A whole generation of Americans still knows it by heart: A man shouts, “Hey, kids, what time is it?” And several dozen children shout back in chaotic unison, “It’s Howdy Doody time!” And then, they all break into song:
“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!”
That’s how “Howdy Doody”, NBC-TV’s hit children’s show, began every day from its debut in 1947, moving to five days a week in 1948 and to six days a week in 1956, right through to the series finale in 1960. And through it all, the show’s cheerful and energetic host was a Buffalonian, aptly named Buffalo Bob Smith. The whole show was his idea, and the fact that he called himself Buffalo Bob led the show to be set in the West. Buffalo Bob always wore a fringed jacket, and Howdy, the 27-inch-tall marionette voiced by Smith, was a red-headed boy in dungarees who had 48 freckles---one for every state in the union at the time.
Smith presided over a sprawling cast of characters, puppets and human beings alike, as Howdy embarked on adventure after adventure. Sometimes the storylines were cooked up on the spot, such as when the head puppeteer walked off the show in a last-minute salary dispute. Bufalo Bob covered up be saying that Howdy was off campaigning for President of the Boys and Girls of America, which in turn set the stage for several days of useful lessons about U.S. geography. No matter what, Buffalo Bob was ever the unflappable, genial host, always ready with a song.
The man who would become famous as Buffalo Bob Smith was born Robert Emil Schmidt in 1917 on Buffalo’s East Side. His father was a carpenter and ex-coal miner. His mother encouraged him to learn the piano and the organ; he started taking lessons at age 4. Schmidt, who had two brothers and a sister, grew up at 21 Wende Street, a block west of Bailey, just north of Genesee, and went to P.S. 53 at Roehrer and Winslow. Later he attended Masten Park High School.
By the age of 15, Schmidt---now calling himself Smiling Bob Smith---was an accomplished enough musician to land a gig on WGR radio as a singing pianist and host. He also helped form a Country & Western musical group called the Hi Hatters, which featured the future comedian Foster Brooks, who became famous in the 1970s for his “lovable drunk” schtick. One day, while playing in Buffalo, the singer Kate Smith heard the Hi Hatters on the radio and hired them as hosts and musicians for her national vaudeville act. Smith was only 17.
By the time he was in his early 20s, Smith was an experienced musician, radio personality, and host. His laid-back, friendly persona made him a popular figure on WGR- so much so that WBEN poached him in 1943, when the host of its popular mid-morning show, the future TV star Jack Paar, got drafted. Sure enough, Smith’s ratings swamped the competition. His WBEN program was “Early Date at Hengerer’s”, a variety show broadcast from the eighth-floor tea room at the Main Street department store and co-hosted with the longtime local radio personality Clint Buehlman.
The success of that show caught the attention of NBC execs in New York City, and in 1947, they hired him away from Buffalo to do a children’s radio show. That marked the birth of the Howdy Doody character… originally a country bumpkin who introduced himself by saying, “Howdy Doody, Mr. Smith!” In December of that year, Smith made his TV debut, and a puppet was made to personify the character he’d invented. That soon became the “Howdy Doody” show, the first children’s program to be nationally telecast.
And Howdy’s distinctive look? Well, it was supposedly inspired by a caricature of Buffalo Bob’s sister, Esther. At the time, she worked in the drapery department at Sattler’s on Broadway, and the resemblance was said to be so strong that Howdy became known as her "unofficial puppet twin".
Given his background, it’s not at all surprising that Buffalo Bob Smith became such a well-loved TV personality. Indeed, for all 13-plus years that “Howdy Doody” was on the air, Buffalo Bob invariably treated kids in the audience with respect and encouragement… whether they were on set in the “Peanut Gallery” or watching at home. That simple but important quality, perhaps more than anything else, provided the template for so many of the great children’s shows that followed: “Captain Kangaroo”; “Kukla, Fran and Ollie”; “The Shari Lewis Show”; “Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood”, “Pee-Wee’s Playhouse”, even “Rocketship 7” and “Commander Tom”.
His popularity never really waned among the kids who grew up with him. In the 1970s, he appeared on a popular episode of “Happy Days” and, soon after, a revival, “The New Howdy Doody Show”, aired for a 130-episode run. Buffalo Bob and Howdy also did popular tours of college campuses. In 1987, they starred in NBC’s two-hour 40th-anniversary special.
In 1998, at age 80, Buffalo Bob Smith passed away, one of the most beloved figures in the history of television. His obituary in The New York Times remembered him as “a big man with an easy smile who almost always wore a fringed cowboy outfit”. At first, it went on, Howdy called him ”Mr. Smith", but as the years progressed, he became known to one and all as Buffalo Bob, a name that had nothing to do with the Wild West, but rather, with his hometown.
Cast (in order of appearance):
Excerpt from “Howdy Doody” telecast on NBC, Oct. 1, 1952 (via goldenclassictv on YouTube).
Narrator: Susan Banks
Script: Jeff Z. Klein
Sound recording: Charles Gilbert
Sound editing: Micheal Peters
Produced by the Niagara Frontier Heritage Project
Associate producer: Karl-Eric Reif
Webpage written by Jeff Z. Klein (Niagara Frontier Heritage Project)
Special thanks to:
Kathryn Larsen, vice president, content distribution, Buffalo Toronto Public Media
S.J. Velasquez, director of audio strategy, Buffalo Toronto Public Media
Jerry Urban, senior radio broadcast engineer
Councilmember Mitch Nowakowski and the Buffalo Common Council for their generous support