article, but these excerpts provide some great commentary on these shows. “Lunch With Casey” and “Clancy the Cop” are described as the most popular locally produced children’s shows. “Neither […]
Casey Jones appeared at the Water Carnival in Hutchinson, in late June 1968. More notably, Julie Nixon Eisenhower, daughter of President Nixon, was honorary marshal of the Water Carnival parade that year’
Roundhouse appeared at the Wynona Steamboat Days Kiddie Parade on July 5, 1974
You never know what you may find when you go searching around the internet. I stumbled upon this proclamation for “Roundhouse Rodney Day” in 1974. The document says, “I, Wendell R. Anderson, Governor of the State of Minnesota, do hereby proclaim March 31, 1974, to be ROUNDHOUSE RODNEY DAY in Minnesota, and urge all citizens […]
Music was always a big part of Lunch With Casey. Casey and Roundhouse would often mime to popular novelty songs of the time. Unfortunately, only a small handful of these performances have survived, but we have been able to identify many of the songs performed on the show. And thanks to YouTube, we can build […]
Casey’s train sits at the Jackson Street Roundhouse, undergoing restoration. This feature shows the work being done back in 2007, and features interviews with Robert Aswumb, the son of Casey, and Al DeRusha, who directed Lunch with Casey. This engine sat at Como Park for years, before moving to the museum. Casey was filmed sitting […]
