I saw one of those "human interest" news announcements this morning that Clarabell the Clown had died. Clarabell was a regular on the Howdy Doody show during the 13 years the show was on the air. However, he was played by three different men during this time, the first one being Bob Keeshan who went on to play the role of Captain Kangaroo for many years. The Clarabell who just died at age 84 was Lew Anderson, the last Clarabell for the series.
Those of you old enough to remember the series will remember that Clarabell was mute, having only a bicycle air horn (the kind with the rubber bulb you squeeze) to communicate. It was always great fun to watch the kids in the Peanut Gallery (yes, that was what the audience was called) trying to explain to Buffalo Bob was Clarabell was trying to say with his horn. Buffalo Bob was always close enough while off the mark to keep the kids trying. Everyone was so convinced that Clarabell was unable to speak that it was a shock at the end of the final show when he turned to the TV audience and said, "Good-bye, kids."
As I recall the show never had re-runs so if you missed an episode, you missed it for good. I can't begin to count the number of hours I watched Howdy Doody or how many of the show's 2,543 episodes I saw but I know it was a significant part of my childhood. Makes you wonder how much of my philosophy of life might have come from Buffalo Bob, Howdy Doody, Princess Summerfall Winterspring, Phinius T. Bluster, or even Clarabell the Clown.
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