"Eddie had the most unusually great talent to know what
would appeal to kids between the ages of 2 and 12," said Mr.
Smith, from his home in North Carolina. "He was an integral
part of 'Howdy Doody's' success.
"He was able to teach kids without them knowing they were
being taught. For example, if you can get 12 million kids to think
before they cross the street, that's quite an accomplishment,"
Mr. Smith said about one of Mr. Kean's songs.
"His storylines were interesting to kids. They were a world
of fantasy for them. That's what Howdy was, a world of fanta-
sy and slapstick. And, the parents liked us because we were
never violent."
Weekdays, from 5-5:30 p.m.,
and then later on Saturday
mornings, children were mes-
merized by the people and pup-
pets that sang to them and
made them laugh in their living
rooms across America.
Ask a baby boomer today,
"Hey kids, what time is it?" In-
variably, the answer is, "It's
Howdy Doody time."
Today, the baby boomers'
children use a word from the
"Howdy" show; coined by Mr.
Kean himself. "Cowabunga" is
frequently heard on "The Simp-
sons" and on Teenage Mutant
Ninja Turtles.
Mr. Kean explains the word's
origin. Clarabell, the clown who
never spoke, used to squirt a
character by the name of Chief
Thunderthud and "[the chief]
had to react," Mr. Kean said. "I
needed a word for him to shout
out that looked like it had mus-
cles."
Mr. Kean worked tirelessly,
creating new characters and sto-
rylines for "Howdy Doody." He
also wrote all of the "Howdy Doo- -
dy" songs — just shy of 100
tunes.
Because the number of view-
ers was hard to gauge in the early days of television and because
the show was looking for sponsors, Mr. Kean devised a plan.
The first full year of the show coincided with the 1948 presi-
dential election between Harry Truman and Thomas Dewey.
Mr. Kean decided to hold an election, too. He ran Howdy Doody
for president, giving him planks such as allowing kids to eat all
the ice cream they wanted. Viewers were encouraged to request

"Howdy Doody for President" pins, and more than 100,000 re-
quests came in. From that point on, there were no problems find-
ing sponsors.
"I make between 25 and 30 appearances a year," said Bob
Smith, "and people still comment on our sponsors, because Ed-
die had a great flair for writing. He did such a good job of in-
corporating the sponsors' products into our scripts."
As the show's popularity spiraled, the cast began to grow, too.
In the beginning, it was Mr. Smith, Howdy Doody and an NBC
page who walked on stage long enough to hand Mr. Smith his
props. The page, it was decided, needed a costume, and Mr. Kean
created Clarabell.
"I gave him a girl's name be-
cause his parents were expect-
ing a girl," explained Mr. Kean,
who created all the show's char-
acters, except Howdy Doody.

Opposite page:

A blast from the

past: Flub-a-
Dub, Phineas T.
Bluster, Dilly
Daily, Buffalo
Bob Smith,
Howdy Doody
and Clarabell
provided hours
of fun for
children from
1947-1960.

When it was decided the show
needed an animal character, Mr.
Kean wanted to do something
original. After all, Disney already had a mouse, a dog, a duck and
a number of others. So, Mr. Kean created the Flub-A-Dub, a com-
bination of nine different animals. •
"Most of my ideas just popped into my head," he said. "I'm still
thinking like a kid. But, when I was stuck, I'd look in a dictio-
nary until something caught my eye."

WHAT TIME page 86

Clockwise from top: Ed Kean also worked on the
Canadian version of "Howdy Doody," in which
Robert Goulet, left, played "Trader Tom."

Ed Kean put the words in Howdy Doody's mouth:
"I never got more than a week ahead with my
writing."

Ed Kean invented a new word for Chief
Thunderthud (Bill LeCornec): "Cowabunga!"
Did Bart Simpson watch "Howdy Doody," too?