| I MET MY HERO -- BUFFALO BOB SMITH OF HOWDY DOODY "Hey kids, WHAT TIME IS IT?" |
| When I was in the third grade, about 1955, my class got out for the day at 3:15 pm. I'd run to get home, because at 3:30 pm, on NBC-TV, live from New York, was the Howdy Doody show! It was exciting -- Buffalo Bob and Howdy Doody, along with Phineous T. Bluster, Dilly Dally, Flub-a-dub, Princess SummerfallWinterspring, and of course, the funniest of all, Clarabelle the clown, coming to us LIVE from Doodyville in New York! For those of you of younger vintage, let me explain "Howdy Doody" to you. It was the first TV network kids show. It was on from 1947 to 1960. TV came to the Midwest in 1952, so those early years were just a few TV sets on the East coast. Howdy Doody himself was a stringed puppet who looked an awful lot like Conan O'Brien. But the big star was Buffalo Bob Smith -- he had a background as a radio announcer and as a piano and organ player in a big band. The early Howdy Doody shows were sort of a Romper Room format, with Buffalo Bob playing games with the kids and such, it was a daily half hour show that turned into more of a puppet variety show with some sort of story plot running through the week. The success of the show was phenomenal -- it was the first network TV show to broadcast in Color -- and every baby boomer can tell you Howdy Doody memories. Why was it so successful? Two Reasons -- 1. In those days, there wasn't much else on TV to watch. Maybe two other channels. So the choice was clear -- either Howdy Doody, Soupy Sales or Fran and Ollie! 2. Buffalo Bob Smith. This guy was incredible, he had a very strong personality, and you just knew things were in control when Buffalo Bob was around. He was a "surrogate father" to many of the viewers. You KNEW he was your friend. He'd play the piano and sing songs about looking both ways before crossing the street and such. Sometimes Clarabelle the Clown would chase him around the studio trying to squirt him with seltzer water. Bob Smith was born and grew up in Buffalo, New York, hence his first name. The show went off in 1960 -- by then, it was a weekly Saturday show shot on tape. Bob Smith then went into other various business interests, he owned some radio stations and such, but was off of TV. In about 1970 a college invited Bob Smith to do a show for them -- put on his Buffalo Bob costume, and talk about the show -- including playing some piano. That show was a big success -- and Smith then traveled the country doing college shows, with college kids singing the "Clarabelle Song" by heart! It's really something to see some of the old film clips where Buffalo Bob walks out in front of a thousand college age kids, yelling, "Hey Kids, WHAT TIME IS IT?" and the loudest "IT'S HOWDY DOODY TIME!" that you ever heard! OK, now that you've heard my rambling intro, let's get to ME and Buffalo Bob -- he was my hero for several reasons -- I grew up going to a church and school in Denver called Emmaus Lutheran Church LCMS. Buffalo Bob always had sort of a Christian attitude about him -- on Fridays at the end of the Howdy Doody show, he'd do a voiceover on the closing credits, "You know kids, we live in a nation of religious freedom, and we can take advantage of that freedom to worship, don't forget to go to Sunday School!" I later found out that Bob Smith was active in the Lutheran Church, LCMS. And he was confirmed at a church in Buffalo New York called "Emmaus Lutheran Church"! And he was an organist and choir director at various churches in his life. In my mind, that sort of made Bob Smith "family". If I were to actually meet him, would he be the same nice guy that I pictured him as? I found out.... In 1976 the "Howdy Doody Show" was revived on syndicated TV for a year. It was taped in Florida, where Bob lived in the Winter months. "Howdy" had longer hair for the 70's, but the "Hippie Howdy" didn't quite go over as well as the original version! The parents sat with the kids in the peanut gallery this time. I was working at KDKO radio in the 70's, and the DJs got a press invitation to meet Buffalo Bob, who was in Denver promoting the show. It was at a steakhouse on South Sheridan in Denver. So, I and another DJ, "Jim", took off one afternoon and went there to see what would happen. It was in a banquet room area of this restaurant, with booths on the side. Maybe about 20 other newsmen from the various radio and TV stations in town. So, the big guy himself was there posing for pictures with a Howdy Doody cake and such. Then Buffalo Bob started talking to Jim and I. I told Buffalo Bob that I watched him every day when I was in the third grade, and he said, "Hey hey, an alumni!!" The three of us sat down in a booth. For 20 minutes, Jim and I and Buffalo Bob talked Howdy Doody. Bob told stories, explained what he was doing in town, we all reminisced. When we got up to leave, Jim said, "Don brought his camera, could he take some pictures?" "Hey sure! It's a little dark in here, maybe go outside?" So the three of us trundled outside, Buffalo Bob held the door open for me -- I started snapping away with Jim and Bob, Jim snapped away with me and Bob, and here we are: Buffalo Bob was exactly the way he was on TV -- "my buddy" and I had a nice chat! I can't believe that it was all over 30 years ago, it seems like last year -- Buff has since left the planet in 1998 at age 80. A long life for a guy who had a massive heart attack in 1954 -- during recovery, they had him broadcast part of the Howdy Doody show from his home basement to hawk the sponsor's products! One more story here -- taken from a book that Smith wrote -- one of his many talents was that as a church organist, and he played for various services. Once he was hired to play for a prayer service put on by the "Women's Temperance League". They take a very strong stand against alcohol. As he was driving there with his wife, Bob started chortling to himself. He said to his wife, "I was just thinking, wouldn't it be funny if during the service I played on the organ, HOW DRY I AM?" His wife suddenly glared at him, and said, "YOU WOULDN'T DARE!!!" That was all the encouragement he needed -- during the organ prelude, he played "How Dry I Am", but in a very classical style so that it sounded like a hymn. He had an excuse ready of a classical title, should anybody ask questions! Nobody did. Nobody noticed. He got away with it! A little joke that was kept a secret for a loooong time! Rest in Peace my good buddies -- Buffalo Bob and Howdy Doody! BACK TO STORY PAGE |
