I think I know why I love what I do so much… It’s because I get to revisit my own memories while in the process of preserving the memories of my clients.
Today, I captured a black and white episode of The Howdy Doody Show which, as I remember, filled me with dread in my early days. I was afraid that someone would spot the resemblance between my red-headed freckled self and the puppet who was the goofy-faced star of the show. That’s all I needed in grade school – being saddled with the nickname “Howdy Doody.” I think that’s when I learned to hate plaid shirts. Fortunately, none of my classmates were smart (or cruel?) enough to make the connection.
But I do remember watching the show that starred Buffalo Bob, Howdy himself, and America’s favorite clown, Clarabell, played by Bob Keeshan – who later became the star of his own children’s show by creating the character of Captain Kangaroo.
I never made it to the Peanuts Gallery, a bleacher filled with kids who were there onstage during the live presentation of the show. But I do seem to recall making it onstage to a local taping of the Bozo the clown show which starred a familiar DC (and later national) personality, Willard Scott. But that recollection is fuzzy at best and may have simply been a figment of my imagination. To my knowledge there is no recorded proof that I was ever there.
I see a lot of children shows during the course of my day. They seem to be a familiar staple in the recorded videos of family events. Of all the tapes I have transferred, I have lost count of the number of Chuck E Cheese birthday parties or Barney the Dinosaur stage shows that I’ve seen come through my doors. They all have one thing in common. They all depict a celebration with happy children and tired but surprisingly satisfied parents.
Michael Ondrasik and Home Video Studio specialize in the preservation of family memories. For more information, call 352-735-8550 or visit http://www.homevideostudio.com/mtd
Good morning MIchael. Now I know why I am enjoying these little trips down Memory Lane. It triggers my memories, too. What I remember about the Howdy Doody Show was that one of Allison’s birthday presents on her fifth birthday was tickets to the live Howdy Doody TV show. I could have sworn that you and Bobbi were with her . . . but maybe not. We stopped by the show on our way to St. Mary’s County where Dad had a summer job as Recreation Director. Maybe you and Bobbi stayed with him, while Allison and I went to the show. Because I remember the show. But maybe not.
Allison’s birthday was in August, so if she went to the show on her birthday, we came back to the DC area for the show. If the show was earlier than that, it could have been earlier than that. What I do have vivid memories of is our first night in the “summer cottage” (read that, “converted chicken coop”) we were given for our summer quarters. That night it was raining — and we were trying to get y’all settled down in bed when the rain started coming through the ceiling. I got on the phone immediately and called our landlady, and said, “Hey, it’s raining in the bedroom over here!” Yes, that nice lady said, “That’s why we put a drain in the floor.”
It did turn out to be a good summer for you kids. You especially loved floating around in the river on huge inflated airplane inner tubes. And we went to a lot of summer fairs and carnivals. However the summer ended earlier than planned because a local man was after Dad with a gun, because he was looking into (and writing about) gambling in the county.
Hey, this is fun. I love you. MOM
On Sat, Jan 6, 2018 at 6:13 AM, Ask Home Video Studio wrote:
> michaelhvs posted: ” I think I know why I love what I do so much… It’s > because I get to revisit my own memories while in the process of preserving > the memories of my clients. Today, I captured a black and white episode of > The Howdy Doody Show which, as I remember, filled me ” >
Funny how one memory can trigger so many others. If Allison was five, I would have been turning three. Doubt I would have attended the show with her at that age but you never know. I don’t remember it in any case. I do remember the chicken coop cottage and all the fairs and carnivals we visited that summer.