Beloved TV Host Captain Noah Dies at 90 [Watch Classic Video]

"Red and yellow and blue and green, Purple and orange and pink, I can sing a rainbow,
Sing a rainbow, Sing a rainbow too!" Captain Noah, a Philadelphia TV institution for 27 years, died Tuesday at age 90.

The Captain, a.k.a. W. Carter Merbreier, star of Captain Noah and His Magical Ark on WPVI-TV from 1967 to 1994.

The popular kids TV show always ended with the  Andy Williams song "Sing a Rainbow", a celebration of diversity decades before diversity became fashionable.

For 27 years, the Captain and his wife Pat, "Mrs. Noah",  hosted the the show with poetry readings, arts projects, gentle conversations about topics like kindness and appearances by puppets Wally the Walrus and Maurice the Mouse.

At its most popular, Captain Noah and His Magical Ark was syndicated on 22 TV stations across the country and with more viewers in the Philadelphia area bigger than Sesame Street and Captain Kangaroo combined.

The Merbreiers also had a South Jersey connection, summering for many years in Ocean City. Pat Merbreier died in 2011.

The Captain was an ordained Lutheran minister and a former chaplain of the Philadelphia Police Department.

Take a look at some classic footage of Captain Noah and His Magical Ark: