Long before Sesame Street, baby boomers cheered on puppets of one form or another as they came to our houses via television. Television was new back then and we didn’t seem to mind that the shows were goofy, didn’t have any super-heros and not a single explosion upset the simplistic dialog of these shows.
Remember Howdy Doody and Buffalo Bob? The people of Quebec didn’t see them, but they had Bobino and Bobinette and I never saw the Bobino show, so never got to see the marionette Bobinette perform.
Bobinette now stands in our civilization museum, next to Bobino’s suit coat and bowler hat, and while a blizzard was dumping yet another foot of snow on us, I drew her. I probably should have used color to show off her pink dress and big blue eyes but I settled for a Pilot Kakuno and a brown/black mix of DeAtramentis Document ink. I hope she’ll make you smile. We need more smiling these days.
Larry….english speaking people did see Howdy Doody on english speaking CBC in Montreal, Quebec at that time. Maybe, the french version of CBC didn’t carry it, because it was in english. CBC english probably wasn’t seen in Quebec City and outside areas because those areas were predominantly french speaking.
Howdy Doody was a big star in those days. We did not have a TV in our house as it was still new. I was always across the street to watch the Howdy Doody show at 5;00 PM at a friends house. Unfortunately, that was dinnertime in our house, so it was always a big fight to get me home. Long story, short, my dad gave up and bought a TV. So we ate and watched Howdy Doody at 5:00…everyone was happy!
PS…glad to see you back drawing again!
I suspected that might be the case but all the people I have to talk to are Francophone.
I loved your Howdy Doody story. Mine was similar. TV was still relatively new and I think all parents had problems with kids wanting to watch shows like Howdy Doody. And I forgot to mention Clarabell, the mute clown 🙂 How can I remember this stuff when I can’t remember my birthday.
I guess there were lots of arguments back then on buying tv’s! Clarabelle…easy to love. Thanks for showing Bobinette video….never saw or just forgotten.
Hubbie just walked in the room as I am finishing this and I said Howdy Doody and Clarabelle and a big smile came across his face and he reminded me Clarabelle said goodbye out loud on the final show…