Clarabell is dead
Lew Anderson, the last Clarabell the Clown on my generation's iconic children's TV show, "Howdy Doody," is dead of cancer at 84.
"Buffalo Bob" Smith died in 1998. Only Howdy himself survives.
Even more than "The Mickey Mouse Club," "Howdy" defined my childhood- or at least the part of it spent in front of the tube.
Clarabell was always assumed to be mute. He turned out not to be- much to Buffalo Bob's surprise- in the closing moments of the very last show, when he uttered the words, "Goodbye, kids."
Goodbye, Clarabell.
"Buffalo Bob" Smith died in 1998. Only Howdy himself survives.
Even more than "The Mickey Mouse Club," "Howdy" defined my childhood- or at least the part of it spent in front of the tube.
Clarabell was always assumed to be mute. He turned out not to be- much to Buffalo Bob's surprise- in the closing moments of the very last show, when he uttered the words, "Goodbye, kids."
Goodbye, Clarabell.
Comments
Who's the funniest clown you know?
Clarabell!
Who'se the clown on Howdy's show?
Clarabell!....
Alas, Dayton Allen- who was not only Doodyville Mayor Phineas T. Bluster, but also the voice of the Flub-a-Dub- went to the Great Peanut Gallery in the Sky in 2004. Allen was also the voice of Deputy Dawg.
Little known Doody trivia, btw: in 1954, the cast was joined by a character called "Ranger Bill," portrayed by a Canadian actor named William Shatner. Oddly, the Canadian version of the show had a "Buffalo Bob" stand-in named "Timber Tom," who was portrayed by James Doohan, aka Scotty.
And no, I didn't know all that stuff. I found it out researching Mayor Bluster in the "Howdy Doody" article on Wikipedia.