Howdy Doody

Howdy Doody was a children's television program (with a decidedly frontier/western theme, although other themes also colored the show) that aired on NBC from 1947 through 1960. It was a pioneer in children's programming and set the pattern for many similar shows. It was also a pioneer in early color production as NBC used the show in part to sell color television sets in the 1950s.

Characters

Howdy Doody himself was a freckle-faced boy marionette, and was originally voiced by Bob Smith. Other puppet characters included Heidi Doody (Howdy's sister), Phineas T. Bluster, Dilly Dally, Princess Summerfall Winterspring, and the curious Flub-a-Dub (a combination of eight animals -- a duck's bill, a cat's whiskers, a spaniel's ears, a giraffe's neck, a dachshund's body, a seal's flippers, a pig's tail, and an elephant's memory).

The show's host was Bob Smith (Born November 27, 1917 and died July 30, 1998), who was dubbed "Buffalo Bob" early in the show's run. Smith wore cowboy garb, and the name of the puppet "star" was derived from the western U.S. expression "howdy do," a familiar form of the greeting "How Do You Do?" The name was the source of some childish crude humor, as "doody" was also a familiar child's euphemism for defecation.

There also were several human characters, most notably the mute Clarabell the Clown, who communicated by honking horns on his belt and squirting seltzer, and Chief Thunderthud, head of the Ooragnak tribe of Native Americans, who originated the cry "Kowabonga!". Princess Summerfall Winterspring, originally a puppet, was later played by the actress Judy Tyler. The characters inhabited the fictional town of "Doodyville".

Clarabell was first played by Bob Keeshan, who continued in that role until 1952. Keeshan later became Captain Kangaroo. At the end of the final episode, aired September 24, 1960, Clarabell (then played by Lew Anderson) broke his series-long silence to say the final words of the final broadcast: "Goodbye, kids". Lew Anderson followed Bobby Nicholson, who also played Doodyville's J. Cornelius Cobb.

Popularity

The show was extremely popular and is a fond memory for many baby boomers. Originally an hour on Saturdays, the show moved to Monday through Friday, 5:30-6:00 pm EST in 1948. In 1956, it returned to Saturday in a morning timeslot. Beginning in 1954, the NBC test pattern featured a picture of Howdy.

Live audience participation

A distinctive feature was the peanut gallery, on-stage bleachers seating about 40 kids. Each show began with buffalo Bob asking, "Say kids, what time is it?" and the kids yelling in unison, "It's Howdy Doody Time!". Then the kids all sang the show's theme song (set to the tune of "Ta-ra-ra Boom-de-ay"). It was thus one of the first shows to make audience participation a major part.

Smith's absence

In 1954, Bob Smith suffered a heart attack and was ordered to recover at home. NBC managed to keep the show going with guest hosts, including Gabby Hayes and Ted Brown as "Bison Bill," explaining that Smith was vacationing at "Pioneer Village."[1] While kids were generally satisfied with the explanation, show sponsors insisted that they wanted Smith himself to hawk their products. In response, NBC set up a special studio at Smith's home so that he could appear live "from Pioneer Village" in order to do commercials. During Smith's absence from the show, Howdy was voiced by the well known NY voice actor Allen Swift, the "Man Of A Thousand Voices". Swift continued to voice the character for a short time even after Bob Smith's return to the show.

Show changes in later years

In 1954, Canadian and Cuban spin-off shows were licensed using local casts and duplicate puppets.

A then unknown Canadian actor named William Shatner (who would later play Captain Kirk in Star Trek) appeared occasionally as a fill-in host on the Canadian show as "Ranger Bill." Coincidentally, another future Star Trek actor would join the Canadian Howdy Doody show's cast. The Canadian show starred James Doohan and later Peter Mews as forest ranger Timber Tom who corresponded to Buffalo Bob in the U.S. version. That Robert Goulet played this part is an error which sometimes appears (it is listed among his credits on the official Robert Goulet website in his TV-Ography- #31-1957, and was also mentioned by Buffalo Bob Smith at one of his concerts). However, Goulet may have also been an occasional fill-in host. The Canadian show appeared much more low-budget than the U.S. counterpart and seemed watered-down, with less raucous plots and less villainous villains. Yet some of the stories were evocative nonetheless, almost stepping into high fantasy, often with Dilly Dally as an everyman hero who muddled through and did the right thing.

The American program was prerecorded on color videotape in the final years, one of the earliest programs to use that technology.

The last episode aired on September 24, 1960, featured Clarabell attempting to pass a message to the cast throughout the entire show. In the closing moments, the message was finally read by Buffalo Bob. "Why, I can't believe it!" Bob exclaimed. "Clarabell can talk! Is this true?" Clarabell nodded. "Well", Bob continued, gently shaking the clown's shoulders, "Go ahead. Say something!". A drumroll began as Clarabell faced the camera as it came in for an extreme closeup. His lips quivered as the drumroll continued. When it stopped, Clarabell simply said softly "Goodbye, kids", and the picture faded to black. Lew Anderson's (Clarabell's) genuine tears upon delivering the only line Clarabell ever spoke in 13 years, made this one of the most poignant moments in television history. The recently discovered and restored color videotape of the final broadcast is now available commercially.

The New Howdy Doody Show, an attempt by Buffalo Bob and most of the old cast to recreate their past fame, aired from August 1976 to January 1977 in syndication. For this incarnation of the series, which lasted for 130 episodes, the Howdy Doody marionette had actual hair in a contemporary 1970s style. Cast members included Bill LeCornec as fictional producer Nicholson Muir (named for the production company of Bob Nicholson and Roger Muir); Nicholson himself as Corny Cobb (now working as a "prop man" rather than a shopkeeper), bandleader Jackie Davis, and Marilyn Patch as Happy Harmony (filling in for the Princess Summerfall Winterspring role). Lew Anderson returned as Clarabell.

A decade later, the show celebrated its fortieth anniversary with a two-hour syndicated TV special, It's Howdy Doody Time: A 40-Year Celebration, featuring Smith, Anderson and LeCornec, who reprised his former role of Chief Thunderthud for the special.

Pop references

During the second season of Happy Days. episode 33, Buffalo Bob and Clarabell have to persuade Richie to destroy a photo of Clarabell without his makeup on.

In an episode of the Television show The Nanny, entitled "Lamb chops on the menu" Fran makes the joke "If Lamb Chop had Married Howdy Doody her name would be Lamb Doody"

Cheech Marin (of Cheech and Chong) once raised the question, "Does Howdy Doody have wooden balls?"

Woody from Toy Story is to some extent based on Howdy Doody.

In the first season of South Park, in the "Pink Eye" episode. When Stan comes dressed as Raggedy Andy, Cartman asks: "Who are you supposed to be? Howdy Doody?"

The TV show Howdy Doody wakes up Doc in Back to the Future Part III.

On the early '80s late-night comedy series Fridays, there was a running gag in which Howdy Doody was so famous that he could cut in line in front of absolutely anyone, no matter how famous they also were. Former Fridays cast member Michael Richards once used the catchphrase for these sketches—"Right this way, Mr. Doody"—on an episode of Seinfeld.

In one episode of The Simpsons, Abe Simpson tries to implicate several of his friends as being members of a Communist party, one of which is Howdy Doody, at the Joe McCarthy communist witch-hunt of the 1950s. Of course, this is a mixed reference referring to the Hollywood investigation which involved the House of Representatives, of which Senator McCarthy had no part.

In the film King of New York, Laurence Fishburne's character Jimmy Jump says, "Why don't you bring Howdy Doody and the Chocolate Wonder?", a sarcastic reference to Dennis Gilley's (David Caruso) bright red hair.

In an episode of The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air Will Smith makes a remark about Uncle Phil's assiant saying "Hey look a black Howdy Doody".

Mentioned in the song "Somewhere That's Green" from the musical version of Little Shop of Horrors.