3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:
2.0 out of 5 stars
5 stars as an artefact of U.S. pop culture. Otherwise 2., December 28, 2003
This review is from: The Howdy Doody Show - Andy Handy & Other Episodes [VHS] (VHS Tape)
There are four shows. The first show is somewhat irritating overall, e.g., because there is too much honking. All four shows are somewhat blurry in terms of visual quality, and all the storylines are, to some extent, "a stretch." (By the way, did you know that the original Clarabel the clown lost his job because he wouldn't play clarinet on Howdy Doody, and that this same Clarabel became Captain Kangaroo?)
The second show features Phineas T. Bluster (mayor of Doodyville) and his evil attempts to monopolize the source of eggs at Eastertime, and to increase the price from 50 cents/dozen to $5.00/dozen. Phineas sets out to buy all the available eggs. So Buffalo Bob decides to make his own, i.e., by getting eggs from real chickens. However, once the eggs were acquired and handed to Clarabel the Clown, Clarabel accidently slips while roller skating, breaking all the eggs. At the time, Phineas' nephew has a dream where he disappears down a rabbit hole. The dream sequence features distorted, wiggling funhouse mirror images. In view of the missing nephew, Phineas T. Bluster offers all the eggs to Buffalo Bob, if Buffalo Bob agrees to find the lost nephew. Buffalo Bob tells the audience that the next episode, the following Saturday, will concern the search for the nephew lost in Bunnyland. The background music throughtout the show features vibrophone, clarinet, and jazz guitar.
The third show concerns inventions and Phineas T. Bluster's attempts to ruin other peoples' inventions and the marketing thereof. Buffalo Bob invents a do-it-yourself soda fountain, comprising a moving conveyor belt and a line of condiments arranged along the belt, i.e., ice cream, chocolate syrup, spritzer water, nuts, and straws. But Phineas has his own invention, a do-it-yourself dry cleaning outfit. When venture capitalist/manufacturer Handy Andy drops by to confer with Buffalo Bob, Phineas interrupts, and describes his do-it-yourself soda fountain. Then Cornelius J. Cobb ("Corny"), a shopkeeper, also butts in, further disrupting Buffalo Bob's plans, and describes his invention, a do-it-yourself shopper, to Handy Andy. Upon demonstrating the dry cleaner, Phineas invites Handy Andy to put his coat into the dry cleaner, but when the cleaning cycle is over, Handy Andy discovers that the coat has shrunk to 1/10th its size. Upon demonstrating the do-it-yourself shopper, Handy Andy finds that when he pushes a button to get a quart of milk, out of a chute comes a quart of liquid milk, rather than a bottle of milk, which splashes over Handy Andy's face. In this way, Handy Andy loses interest in funding the dry cleaner or shopper. In viewing Buffalo Bob's soda machine, Phineas attempts sobotage, and secretely presses a button to make the conveyor belt zoom forwards, then backwards, resulting in a big mess of condiments and ice cream. However, Handy Andy realizes that the mess was part of a trick, and decides to buy this invention. Buffalo Bob, in triumph, sticks to his plan of using the money to buy for Doodyville a gym and ice skating rink.
The fourth show starts with Clarabel the Clown squirting Chief Thunderthud with his seltzer bottle. This introduces a story about a new fountain in town. Clarabel expresses his wish, via honking, that the fountain be a wishing well. But Phineas T. Bluster complains about the fountain because he gets splashed whenever somebody tosses in a penny, and also because he feels the concept of a wishing well to be foolish. However, as it turns out, the fountain actually grants wishes. Phineas Bluster decides to use the fountain to raise funds by charging a silver dollar for its use. He also sobotages other people's wishes by altering those wishes. When Cornelius wishes for a cooler store (it's a hot day), Phineas causes a snow blizzard in the store. When Chief Thunderthud wishes to sing like a bird, Phineas modifies this wish so that the Chief sings like a crow. Please note that Chief Thunderthud makes ample use of the expression, "cowabunga." Finally, Clarabel the Clown wishes that people will take notice whenever he plays his clarinet. But Phineas modifies this wish so that whenever Clarabel starts to play, there is an explosion and smoke. Buffalo Bob understands what is happening, and warns the peanut gallery that the wishing well will do more harm than good. Buffalo Bob solves the problem by wishing that the wishing well will no longer grant wishes. The fourth show concludes with a Hostess Snowball advertisement, "Each one is covered with hundreds of pieces of coconut . . . inside is a surprise center, cream filled and as light as a cloud." And finally, and somewhat surprisingly, the soundtrack features church bells and Buffalo Bob tells us of our Constitutional freedoms and says, "You tell mom you want to go to Sunday school or your place of worship."
The show is peppered with humorous skits and advertisements. For example, Buffalo Bob plays Mary Had a Little Lamb using notes generated by a balloon and pinching the air outlet. Then, it is Corny's turn. However, when Corny starts to play Mary Had a Little Lamb with the balloon, Clarabel sneaks from behind and pops the balloon. They try again, only this time, Buffalo Bob and Corny put white powder inside the balloon. When Clarabel sneaks from behind to pop the balloon, he gets squirted with the white powder.
Each of the four shows is, in part, before a live audience of kids. The kids participate from time to time, e.g., in receiving gifts or in laughing, but the storyline does not really depend on their participation or responses. Similarly, Howdy Doody (the marionette) comes to the foreground only in the Wonderbread and Tootsie Roll commercials. Thus, I'm not sure why they even call the show the Howdy Doody show.
It is curious that the Tootsie Roll commercial features a Tootsie Roll song that, oddly enough, has a military tune, When Johnny Comes Marching Home.
The Wonderbread commercial includes a song, "Yo ho yo ho yo ho, Howdy Doodyville friends all know that Wonderbread will help you grow. Hurrah for the Wonder baker." Buffalo Bob says, "Wonderbread helps build strong bodies eight ways," while Clarabel the Clown jumps rope eight times. There is an interesting discrepency. The show airing on April 1, 1953 alleges that Wonderbread builds bodies eight ways, but the shows airing in April 13, May 4, and July 13, 1957 all allege that Wonderbread builds bodies twelve ways. Apparently, Wonderbread was supplemented with four additional minerals or vitamins in the interval between 1953 and 1957.
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