Howdy Doody

Chief Thunderthud was the leader of the Ooragnak tribe. It is believed that Bob Keeshan was the one who came up with that strange name for the Native American tribe by spelling "Kangaroo" backwards.

An interesting bit if trivia here is that Chief Thunderthud was the one who first used the word "Kowabonga" later made famous by the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles.

Chief Thunderchicken was played by Dayton Allen.

Princess Summerfall Winterspring first appeared on the Howdy Doody Show as a puppet, but later on they brought in Judy Tyler to play the part. Judy played the part from 1949 to 1953, Linda Marsh replaced her in 1953 and played the part of Princess Summerfall Winterspring until 1957.

Other Members:

Bison Bill - Ted Brown
Timber Tom - James Doohan and Peter Mews
Cap'n Scuttlebutt - Larry Mann
Flub-A-Dub - Rhoda Mann
La Touke & Papa - Jean Cavall
Trapper Pierre - Robert Goulet
Willow - Eric House, then Barbara Hamilton
Princess Haida - Caryl McBain
Princess Pan of the Forest - Maxine Miller Gerrard
Mary Anne Heartline played herself

Howdy Doody was introduced for the first time on The Triple B Ranch Show, which was a radio program. On the program he was called Elmer and he greeted everyone by saying, "Howdy Doody!"

When the program first aired it was named The Puppet Playhouse. It wasnt until 1949 that the name was changed to The Howdy Doody Show.

Howdy Doody was the first television program to be produced in color.

The Howdy Doody marionette didn't actually appear on the first episode. The creators of the puppet experienced some delays so Buffalo Bob had to "make believe" that Howdy Doody was in a box.

Clarabell was a mute who's only method of communication was honking the horns he carried on his belt and squirting people with his seltzer water.

The original Clarabell the Clown was played by Bob Keeshan, who later became Captain Kangaroo. In 1953 Bob left the program and Bobby Nicholson took his place until Lew Anderson took over as Clarabell.

As an interesting note Clarabell the Clown did actually speak on one episode of the Howdy Doody Show. It was the last show to be produced, at the end of that last episode Clarabell said, "Goodbye kids."

Clarabell was: Bob Keeshan 1947 to 1953, Gil Lamb 1 episode in 1953, Bobby Nicholson 1953 to 1955, Lew Anderson 1955 to 1957

Buffalo Bob Smith had a heart attack in 1954 and was forced to take a break from the show while he recovered at home.

During his "vacation" NBC used several different guests including Gabby Hayes (pictured on right) to host the show in his place. Allen Swift was brought in to do the voice of Howdy Doody while Bob was away.

Viewers were told that Buffalo Bob had went on a vacation trip to take a break in Pioneer Village. However, the advertisers were not happy with this so NBC actually created a small studio at Bob's home so that he could still do the advertisements.

Bob returned to the Howdy Doody Show in 1955.

Buffalo Bob started off the song with the question, "Say kids, what time is it"?
The kids replied, "It's Howdy Doody Time"!
Then the song began:

It's Howdy Doody Time.
It's Howdy Doody Time.
Bob Smith and Howdy Do
say Howdy Do to you.

Let's give a rousing cheer,
'cause Howdy Doody's here,
It's time to start the show,
so kids let's go!