Bob Conrad from New Jersey posted this picture and information about the “Original Howdy Doody” on Facebook. I thought many of you might find it interesting, so here it is:
The first was made by Frank Paris, replaced by one made by Velma Dawson, latter copies were made by Scott Brinker and latter Rufus Rose. Margo Rose performed the puppet for most of the TV run.
When it was brought back in the 1976 Alan Semok made several duplicates. Bob Smith provided the voice, in fact the character started out as a voice on Bob Smith’s radio show, and when they went to TV a puppet was needed to play the part.
After a depute with NBC over ownership of the character, Frank Paris was paid an amount and the puppet was destroyed, and replaced with the one we all know today.
Bob Conrad
http://conradproductions.net/index.html
Thanks Bob!
Dan
www.ventriloquistcentral.com
Have you seen the Frank Marshall Tribute DVD, click here
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Ventriloquist Central is the brainchild of Dan Willinger and Steve Hurst. Dan is a ventriloquism enthusiast and ventriloquist figure collector. He has been collecting for over 25 years. He created the Ventriloquist Central Collection. It now has over 100 ventriloquist figures and over 50 of them are Frank Marshall figures. Steve is a ventriloquist as well as builder of ventriloquist figures. He also has a background in sales, marketing, building websites and computers. Because they both love the art of ventriloquism, the website Ventriloquist Central was born. For more information about the website, go to: http://www.ventriloquistcentral.com
Copyright 2014 by Dan Willinger and Steve Hurst
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great photo and story, I’ll post my Howdy collection on the ventriloquist central facebook page, Buffalo Bob and I were penpals the last 3 years of his life.