Tag: childrens-television

The man responsible for franchising and licensing Bozo the Clown, and one of the early Bozos, Larry Harmon, has died. Not only did Harmon hold the license for Bozo, but he held it for Laurel and Hardy, and a number of other characters.

Those of us who remember the Golden Age of Children’s Television will miss him.

As folks have probably figured out by now, I have in interest in children’s television, more particular children’s television in my era: the era of kid show hosts, saturday morning cartoons, and non-educational programs. Thus, I read with interest Tim Goodman’s column in the San Francisco Chronicle where he talks about the “Best Kids Shows Ever”. His list, if you haven’t read the article, is:

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Regular readers know I’m into old children’s television, because I’m an old child (rimshot). I grew up with Sheriff John, Hobo Kelly, Billy Barty, and Bob McAllister. Thus, it is with a heavy heart that I report the death of Velma Wayne Dawson.

Who? You ask.

Velma Wayne Dawson is the woman that created the Howdy Doody puppet. She died Wednesday at the age of 94 in Palm Desert. Quoting from an article on Ms. Dawson:

Frank Paris had the original puppet show. It was broadcast from NBC’s Radio City headquarters in New York. Frank needed a voice for his character Elmer. That’s how Bob Smith came on the show. Smith already had a NBC talk show for family and kids on the air. As Buffalo Bob Smith did Elmer’s voice.

The show got better and more popular. When NBC asked for dolls and merchandising, Paris wanted a part of the money. It was his show and his puppets. NBC balked at sharing a piece of the show with Paris. (Ultimately Howdy made about $3 billion dollars in merchandising.) Paris had an advisor, a close friend, who insisted he walk from the show. Frank left NBC stranded. He took his puppets with him. His exit made Bob Smith the top gun on the show.

NBC needed a Howdy Doody . The director of NBC, Norm Blackburn, was a caricaturist. He did a few sketches that he sent to Mel Allen, an artist who had worked for Disney. The original sketches for Howdy came from Mel Allen. In the interim, the character of Howdy spoke from a box and, at one point, told the kids he was getting plastic surgery to run for office. Norm Blackburn had come from Hollywood. He remembered seeing a marionette performance of Velma Dawson’s in Toluca Lake. He contacted Dawson. She was the only puppeteer he knew. She had a puppet studio in her Hollywood home near the Wilshire District.

NBC was desperate for the puppet. They rushed Velma. Howdy was made in nine days, a process that Velma wished had taken months. Velma knew Frank Paris in Hollywood. They worked puppets in a picture together. Velma made Howdy for $300, a fact that Frank Paris later turned into a joke. Frank Paris sued NBC for $250,000, a huge sum in those days. After he got his money, he said he made more money off Howdy Doody than Velma Dawson did. Velma acknowledges that was true. She adds, “Good thing I was good. It could have been a lousy puppet.”

I’m sure most of the readers of this journal don’t remember Howdy Doody. I only remember Howdy secondhand. But it was a real milestone in children’s television.

And other piece of history joins the historical peanut gallery.

[Whilst the tea cools and the email comes up…]

There’s nothing like a good pie fight sequence. And this is nothing like a good pie fight sequence. No, that’s not right.

Many of you know that I like good children’s television from the 1950s and 1960s. One of the best hosts of that time was a fellow out of Detroit called Soupy Sales. This was an incredibly funny show, with humor and slapstick aimed at both adults and children. Stories are often told about the New Years Day incident, when Soupy supposedly told children to tiptoe into their still-sleeping parents’ bedrooms and remove those “funny green pieces of paper” from their pants and pocketbooks. “Put them in an envelope and mail them to me,” Soupy allegedly instructed the children. “And you know what I’m going to send you? A post card from Puerto Rico!”

Soupy was known for a rapid-fire stream of sketches, gags, and puns, almost all resulting in Soupy receiving a pie in the face, which became his trademark. Not much of Soupy is available on video, but there is one collection available.

Why am I mentioning all this? This morning, mark_evanier posted a link to a Soupy Sales YouTube video featuring a pie fight between Frank Sinatra, Sammy Davis, Trini Lopez, and disc jockey William B. Williams. The annoying kid is played by Frank Nastasi, who was Soupy’s sidekick-puppeteer on his New York shows. This originally aired September 10, 1965. The beginning of the video shows Soupy’s punning style.

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