I am also in the same boat, however I’ve never felt it impaired my childhood. There are many classic TV shows that I never followed, for instance I can’t name one of the Partridge family members (possibily because we didn’t watch TV in college.)
I just got off the phone with my dad and mom(83/81 respectively). We got our first tv in late 1948. Had people over for the inauguration. I remember the tv installer asking me what I was gonna watch(I was 4 at that point). He suggested that “Howdy Doody” was what was popular. We had the second tv on the block. It was a 12" Philco, with four legs. The price was $425.00 !!!(I know this from reading ads on-line, tonight) The couple up the block had a 7" before we did.
So, I guess I’m really older than even I thought. 
Thundercloud was the Lone Ranger.
And it’s pretty Mickey Mouse to bring up such late stuff. 
Yeah, so? You guys had a TV and I didn’t . Wanna make somethin’ of it?
Anyways, we had a radio. I can remember listenin’ to The Lone Ranger, Tom Mix, Tarzan, Wild Bill Hickock, Amos & Andy, Dragnet and lots of cool stuff.
Anybody else ever listen to Big John and Sparky on Saturday mornings? Sometimes I’d claim to be sick on Saturday morning so instead of goin’ to work in the field with Grandpa, I could stay home and listen to the kid’s shows on the radio.
Now I wonder if I was actually foolin’ anybody. Probably not.
Yeah! I’m old enough to remember the answers, but I’m too old to remember the answers!
But at least I’m younger than some of you: Wonder Bread was building strong bodies 12 ways by the time I came along.
By the way, it was the “red, yellow, and blue balloons printed on the package.” But while I am barely old enough to have seen Howdy Doody I never did, if people today can imagine a three year old who had better things to do than watch TV. My earliest TV memories are of practicing Chinese caligraphy along with an Educational TV* host. With a wire. On the TV cabinet. My folks never bothered to fix them.
-
- Remember when public TV was “educational?” Now it’s Lawrence Welk reunions and pledge breaks.
That’s okay. My eyes are so bad that I misread your response as being correct.
My husband says that he remembers Big John and Sparky. I remember Smiling Ed McConnell and Froggie (I think). “Plunk your magic twanger, Frog-GIE!”
Which one had Buster Brown who lived in a shoe with his dog…uh…?
My favorite radio children’s program was “Let’s Pretend.” In recent years I found out that it was broadcast from the old Ed Sullivan Theater which is now used for the David Letterman Show which I watch most of the time. I love connections like that.
I also listened on the radio to the Lone Ranger, Baby Snooks, Beulah, Sargeant Preston of the Yukon ("On, King! On, you huskies!), and Sky King. And Gang Busters!
When the Lone Ranger started on TV with Clayton Moore, I discovered that I was attracted to male buttocks.
Sam, you watched the Inauguration of Truman or Ike on TV? I can remember a “field trip” where our class went to a friend’s house to watch the Inaugration of Ike. I mentioned this recently at a gathering of some of my classmates and they all “harumped” and coughed and swore that it must have been Kennedy.
You really were advanced to have had a TV in the late 1940’s. I had only seen one before we got ours, and we had to travel 16 miles to a stranger’s house to see it.
Anyone ever watch old Felix the Cat cartoons?
pseudotriton ruber ruber, you are the only person that I have ever “met,” as far as I know, that was actually in the Peanut Gallery. I want your autograph!
I do remember that one kid in the Peanut Gallery was the great-great-great-great-great nephew of George Washington. Weird how stuff like that sticks in your mind.
tarragon918, I’m glad that someone else remembers Miss Frances. She had the most soothing voice – kind of like the Captain or Mr. Rodgers. Did you know that the second person to play Clarabelle on Howdy Doody was also Captain Kangeroo? I can’t even think of his name and I know that I know it.
I don’t know but I remember Britney Spears, Christina Aguilera and Justin Timberlake were on it.
Oh, yeah…and Spin and Marty, too!
Having a tv so early, I never got to listen to radio. That’s truly one thing that has bothered me all my life. Most of my contemporaries grew up listening to radio shows. Not me.
I guess I watched Truman’s inauguration. Being 4 1/2 years old, it didn’t make an impression.
MY parents had quite a few adults over. It was a big deal, as most people didn’t have a tv.
The ones that were made in the early '60s were being re-run when I was a little kid in the mid-‘60s. The ep where Poindexter built a giant robot that went homicidally out-of-control scared the livin’ shit out of me; I remember it slamming its fist (claw?) through a steel door to get at him and Felix. Anybody remember how this one was resolved? You’ll do wonders for my neuroses.
I’ve seen the REALLY old Felix the Cat cartoons, too. Otto Messmer came to my university to lecture in 1980 or 1981, and we screened a whole bunch of the 1920s shorts.
We had probably the 3rd or 4th TV in the neighborhood. I was supposed to be practicing piano when Howdy Doody was on but I usually managed to postpone practice for that 1/2 hour.
Clarabelle drove me nuts and was the seed that grew into my intense dislike of clowns.
Tuesday night homework was watching Bishop Sheen so I missed a lot of Uncle Milty.
I also remember the Army-McCarthy hearings and the Kefauver committee hearings.
M-IC-K-E-Y M-O-U-S-E?
Yeah, neighbors came overt to watch our TV too. Sometimes on the variety shows like Ed Sullivan or Dinah Shore there would be dancers, fully clothed mind you , that our across the street neighbor would pronounce as just shameful! I remember my dad getting a real kick out of hopping up and offering to change the channel…just to hear her say “Oh, no, lets just see what they are going to do next.”
I really don’t remember Wonder Bread :o but we had to have Merita Bread, or Murta Bread as my friend called it. We sent in crayoned pics of a loaf of Murta Bread to join the Lone Ranger Fan Club.
Well, I don’t feel quite so old, thanks. I knew only 5 of these and only because my older siblings watched it and talked about it and from an episode of Happy Days where Richie got a picture of ClaraBell without his makeup. Also, “the Peanut Gallery” is a phrase that’s still in use today.
I grew up on Captain Kangaroo, speaking of which, wasn’t Bob Keeshan Clarabell?
I was once in the audience of the Art Linkletter show and Art even came out and talked with me and my cousin who is several months younger than me. I was petrified so he did all the talking. My cuz was quite the ham. He grew up to be a sportscaster and part-time actor… and I didn’t.
Well, I admit I rely on my mother (New Castle [Penna.] High, Class of '57) for true **Howdy Doody ** and **Mickey Mouse Club ** trivia. But wasn’t there a **Howdy Doody ** revival in the 1970s? I seem to remember, as a child, watching **Howdy Doody ** in color, and Mom pointing out that Buffalo Bob (still the same actor) was looking a little long in the tooth. Is anyone else young enough (sorry) to remember this second tour of the peanut gallery?
Thanks for the trip down memory lane. I’m almost 62 (hence “geezer”). I hope I’m old enough to have watched Howdy Doody and not too old to remember the details. Now I’ll go see how I did.
Howdie Doodie
I’m 29 and I knew at least half those answers.
There was a revival in the 70s as the kids who loved the show entered college. Buffalo Bob got the show back together and toured colleges. I have a record of one performance. The record is fittingly titled “It’s Howdy Doody Time!”
Howdie Doodie also introduced the word cowabunga. However, he used it when things went badly. A good turn of events was cause for cowagooba.
Bob Keeshan was indeed Clarabelle. He went on to become the much beloved Captain Kangaroo. Later, he hosted the Saturday morning show CBS Storybreak.
Let’s Pretend
I know I have a bunch of these records (OTTOMH The Tinderbox, The Little Mermaid, Duban The Physician, The Seven Princesses). I think they’re in the entertainment center, I’d have to move my coffee table and a whole lot of other stuff to get at them.
I still want a metal decoder ring or badge.
I don’t know the year, but our first TV appeared just in time for the World Series that year. There was a cheerful, star-shaped toon named Winky Dink on a children’s show with the same name. There was a gimmick! Kids could get a kit just for the show. You got a clear plastic screen-sized thing that stuck to the TV by static electricity, and a box of washable crayons. On every show, there was a segment where the viewer could draw along with the image. My brother and I both asked for this kit for Christmas, not thinking about having only one television. We both got the kit, and my older brother monopolized Winky Dink for as long as it made me mad.
Historically, WD may have been the first really successful direct link from children’s TV to a brand name toy. SpongeBob SquareToys are routine now, but Winky Dink was hot marketing then. Really radical.
I am so glad I don’t know the answer to any of these…Guess that means I’m not as old as I thought I was. 
Hey, what about Kukla,Fran,and Ollie?
And I liked Tooey on that show,too.Tooey could only say tooey,but you could get his meaning,because you were making it up as he went along. “Tooey!tooey ta tooey,tooey?”
But mostly I had a crush on Fran. She was so friendly and smiley and nice and attractive.
Wotta momma!