The Howdy Doody Show

Howdy Doody" was the first television show I ever remember watching as a very young kid. I hadn't seen it in about 55 years so, at first, it was kind of shocking to view a few episodes just the other day. A new DVD by Mill Creek Entertainment came out last last year (2008) and contains a number of episodes from 1949-1952 and all of them with pretty good transfers.

The show is not something I could enjoy now as a 60-plus-year-old man, but it was interesting to see the principal characters again. I viewed three of the episodes and, frankly, that was enough. It was fascinating to look back, though. I can't believe how the plugs they did for their sponsors, like Halo Shampoo or Three Muskateeres candy bar, were worked into an audience-participation thing. It's so different from what we've known the last 40 years. Instead of cutting away to a commercial, they plugged the products as part of the show.

Speaking of participation, I had also forgotten exactly how young the audience - the famous "Peanut Gallery" - was, the kids all looking about five years old. This was definitely a show for very young kids. The only part that I still enjoyed was the old silent film comedies. In each half-hour Howdy Doody episode, they showed a silent-film comedy with Buffalo Bob explaining some of the things going on. The old slapstick films are still funny, of course.

It also looked like the show did a lot to promote the American Indian. Yeah, they might have been white men dressed up as Native Americans, but there were a number of characters in this show and they were not portrayed negatively. They were live humans and puppets.

The other "live" people included a star of the show: "Clarabell" The Clown. Clarabell was like Harpo Marx, a silent pantomime figure who honked instead of spoke and made a lot of faces, many of them sad. He was first played by Bob Keeshan, who went on to big fame as "Captain Kangaroo."

The only thing that baffled me was seeing "Princess Summerfallwinterspring," whom I always remembered as a beautiful young women. Here, she's a puppet. I did some research, though, and found out she started out as a puppet on this show and then became a real-life human, played by Judy Tyler. By the way, Tyler played opposite Elvis Presley in the 1957 film, "Jailhouse Rock." Tragically, the woman and her husband were killed later that year in a car crash. Elvis said he could never watch that movie again, because seeing Judy would be too much to bear.

All in all, I still can't have anything but the fondest thoughts for this show, which first brought me the joys of television entertainment. Buffalo Bob Smith will always be a folk-hero of sorts to me, and millions of other Baby Boomers.

This show is a good example of how children have changed since the halcyon haze of the 1950s. Back then, this show and its characters were beloved to seemingly most children, but now, children would be frightened by evil-looking puppets and clowns.

It's hard to believe that a children's show, much less one like this, could endure for nearly 2500 episodes. Oh well. I suppose children's television hasn't changed that much since the 1950s, after all -- Mr. Rogers is still around, as he was in the 50s, and modern children's shows have retained their simple, mindless guile, while at the same time keeping kids glued to their TVs for a few hours each day.

With that greeting came the arrival of Howdy Doody, a marionette boy and leading citizen of Doodyville. Later on that name was the subject of much scatalogical humor.

The show's cast divided between marionette creations and some live players in roles. Chief villain of the show was one Phineas T. Bluster the mayor of Doodyville who probably stuffed the ballot boxes. He was a marionette and looked like a Scrooge character. Bluster had all kinds of nefarious schemes which always came up short. A worthy antagonist for the All American Howdy Doody.

Presiding over all of this was Buffalo Bob Smith who hailed from Buffalo, New York. He did it with grace and tact and never talked down to the kid audience. I remember that he had a real heart attack at one point in the 50s. A guy named Bison Bill came in for a bit and Smith's return was welcomed.

Buffalo Bob was assisted by Clarabelle The Clown played by Bob Keeshan who went straight into Captain Kangaroo when Howdy Doody finished its run of 13 years. Clarabelle the Clown usually ended quarrels with those oldfashioned seltzer bottles with the spritzers.

It was a great kid's show, just about in the boomer generation saw it.

MIGOSH! WHERE DO we begin? It's truly incredible to think of how much we really do recall about a series of so long ago. It is even more unbelievable when one considers that when we viewed much of this, the age was about 4 or 5 years old!

IT WAS AN important part of the afternoon routine at the Ryan household of 1950 (when we got our first TV set) to 1952 (we moved into our won house) and beyond. Because of this early and elementary introduction, the show and its characters had a very profound effect on our development.

ODDLY ENOUGH, DUE to our family's explanation of things, we understood that all we saw on the show was make believe. Our Mom and Dad, as well as older Sister Joanne, clued us in as to the fact that the people we saw were Actors, who portrayed the participants of the festivities on the show.

AND WHAT A GRAND cast of characters it truly was! In addition to the marionette main character, Howdy Doody, himself, there were a number of other supporting puppets. The action was provided by: Mr. Phineas T. Bluster (Howdy's elderly nemesis), Flubadub (a crazy-quilt of an animal*), Dilly Dally (a lackadaisical boy), Captain Scuttlebutt (Dilly Dally's uncle and Tugboat Operator) and others.

LIVE ACTION REAL actors who were featured mainly consisted of some whom portrayed multiple roles. For example, we have: Judy Tyler** as Indian Princess Summerfall Winterspring, Robert Keeshin (Future Captain Kangaroo) as the original Clarabelle the Clown and Chief Featherman of the Tinka-Tonka tribe (the Princess'father), with Bill Le Cornec taking the versatility honors with a triple assignment of renegade Chief Thunderthud (of the Ooragnak tribe & often ally of Mr. Bluster), Dr. Singasong (visiting 'trubador' and look alike for Mandrake the Magician) as well as Oil Well Willie (old coot of a Prospector).

THERE ARE CERTAIN incidents that we well remember, without benefit of any refresher. There was a continuity called "The Search for the Golden Goat" (a treasure hunt).

THE SHOW'S MOVING from the original Howdy Doody Circus setting to "Doodyville" was particularly memorable, if mean spirited. In it, Howdy said that Mr. Bluster could have the Circus for his own. But as that day's show was closing, a wrecking crew was "tearing down" the set! Can you say "CRUELTY?"

THE CREATOR, ONE 'Buffalo Bob' Smith served as host and did have some time off for recuperation from a heart attack (when he was temporarily replaced with one 'Bison Bill') Although Bob (born Robert Schmidt) sported a costume that was patterned after a buckskin outfit, he was not truly a man of the Old West. He derived the name from having been born and raised in Buffalo, NY!

THE ENTERPRISING AND versatile Mr. Smith also provided the voice for the wooden-headed Howdy!

NOTE: * The "Flubadub" was a combination of many animals; having the ears of a cocker spaniel, flippers of a turtle, etc. It was sort of like a fictional version of a Platypus!

NOTE ** Judy Tyler was killed in a car accident in 1957. At age 24 she was just embarking on a promising career; having just co-starred with Elvis in JAILHOUSE ROCK!

Back when Howdy Doody was aired at least you had characters that were not done up in costumes that disguise what the actors looked like as they are today.

I grew up during the early stages of children's programming on TV and watched Howdy Doody (Bob Smith), Captain Kangaroo (Bob Keeshan) and The Merry Mailman (Ray Heatherton). Now your children are watching Barney (a supposed stuffed toy who comes to life to play with the children). Does anyone know the actors name or know what he looks like?. You also are letting your children watch Bear in the Big Blue House (again, any idea who that is?). Our children, and in my case grandchildren, are watching Jim Henson-like characters in full body costumes and not seeing realistic characters who imparted the same moral standards (if not more so) on a daily basis!! I feel sorry for the person who thought that the characters on Howdy Doody were grotesque yet lets his children watch the Power Rangers and other shows that depict violence in every episode. At least those grotesque characters never threw lightning bolts, had to kick 15 ninja style characters into oblivion or otherwise teach children that violence is the only way to overcome evil.

Let me go back to the days when a children's TV host was seen as him/herself. I would be much more satisfied seeing the grandchildren learning lessons from a person rather than a purple dinosaur!!