Howdy Doody's T.V. Game: Museum Object and Cultural History

The object in the museum catalogue

Howdy Doody’s T.V. Game allowed kids to pretend they were at the TV studio with Howdy and his friends, including Clarabell the Clown and Flub-a-Dub. The show’s characters were licensed and sold in a variety of products and toys such as this board game.

In its run from 1947 to 1960, the Howdy Doody Show was one of the most popular and influential children’s television programs in the United States. The creator of the Howdy Doody character, “Buffalo” Bob Smith, first performed him as a radio character. When the show transitioned to TV, Frank Paris created the new puppet, but left the show (with the puppet) in 1948 to disputes over merchandising rights. Velma Dawson created the now-ubiquitous Howdy Doody that debuted in 1949. This Howdy Doody became popular spokes character, hawking sponsored products on the show or in print.

Materials, dates and provenance

• date made: ca 1955
• maker: Milton Bradley Company
• Object Name: board game
• Physical Description: paper (overall material)
• Physical Description: cardboard (overall material)
• Physical Description: plastic (overall material)
• Measurements: overall: 4 cm x 25 cm x 48 cm; 1 9/16 in x 9 27/32 in x 18 29/32 in
• place made: United States: Massachusetts, Springfield
• Subject: Games
• Subject: Toys
• Subject: Children's television programs
• Subject: Television
• ID Number: 1993.0295.01
• catalog number: 1993.0295.01
• accession number: 1993.0295
• 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.