I remember when a Howdy Doody puppet was put up for auction at Sotherby's years ago. A buzz went around the collectors grapevine speculating on "which" Howdy it was.
Seems that validating a Howdy Doody puppet is much like the hunt for the real Maltese Falcon.
The one pictured on this blog last Sunday has a curious pedigree. It is actually a copy taken from the original Velma Dawson Howdy Doody which is the freckled face (48 freckles on Howdy's face one for every state in the union at the time he was created). Velma's version was created after a license dispute with Frank Paris who created an older bumpkin version of Howdy for the original 50's television show.
The Howdy Doody puppet pictured Sunday was used in the Andy Kaufman 1979 television special "Andy's Funhouse". That television show was recreated in the movie "Man on the Moon" with Jim Carry. I'm not sure if this is also the puppet that was used in that film or not.
I do know that the Howdy pictured on Sunday was made by Ren`e and his Artists and approved by Velma before she died. I took that picture when Rene was showing it to her.
What I know about the 50's Howdy Doody puppets is this. There were three Howdy's created for the television show. They were identified as Howdy Doody, Double Doody and Photo Doody. Double Doody was a back up in case of a string break during a live show, and Photo Doody had no strings, it was just a poseable puppet for photos. I think it is Photo Doody that is in the Smithsonian along side my original Bob Campbell.
More information than you asked for, but sometimes we have to share what we know. This is the way we find out which mushrooms are poisonous with out dying first.
As you were,
Jay
www.monkeyjoke.com
2 comments:
Jay;
Thanks for the info on Howdy. I have a great book about the original show called" Say Kids! What time is it?" by Stephen Davis
I don't know if it is still in print was published in 1987 (time flys) Tells all about the show and the people on the show. Judy Tyler,Dayton Allen, Bob Smith, Bob Keeshan. Very interesting. One of the shows producers Roger Muir I think, owned a restaurant here in New Jersey, and one of the Howdy's spent several years in a glass case there. I believe it was "Double Doody". I wasn't aware of the one by Rene'
Jay,
Buffalo Bob had a Howdy that he took on the road when he appeared at colleges long after his retirement from TV. I don’t know the history behind his marionette, but it looked just like the one from television. Semok make a duplicate for Bob by taking a cast from the puppet. I saw a photo of the two Howdys side by side and you could hardly tell the difference. I have no idea what happened to either of those Howdys or the cast that the duplicate was made from. But it makes authenticating a Howdy even more interesting.
Dale Brown
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