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.

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."

  

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