December 27th, 1947 - The children's television program "Howdy Doody," hosted by Bob Smith, made its debut on NBC

http://www.fiftiesweb.com/tv/howdy-doody-c.jpg

"What time is it boys and girls?" "It's Howdy Doody time..."

An anniversary worth remembering. Howdy Doody pioneered TV product
merchandising (including the first comic book based on a TV show) and was
the first TV show to reach 1,000 broadcasts (on Jan. 27, 1952). The long-
running show ended on Sept. 24, 1960 after 2,343 broadcasts. In 1978, Jeff
Judson founded the Doodyville Historical Society, dedicated to keeping the
memory of Howdy alive. A monthly newsletter is published eleven times a
year. For further information, contact Jeff at: jtjudson@embarqmail.com.

Say Kids What Time Is it??? KOWABUNGA!!!!! it's Howdy Doody Time!!!!!

R.I.P. Buffalo Bob Smith, Lew Anderson, Nick Nicholson, Bill Lecornec, Judy Tyler, E. Roger Muir, Rufus Rose and Edward Kean. :rip:

Without these awesome folks, there would be no Doodyville.

Say Kids What Time Is it??? KOWABUNGA!!!!! it's Howdy Doody Time!!!!!

R.I.P. Buffalo Bob Smith, Lew Anderson, Nick Nicholson, Bill Lecornec, Judy Tyler, E. Roger Muir, Rufus Rose and Edward Kean. :rip:

Without these awesome folks, there would be no Doodyville.dont forget bob keeshan

...the show premiered as "PUPPET PLAYHOUSE" on Saturday, December 27, 1947 at 5pm(et), unsponsored- in the midst of the biggest snowstorm New York ever endured: 26 inches deep! One reason the first show was such a success was that kids whose parents HAD TV sets in the New York area were literally confined to their homes because of the massive snow, and tuned into that first episode. Bob Keeshan, who was working as an NBC page, didn't even appear on the first show because he was snowed in (his first appearance was on January 3, 1948). He was initially seen in his page uniform, mostly handing out gifts and prizes to the "Peanut Gallery", after which someone said, "Get Keeshan out of that uniform, he doesn't fit in with the show! Have him be a...clown, or something". And a clown he became...

Bob Smith was known as "Mr. Smith" during that first telecast, through early 1949 (he didn't become "Buffalo Bob" until the spring of '49)- and Howdy wasn't even ready to be seen! There hadn't been time to create a "Howdy" puppet before the first telecast, so Bob had him "hidden" in a drawer during the first few weeks of the show. By the end of January 1948, puppeteer Frank Paris created the first Howdy, which finally appeared [when Paris abruptly left the show around March, taking Howdy with him, a "new" Howdy- the one we all know- was created by Velma Dawson, which appeared around April of '48]. "PUPPET PLAYHOUSE" was initially an hour-long series on Saturdays, with Tuesday and Thursday installments added that spring. Then, it became a half-hour Monday through Friday series at 5:30pm(et) in September of '48 [the title was finally changed to "HOWDY DOODY" by mid-'49], which lasted through June 1956...after which {due to competition from "THE MICKEY MOUSE CLUB"} it became a weekly Saturday morning series at 10am(et), through its final episode on September 24, 1960.

:tv: