Clarabell the Clown toy marionette: Museum Object and Cultural History

The object in the museum catalogue

Clarabell the Clown toy marionette made by Peter Puppet Playthings. The toy, designed to represent the Clarabell character from the children's television series Howdy Doody, has sliding eyes, a moving mouth, a replica clown costume, and six-inch strings. The puppet is housed in a cardboard box printed with images of characters and scenes from the show. Howdy Doody character puppets like this became a popular children’s toy during the 1950s.

Howdy Doody aired on the NBC television network from 1947 to 1960 and was one of the most popular and influential children's television programs in American history. Creator "Buffalo" Bob Smith first voiced the character on radio before transitioning to television, where he performed alongside puppeteers who operated the Howdy Doody marionette and other puppet and human characters. One of the most popular was Clarabell the Clown, first performed by Bob Keeshan (who later created the children's television series and character Captain Kangaroo).

The Howdy Doody show was immediately successful and was NBC's first daily show to be extended to five days a week. Even before the advent of Nielsen ratings, Howdy Doody demonstrated its ability to draw an audience both for NBC and for possible advertisers. When Howdy ran for "President of all the kids" in 1948, the show offered free campaign buttons for anyone who wrote in with a self-addressed, stamped envelope. They received well over 60,000 requests, representing one-third of the American homes with television sets and many more than the households able to see the NBC network at that time. Within a week their advertising time was sold out to major advertisers such as Colgate Palmolive Company. Over the course of the series Buffalo Bob Smith and Howdy did commercials for Wonder Bread, Campbell Soup, Hostess Twinkies and other sponsors new to television who quickly learned the power of marketing to children.

Howdy Doody himself became a merchandizing behemoth. A 1955 merchandise catalog in the museum's collection is 24 pages long, full of puppets, toys and clothing, and other products. As early as 1949 Dell began publishing a Howdy Doody comic book which ran until 1956, and Little Golden Books published several Howdy Doody stories. The first Howdy Doody record sold 30,000 copies in a week. At the height of the show's popularity in the 1950s, viewers could buy Howdy Doody wind-up toys, a humming lariat, a beanie, rocking chairs, and T-shirts, among other licensed products.

The show was among the first color TV productions, in part to promote the sale of color television sets (NBC, which aired the show, was owned by TV-maker RCA). Beginning in 1950, the NBC test pattern featured a picture of Howdy. The series has become an iconic reference point for the baby boom generation and the 1950s, a shared cultural experience that shaped children's television and entertained millions of Americans. The series also inspired critical backlash to its commercialism and frenetic pace. A movement to reform children's television took root in the 1960s and led to the creation of such educational television programs as Sesame Street and Mister Rogers' Neighborhood.

Materials, dates and provenance

• date made: 1949
• maker: Peter Puppet Playthings, Inc.
• Object Name: toy marionette
• Physical Description: plastic (body components material)
• Physical Description: fabric (clothing material)
• Physical Description: string (strings material)
• Physical Description: cardboard (box material)
• Measurements: overall: 14 in x 4 in x 3 in; 35.56 cm x 10.16 cm x 7.62 cm
• place made: United States: New York, New York City
• Subject: Television
• Subject: Children's television programs
• Subject: Toys
• ID Number: 2021.0119.01
• catalog number: 2021.0119.01
• accession number: 2021.0119
• Data Source: National Museum of American History

Sources and reuse

Catalogue descriptions and facts adapted from National Museum of American History through the Smithsonian's official Open Access dataset. This record explicitly marks its metadata CC0 1.0; formatting and selection have been changed.