Photo Doody (Howdy) - The TV Show

The TV Show

The half-hour Howdy Doody Show was the first children's program to appear on TV. The pioneering show set the pattern for many children's programs. A near-record 2,343 episodes aired during its 13-year NBC national TV stint from 1947 to 1960. During the show's heyday, Howdy received 1,500 pieces of mail a week.

The program's host, Buffalo Bob Smith created the Howdy character for radio and performed the voice of Howdy on television. Actual fabrication of the various Howdy puppets fell to the show's props and puppetry specialists: Rufus Rose, Velma Wayne Dawson, and Scott Brinker.

The show was among the first color TV productions —in part to promote the sale of color television sets (NBC, which aired the show, was owned by TV-maker RCA). Beginning in 1950, the NBC test pattern featured a picture of Howdy. Photo Doody was the model for the NBC test pattern.

With hundreds of thousands of children in the television viewing audience glued to their TV sets at 5:30 p.m. weekdays, each show opened with Buffalo Bob asking —"Say, kids, what time is it?" The children in the studio audience "peanut gallery" responded in unison, "It's Howdy Doody time!"

Buffalo Bob Smith did commercials for Wonder Bread, Campbell Soup, Hostess Twinkies and other sponsors that were new to television; it taught marketers the strength of marketing to children.