Howdy Doody
Howdy Doody is an American children's television program (with circus and Western frontier themes) that was created and produced by Victor F. Campbell[1] and E. Roger Muir.[2] It was broadcast on the NBC television network in the United States from December 27, 1947, until September 24, 1960. It was a pioneer of children's programming and set the pattern for many similar shows. One of the first television series produced at NBC in Rockefeller Center, in Studio 3A,[3] it pioneered color production in 1956 and NBC (then owned by RCA Television) used the show to promote color television sets in the late 1950s.
Howdy Doody
- Buffalo Bob Smith
- Howdy Doody
United States
E. Roger Muir and Nick Nicholson
- 60 minutes (1947–1948, 1960)
- 30 minutes (1948–1960)
December 27, 1947 –
September 24, 1960
Dolls[edit]
Howdy Doody dolls were also sold commercially, as well as marionettes of Howdy Doody and Flub-a-dub. There were also two other marionettes, Don José and Hector Hamhock Bluster, brothers of Phineas T.
Replicas of Howdy[edit]
In addition to the original vintage puppets, puppetmaker Alan Semok (at the request of Bob Smith in the early 1990s) created several precise replicas of Howdy, including—thanks to improved materials and new molding techniques—a more exact marionette replica than had ever been produced, as well as a new Photo Doody which Smith used in personal appearances until his death from cancer on July 30, 1998, at the age of 80. One of Semok's marionette duplicates appears on a 2005 cover of TV Guide magazine as part of a series recreating classic covers from the magazine's history. The cover featured Howdy with TV host Conan O'Brien dressed as Buffalo Bob Smith. Another of the Semok duplicates resides in the International Museum and Library of the Conjuring Arts, the private museum owned by illusionist David Copperfield.[15]
Broadcast history[edit]
Originally an hour on Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays (at 5 p.m. Eastern), the show moved to Monday through Friday, 5:30 to 6 p.m. EST in August 1948. During part of its run, it was preceded by the 15-minute program The Gabby Hayes Show, hosted by the veteran cowboy sidekick actor George "Gabby" Hayes. In June 1956, it began to be shown on Saturdays only, in a morning time slot (10-10:30 Eastern time), continuing until its final broadcast on September 24, 1960, with the final years pre-recorded on color videotape.
Final episode[edit]
The final episode, "Clarabell's Big Surprise", was broadcast on September 24, 1960. The hour-long episode was mostly a fond look back at all the highlights of the show's past. Meanwhile, in the midst of it all, Clarabell has what he calls a "big surprise." The rest of the cast attempts to find out the surprise throughout the entire show, with only Mayor Phineas T. Bluster succeeding and promising to keep it a secret. ("But", he says upon leaving, "it's not gonna be easy to keep a secret like this!")
Finally, in the closing moments, the surprise was disclosed through pantomime to Buffalo Bob and Howdy Doody; as it turned out, Clarabell the mute clown actually could talk. Amazed, Bob frantically told Clarabell to prove it, as this was his last chance. An ominous drum roll 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." A tear could be seen in his right eye as the picture faded to black, and some children in the Peanut Gallery could faintly be heard sobbing immediately before the credits music played.
The show quietly ended with a roll of credits over an empty, darkened set as "Auld Lang Syne" was played on a Celesta, followed by an announcement that The Shari Lewis Show would be seen in its place at that time next week followed by a spot for the TV series National Velvet.
The restored color videotape of the final broadcast is available commercially.
Home media[edit]
On February 20, 2001, NBC Home Video licensed Image Entertainment to release four individual discs, each containing four episodes. These shows came from the latter part of the series run, from 1957 to 1960. One show from April 1, 1953, was also included.[29]
On November 4, 2008, Mill Creek Entertainment (under license from NBCUniversal) released Howdy Doody Show: 40 Episodes 1949–1954 on DVD in Region 1. The five-disc set features 40 of the best episodes from the series as selected by fans as well as the final color episode (also on the Image discs) and bonus features.[30]
Early episodes of Howdy Doody are available in the public domain and are online for audiences to view.
Cultural references[edit]
In the musical Little Shop of Horrors, during the song "Somewhere That's Green", the character Audrey sings, "The kids play Howdy Doody as the sun sets in the west".
Pee-wee's Playhouse drew from Howdy Doody during its successful run on CBS from 1986 to 1991.
In the 2008 film Hellboy II: The Golden Army, the character Hellboy is seen watching an episode of Howdy Doody in a flashback scene of him as a child. The show is referenced again when Hellboy encounters the titular Golden Army at the film's climax.
In "Wally's Gang", a 1989 episode of Hard Time on Planet Earth, Control shows Jesse the Howdy Doody intro as an example of Earth's "most highly revered" electronic teachers.
In the 1988 film Scrooged, Bill Murray witnesses himself as a child watching the show on Christmas Eve in the mid-1950s.
The 1990 film Back to the Future Part III features the Howdy Doody opening.
In the 2008 film Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull, Indiana Jones stumbles into a nuclear test facility where the show is playing in one of the houses. He takes cover in a refrigerator as the explosion slowly drowns out the sound of the Howdy Doody theme song.
The 1975 Chicago song Old Days (from Chicago VIII) mentions the show in the lyrics.