Hey, kids...what time is it? In 1949, this signaled the start of the NBC Television
Network broadcast day at 5PM and the beginning of arguably the pioneer children's show,
Howdy Doody. It first was run as a "strip," meaning Monday through Friday from 5PM
to 6PM, John Cameron Swayze's fifteen minutes of news followed.
RATE HOWDY DOODY
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Bob Keeshan originally played Clarabelle, the "silly clown" until he sold his more eloquent
Captain Kangaroo show idea to rival CBS to strip mornings at 8AM once the big city
television stations decided their huge vacuum (klystron) tube transmitters were stable enough to run more hours per day.
Howdy was unceremoniously shifted to the Saturday morning kiddie staple time slot in 1952 and
a short time after that bandleader Lew Ayers donned the Clarabelle suit and box with horn.
Clarabelle, until the final show in 1957, never talked, only honked. Smith unsuccessfully tried
to revive the show in syndication, attaining no vital New York outlet, only burgeoning UHF
stations such as WTAF-TV channel 29 in Philadelphia. The color re-make barely made it
to one season.
Smith's marionette characterizations, aside from the bounce-walking Howdy (whose trot was
hillariously mocked by Gilda Radner on SNL's first season) included a Goofy-like dog-like
Flub-a-Dub and crabby, stuttering mayor Phineas T. Bluster Live American Indian characters .
in latter episodes named Chief Thunderthud and Princess Summerfallwinterspring brought
disdain in markets such as the Dakotas. While children loved the show, some educational
groups critiqued antics such as Clarabelle's seltzer bottle squirting as a not good role
model for children. As a result, Smith retired the clown's supply of seltzer and the
show reduced it's "shtick." Problem was, this reduced ratings as the kiddie set
gravitated to bang-em over the head cartoons indie stations played against Doodyville.
Keeshan's Captain Kangaroo set the stage for quality children's program with a slant
on beginning education. As the networks pooh-poohed this, the Kang inspired
public broadcasting to create shows such as "Sesame Street" and
"The Electric Company."
Viewer Comments
tbjohncb, IL Brings back lots of memories.
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