Episode 7.5: Howdy Doody (April 1948)
We flash back to an early, terrifying version of Howdy Doody
What I watched: An early episode of Howdy Doody, hosted by Buffalo Bob Keeshan, who also did the voice of Howdy. The video of this episode, posted on the wilds of Facebook video, lists it as airing on December 27, 1947, but based on the current events referenced in the episode (the baseball season, presidential campaign and birth of David Eisenhower) it likely aired sometime in April 1948, at 5:00 pm on NBC.
What happened: Howdy Doody, here a terrifying-looking and much more deep-voiced clown puppet, greets the audience. Bob welcomes us to tune in every Tuesday at 5, and leads the audience in a somewhat hesitant chorus of “Howdy Doody Time.” The song is unfamiliar enough that they need to put up lyrics. Bob makes reference to the Giants losing, which at this point is probably a reference to New York baseball instead of football.
The set is also much simpler, with a “Howdy Doody for President” backdrop. Howdy introduces a “newsreel” with a kid-friendly version of real news, including Dwight Eisenhower having a grandchild (based on the time period it’s David Eisenhower, who would go on to have Camp David named after him and marry Richard Nixon’s daughter), kids going on vacation in Germany, and a boxing demonstration from the Navy featuring children trying to punch each others’ lights out. Thankfully this feature of the show didn’t make it to the Korean War.
Howdy starts fiddling with his Doohickey, which at this point is just a box with a light on it. Howdy needs an extra inch of space to fix the box, and Buffalo Bob enlists the kids to help find it. Bob walks into the crowd, with the boys all dressed in ball uniforms and the girls all in old-fashioned dresses. This is probably normal dress for the 40s, but today it has strong Mormon cult vibes. Bob has a ukelele (hipster) and leads them in a sing-along of “take them out to the ball-game. A clown named “Robby” brings in peanuts for the boys and cracker jacks for the girls. Bob quizzes the kids on the different baseball positions, and seems very happy about tricking them on a question about left-handed pitchers. We find that the scores between the boys and girls are conveniently tied.
The phone rings, and it’s Howdy Doody. He makes sure to mention that Alexander Graham Bell invented the telephone, which he learned from Bob’s morning radio show, and asks Bob to vote for him in the upcoming Presidential election. They start talking about ears of corn, and the picture breaks up on this Kinescope.
What I thought: The early 1948 version of Howdy Doody is practically unrecognizable from what the show would be just two years later, and a big part of that is how unrecognizable Howdy himself is. This is the original puppet, which was designed to look more like a clown, and he is creepy as hell. In addition to the alarming design, the character of Howdy also seems very different, acting older and more independent than the basically boy-like Howdy we see in later episodes. Bob Smith also didn’t seem to quite have the Howdy voice down, as the puppet speaks much closer to Bob’s own voice here. I think some of the more grown-up and mischievous elements of Howdy would later be transferred over to Clarabell, who isn’t here, although a “Robby the Clown” is.
This version of the show also seems to rely a lot more on interaction between Buffalo Bob and the audience. There’s a whole segment with no sign of puppets or colourful characters that instead seems like a less demanding version of Quiz Kids. Bob’s interactions with Howdy aren’t the meat of the show but rather bookends around more straightforward educational kid’s programming. It’s easy to see why the show changed – this isn’t exactly riveting TV, for kids or adults – but this is also a version of Howdy Doody that would have been easier to sell to regulators and sponsors as a public good.
The semi-educational feeling extends to the “newsreel” segment. In a sense it’s a kid’s view of the world, but most of it is B-reel of people vacationing and playing. This would eventually evolve into the parts of the show with old silent comedies, with largely the same purpose of taking up time with pre-existing film. Buffalo Bob never got much better about adding to what’s going on in the films instead of just awkwardly describing it.
This version of Howdy Doody was the benefactor of a fortunate accident when the original Howdy puppet was stolen (who would want it?), forcing them to create a new, more appealing puppet that was only a little creepy. It was also fortunate that TV was still in a fairly experimental era where you could basically get on the air if you wanted to. It’s hard to imagine this awkward version of Howdy Doody surviving long enough to find its legs in a later era. But survive it did, and within a few years it would become the top children’s show on TV.
Coming up next: We return to 1950 with an ordinary day for Kukla, Fran and Ollie.