Recently television fans lost two of their most treasured stars: "Buffalo Bob" Smith and Robert Young. Smith, as most any baby boomer can tell you, hosted the immensely popular children¹s series HOWDY DOODY in the '40s and '50s. Young starred in two classic television series, FATHER KNOWS BEST and MARCUS WELBY, MD.
Buffalo Bob Smith, who died this past week at age 80, began his career on radio. His first big radio series was called TRIPLE B RANCH. HOWDY DOODY, in fact, evolved from a character on that radio series called Elmer. He was a puppet who would always greet Smith by saying, "howdy doody." The audience soon came to calling elmer HOWDY DOODY and a television legend was soon born.
The HOWDY DOODY series debuted on NBC in 1947. It featured both human and imaginary characters including the lovable but silent Clarabell the Clown, Princess Summerfall Winterspring and Chief Thunderthud, an official representative of the "Ooragnak" Indian nation (Kangaroo spelled backwards).
Children from ages 3 to 8 would sit in the Peanut Gallery each day. When Buffalo Bob would ask, "Hey kids, what time is it?" they¹d shout back, "It¹s Howdy Doody time." Soon afterward, Buffalo Bob and the kids would break into a chorus of the show¹s theme song, which many baby boomers can still sing today.
HOWDY DOODY was one of the first children¹s shows that tried to teach simple lessons like the importance of being nice to everyone or to brush your teeth after every meal. It may seem trite by today¹s standards, but the show was a huge hit in its day. The beauty of the show was in its simplistic but honest approach and the lighthearted fun had by all who watched.
Robert Young, who was 90 when he recently passed away, had many movie roles but was best remembered for his work in television. He was one of those rare actors who was identified with not one but two classic television series - FATHER KNOWS BEST and MARCUS WELBY, MD.
FATHER KNOW BEST first debuted on radio. Young was the only member of the radio cast who made the transition to television when the series debuted on CBS on October 3, 1954. During its run from 1954 to 1963 the series had the distinction of being one of the few series to run at one time or another on all three of the major networks.
