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