Buffalo Bob Smith checks his cue cards for the 40th anniversary Howdy Doody TV Special, LA, 1987
Photo by Frank Beacham
Buffalo Bob Smith, host of the Howdy Doody Show, was born 105 years ago today.
Born Robert Emil Schmidt, Smith was from Buffalo, New York. He attended Masten Park High School and got his start in late mornings at WBEN radio in Buffalo.
Smith's popularity in Buffalo won the attention of NBC, which brought him to New York after the war to host early mornings on flagship station WNBC, a post he held through the early 1950s before concentrating on television.
For a time between 1947 and 1953, he appeared mornings on WNBC even while hosting and producing the daily Howdy Doody children's show on the NBC television network in late afternoons.
Smith also was known as a singer and musician, appearing on many top shows of the time before and even after becoming nationally known for the Howdy Doody Show. At first it aired on Saturdays. Then on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays, and finally, five days a week.
Howdy Doody was successful from the beginning. It was so popular that people gathered in the streets before appliance store windows to watch it, as they did with baseball games and wrestling matches.
Howdy's popularity being what it was, it was announced in 1948 that he would run for president of all the boys and girls. Harry S. Truman also happened to be running that year, and he won the election over New York Governor Thomas E. Dewey. But Howdy Doody also got many votes.
In 1954, Smith suffered a heart attack and for a time, he did the show from a studio built in the basement of his home in Mount Vernon, N.Y. He returned to the NBC studio in 1955. The final NBC "Howdy Doody" episode aired in 1960.
Later, in 1976, Smith reunited with longtime show producer, Roger Muir, and several of the original cast to produce a new daily syndicated Howdy Doody show.
In 1970 and 1971, he embarked on a live tour of college campuses. The shows, organized by producer, Burt DuBrow, mixed nostalgia with more contemporary humor, such as Buffalo Bob finding a package of Zig Zags (rolling paper) allegedly belonging to Clarabelle.
One show, on April 4, 1971, was recorded and released as an LP, on the label "Project 3 Total Sound Stereo." It was titled, "Buffalo Bob Smith Live at Bill Graham's Fillmore East."
Smith had a summer residence in Grand Lake Stream, Maine, as well as owning radio station WQDY in Calais, Maine. He was well liked by locals, and occasionally hosted local events. He also owned WMKR (now WSYY) radio in Millinocket, Maine.
His other screen efforts include films, "Track Of Thunder" (1968), "Back To The Future III" (1990) and Problem Child 2" (1991), as Father Flanagan. He also made guest appearances on "Happy Days" and "What's My Line," as well as the television specials, "NBC's 60th Anniversary Celebration" (1986), and "It's Howdy Doody Time" (1987).
After his retirement, Smith moved to North Carolina, becoming a member of Pinecrest Associate Reformed Presbyterian Church (ARP) in Flat Rock. He made an infomercial appearance live to promote Howdy Doody Entertainment Memorabilia on July 3, 1998, on QVC. That was his last appearance.
Buffalo Bob Smith died a few weeks later on July 30, 1998, in Hendersonville, North Carolina, just three days before beloved puppeteer, Shari Lewis, whose show took over the time slot that Howdy Doody had died.
Buffalo Bob Smith: A Personal Remembrance
Laugh if you will, but you probably wouldn't be reading this column today had it not been for my childhood friends in Doodyville, USA.
I entered Howdy's television world daily and reveled in the antics of Clarabell, Phineas T. Bluster, Dilly Dally, The Flubadub, Chief Thunderthud and Corny Cobb. To me, Buffalo Bob Smith was a mentor and confidant.
And, to this day, I clearly remember those commercials: Wonder Bread, Hostess Twinkies and Cream-Filled Cupcakes, Welch's Grape Jelly and Ovaltine.
It was Howdy that drew me to work in television. One of his sponsors, Blue Bonnet Margarine, offered a paper cutout version of Howdy's characters and television studio. When assembled, one had a replica of Howdy's sets, cameras and even a boom microphone. I played with this toy for hours, "producing" make-believe Howdy shows. This led to construction of a bigger set from cardboard boxes.
My "studio" took up a whole room and was complete with a puppet stage and cardboard television cameras with lenses made from paper towel tubes. Neighborhood kids sat in the makeshift "Peanut Gallery" and we put on endless shows. From that time on, there was never any doubt that I would eventually work in film and television.
Howdy was just a warm childhood memory until November, 1983 when an article appeared in TV Guide titled, "Howdy Doody: the First Hippie." In a tongue in cheek way, the article suggested Howdy was responsible for the rebellious 1960s. Most thought it was just humor. But as happens, the story was picked up by other media and was taken seriously by many, causing an annoyed Buffalo Bob Smith to refute the "charges" on national television.
A Miami-based production company I owned at the time was summoned to Buffalo Bob's home in Ft. Lauderdale to record his response for TV's Entertainment Tonight. I've long forgotten Buffalo Bob's on-camera comments that day, but I could never forget meeting the man in person.
Buffalo Bob Smith was as charming as I remembered him from childhood. After the interview, he sat at his piano and played and sang from his Doodyville repertoire. Then, he took me into his small home office. There, in a glass box, hung the original Howdy Doody puppet. He allowed me to hold Howdy, work his strings and otherwise stand in awe of this tiny doll who so influenced my childhood.
It was pure magic. Something I will never forget.
I later moved to Los Angeles. In 1987, Fries Entertainment produced a television special there to celebrate Howdy's 40th anniversary. I was invited to be in the Peanut Gallery. This time the "Peanuts" ranged in age from two to 45. Many of the older participants brought Howdy dolls and memorabilia from their own childhood.
Buffalo Bob, who turned 70 about the time Howdy turned 40, seemed ageless as he warmed up the new Peanut Gallery. The original Howdy, Phineas T. Bluster and Dilly Dally puppets were operated from an industrial "cherrypicker" suspended high above the studio sets. The actors who originally played Clarabell, Corny Cobb and Chief Thunderthud were back in costume. As I watched these characters come back to life, it was like opening old attic trunk of toys undisturbed since childhood.
Growing up in a small South Carolina town, my first exposure to mass media was radio, magazines, phonograph records and Saturday movies. Television sets were seen only in store windows. In the late 1940's, when Buffalo Bob started his daily show, there were few television sets in the United States and no other programs for children.
On Dec. 31, 1953, the first NBC affiliate television station went on the air in my hometown. Shortly after that, my family bought its first black and white TV set.
The Howdy Doody Show began each weekday afternoon at 5:30. As a five-year-old, I was glued to the box waiting for the words: "Say Kids! What Time is It?"
Buffalo Bob on David Letterman’s Show, 1987
Buffalo Bob on What’s My Line, 1954
(Whole show — Buffalo Bob begins at 16:20 in)