From: "Alan Cook" <alangregorycook-AT-msn.com>
To: puptcrit-AT-puptcrit.org
Date: Fri, 28 Sep 2007 17:11:26 GMT
Subject: [Puptcrit] problems in research-memory lapses--Howdy Doody


Woops, I goofed. Velma Dawson's puppets were displayed in the 1985 National Puppetry Festival in California, not 1981.

Anyone researchng anything to do with HOWDY DOODY history will find themselves with the equivalent of a jigsaw puzzle with missing pieces and even a few pieces from another puzzle; ie: all the pieces won't fit neatly together.

A major factor was Buffalo Bob Smith himself, who told one writer that Thelma Thomas created the famous Howdy, not VELMA DAWSON. Velma like many of us had occasional memory lapses, and so she gave various reports of how much she got paid for sculpting Howdy, ranging from $250-$300 to $350. One thing for sure, it was in that low range.

There were so MANY talented puppeteers involved with Howdy History, beginning with Frank Paris, his young assistant Rhoda Mann (later Mann-Winkler) Frank's friend Sylvia Meredith, Bill LeCornec, Rufus Rose and Pady Blackwood. The Roses made a version of Howdy which Rufus preferred because it suited his great manipulation style better, but Buffalo liked the "jerky" or "puppety look".

When Rufus died most headlines of the obit called him Howdy Doody's father, when Rufie's real fame rested on a wonderful career marked by inventve puppet construction and stringing, and performing with his wife Margo---both had toured with Tony Sarg Marionettes before forming their own important company. But Howdy had a larger audience so that was the path to pubic acclaim. An ironic touch is that when Velma visited the Howdy show she felt that Rhoda's puppetry was not to Velma's taste, and that led to Rufus Rose taking over the puppet manipulation. Many were under the impression that Rufus created the original Howdy---those of us in Puppeteers of America were not misinformed, but publicity to the masses is another thing. Fact: Rufus contributed to the success
of the show. Fact: without Velma, no-one would have seen the Howdy which became so famous in early U.S. television. 

I think there is enough credit to go around.
 
Then there was the legal ownership dispute over the "original Howdy puppet"---just how much and which head or leg was original was hard to determine, but one puppet was finally determined to be the official original figure and it now resides at the Detroit Institute of Arts along with over 800  important puppets. To complicate things, the DIA had its own financial problems and public access to the puppet collection was minimal for 25 or so years, the death of curator Audley Grossman from a freak traffic accident while on vacation added to problems at the DIA, and Larry Baranski has managed to look out for the collection there currently,

Without any changes, the true story of Howdy-related history could provide fodder for a DALLAS type TV script.

At any rate, we do need to credit Velma Dawson as the true mother of the nationally-known Howdy Doody.

ALAN COOK


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