Historical Treasure: 'It's Howdy Doody time every day at 'Jimmie’s Toy Mart'

“It’s Howdy Doody Time!”  Howdy Doody, Buffalo Bob, Clarabelle the Clown burst on the American television screen on the NBC network as “The Howdy Doody Show” in 1947 and captured the hearts of America’s “Baby Boomers.” The time was ripe for the show’s production as the TV industry was booming following the end of WWII, and the television set was the newest and most coveted item in the American home. The show had circus and western frontier themes, and a host of memorable characters who lived in the fictional town of “Doodyville.” The show was a pioneer in children’s programming and established some firsts for a television show using color, music and a live audience on the set called, “The Peanut Gallery.”

Howdy Doody debuted as a voice performed by Buffalo Bob Smith on his radio program on WNBC, and later was given form as a marionette by Frank Paris as a red-haired, freckle-faced boy with 48 freckles, one for each state of the union at the time of his creation. Howdy Doody and Buffalo Bob both wore western attire on the show. Howdy’s name was derived from the American expression “howdy doody/howdy do,” from the phrase “How do you do,” used in the Western U.S. Clarabelle the Clown was mute and originally played by Bob Keeshan, later Captain Kangaroo. The show spawned a demand for licensed merchandise, including books, toys, cereals and food products, puppets and more.

Although Frank Paris created the Howdy Doody marionette, Buffalo Bob owned the rights to the character and tugs-of-war were frequent regarding ownership. Buffalo Bob called the original Howdy “the ugliest puppet imaginable” after a feud with Paris, and a more handsome and appealing Howdy Doody than Paris’s design was created about 1948 by Disney animator Mel Shaw. Howdy Doody had a stand-in puppet named “Double Doody” which is housed at the Smithsonian. The Detroit Institute of Arts has custody of the original Howdy.

The Howdy Doody Show ceased production in 1960, but in 1976 a new Howdy Doody Show debuted. However, it too was cancelled six months later.

“Jimmie’s Toy Mart,” where the marionette is displayed at the Vigo County History Center, replicates a 1940s local market owned by Jimmie Farah. Farah opened his grocery in 1948 and soon added toys to his merchandise to become Terre Haute’s first toy store.

The Vigo County Historical Museum in the History Center is open 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Tuesday through Saturday. Visit https://www.vchsmuseum.org/ or call 812-235-9717 for information on admission tickets, upcoming events, and museum membership.