The Howdy Doody Show (1947–1960)
"Puppet Playhouse" (original title)

Creator:

E. Roger Muir

Stars:

Bob Smith, Nick Nicholson, Bill LeCornec

Nominated for 2 Primetime Emmys. Another 1 win.

Cast

Series cast summary:
Bob Smith	...	Buffalo Bob (7 episodes, 1955-1960)
Nick Nicholson		(3 episodes, 1958-1960)
Bill LeCornec	...	Chief Thunderthud (3 episodes, 1958-1960)
Lew Anderson	...	Clarabell the Clown (3 episodes, 1958-1960)
Rufus Rose		(3 episodes, 1958-1960)

Storyline

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Plot Keywords:

marionette | rocket | clown

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Genres:

Family

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Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

27 December 1947 (USA)

Also Known As:

Howdy Doody

Company Credits

Production Co:

National Broadcasting Company (NBC)

Technical Specs

Runtime:

30 min 30 min (2343 episodes)

Sound Mix:

Mono

Color:

Color (1955-1960) Black and White (1947-1955)

Aspect Ratio:

1.33 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

The series finale appears as a 'bonus' disc in the recently released DVD collection of 40 installments, and differs from all the other chapters (which are on kinescope), as it is the only one in color and on videotape. Tape technology was still in its infancy at the time of this 1960 broadcast (color tape was only two years old), and the network took the opportunity to make it a special event: expanding the normally 30-minute show to a full hour, and introducing the finale with the still new animated NBC peacock- with some original lyrics sung by the 'Howdy Doody' puppets for the 'NBC chimes' jingle.

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Quotes

[final episode. Clarabell speaks for the only time in the show's history]
Clarabell the Clown: Goodbye, kids.

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Connections

Referenced in Who's the Boss?: Sam Accelerates (1990)

User Reviews

'What Time Is It, Kids? It's Howdy Doody Time!'

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.