When Romper Room debuted on a Baltimore TV station in 1953, it came at a time when there were very few shows aimed at preschool children. Nancy Claster, the wife of the show's creator Bert Claster stepped in when the original teacher Jean Moseley backed out and it became a daytime hit with parents and preschoolers.
The Clasters got an offer from CBS to go national but they rejected it in favor of franchising the show, which meant that stations who paid for the format could used their own teacher and children. Nancy would train all the prospective teachers and they had to adhere to the format.
Many stations that aired the show fulfilled a need since it taught and educated the preschool audience it was targeted to. Good behavior was stressed on Romper Room, thanks to the show's Do Bee mascot. The teachers were always referred to as "Miss", regardless of marital status. The best known feature was the Magic Mirror, where the teacher would open with "Romper bomper stomper boo..." and then she would read the names of children who sent in postcards to the show.
By the 1960s, Romper Room romped in a local station's ratings, though Nancy Claster turned her teaching duties over to her daughter Sally in Baltimore. Local station's waiting lists for children to be on the show were pretty long in many markets. But later in the decade, the show was under fire from Action for Children's Television for its constant promotion of the toys used on the show and a new show would debut in 1969 that would cut into Romper room's dominance, Sesame Street.
The 1970s would also continue a decline for Romper Room when many local productions shut down to a rise in public school kindergarten and a ban on children's TV hosts delivering on camera commercials. But there were still some locally produced Romper Rooms as well as the national version hosted by Miss Sally that was also seen mornings in Minneapolis.
As many local Romper Rooms declined, the show was overhauled in 1981 and retitled Romper Room and Friends. New characters were added but the show continued to declined and by 1994, Romper Room ceased production.
For many preschoolers in the 50s, 60s and 70s, Romper Room was the video destination that educated and taught them to be good Do Bees.
