August 9, 2016

Something Wonderful: The Last 2 Minutes of the Last Howdy Doody Show

If you were raised on this ancient afternoon series of televised myths and tales [1947 to 1960].... and you grew too old for this last look, all you have to know is.... Clarabelle speaks his first and only line in the history of the program.

Posted by gerardvanderleun at August 9, 2016 6:29 PM
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"It is impossible to speak in such a way that you cannot be misunderstood." -- Karl Popper N.B.: Comments are moderated and may not appear immediately. Comments that exceed the obscenity or stupidity limits will be either edited or expunged.

"...Goodbye, kids..."

(FADEOUT)

Auld Lang Syne plays.

That was a heart breaker.

Posted by: Mumblix Grumph at August 10, 2016 4:20 AM

And Kukla, Fran and Ollie, and Kaptain Kangaroo, and Big Brother Bob Emery (local Boston):

A toast to the President (Ike, in milk).

Posted by: bob sykes at August 10, 2016 4:55 AM

My kids missed all that. We didn't have a TV in the house until '66. Fortunately, the oldest (now 60) pretty much taught herself to read off cereal boxes, milk cartons, magazines etc. when about four, and was inclined to teach her siblings as they came along. All six are still heavy readers and very light TV watchers, although several have succumbed in their old age to things like texting and Facebook.

Posted by: BillH at August 10, 2016 6:31 AM

Seems like another age and time. Living today, that past seems to never have existed. Never did like lambchop and was on the cusp of captain kangaroo. I was more a 70s-80s latchkey kid with three channels on uhf/vhf. The Marxists are scrubbing our history and tradition as we speak. How does it go, those that control the present rewrite/control the past? I cling to the past since I don't recognize today or where we're heading tomorrow.

Posted by: Frogdaddy at August 10, 2016 6:48 AM

It feels like Uncle Sam and Lady Liberty are saying that to us all today...
Christ too, I guess.
Not their fault.
"Americans" have tuned them out.
Raising my kids American, old-school.
No computer or video games, minimal TV in our home.
And they love to read, and play outside, and work hard.
I can only hope that the propaganda and reeducation attempts don't find cracks in their armor...

Posted by: UncleJefe at August 10, 2016 7:54 AM

I too have pleasant memories of my 60's-era childhood TV shows and the innocence that we lived in, but as I look back at that video, that last minute has a creepy, in a John-Wayne-Gacy style of creepy, feel to it.

Posted by: azlibertarian at August 10, 2016 9:40 AM

Creepy? No comment.

I seem to remember sitting and watching a 'test pattern' while waiting for Howdy Doody. Those TV actors really had to hump; all live, short commercials and live animals meant moist poop on the floor.
What was that bit about, "The generation that watched 'Captain Kangeroo' and 'Father knows best' still produced Mai Lai and Kent State; what will the generation that grew up on the violent and sexier fare of 'Madonna', Rap and the 'Saw' movies bring us?"

Posted by: John the River at August 10, 2016 4:13 PM

In color for cryin' out loud, in color! I was more of a Major Mudd guy, myself, until my Mother put an end to that (and the Three Stooges). If the weather was right, and we could pull the Boston stations, well...

Posted by: Will at August 10, 2016 5:50 PM

Was Clarabelle any relation to John Goodman??

Posted by: leelu at August 10, 2016 6:20 PM

Clarabelle was played by Bob Keeshan, who later went on to play Captain Kangaroo.

They don't make 'em like that anymore.

Posted by: Grizzly at August 10, 2016 6:32 PM

We didn't get Howdy Doody in Oz, but we did get the Shari Lewis show, with my favourite, Lamb Chop!

Posted by: Brett_McS at August 11, 2016 4:19 AM

Back in western Iowa on a rainy day in 1955, my father and I came over the hill in our '54 Ford pickup. "So," he asked, "what do you notice that's different today?" View was the farmhouse, calf pasture, lane and garage. What was he talking about?? "Look on the roof," he said softly. ??!!?? An antenna! A TV antenna!! My 7-year-old brain was spinning---we got television! Television! And from playing after school at my friend's house in town, I knew that Howdy Doody came on at 4:00 p.m. Dashing through sheets of rain, I scrambled in the house, leaving wet footprints everywhere. There it was: a blonde cabinet Setchell & Carlson TV. I twisted the channel selector to "6" in Omaha and turned the antenna with indistinct figures materializing in the wavy snow. And there they all were: Buffalo Bob, Howdy, Indian Princess, Mr. Phineas T. Bluster. One of the high spots of my childhood.

Posted by: NeeNee at August 12, 2016 2:49 PM

I'll be there for you .

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