Buffalo Bob lived near Asheville in his retirement years, he passed away in 1998.
WIKIPEDIA: Howdy Doody is a children's television program (with a decidedly frontier/western theme, although other themes also colored the show) that was broadcast on NBC in the United States from 1947 until 1960. It was a pioneer in children's programming and set the pattern for many similar shows. It was also a pioneer in early color production as NBC used the show in part to sell color television sets in the 1950s.
Howdy Doody himself was a freckle-faced boy marionette, and was originally voiced by Buffalo Bob Smith. The Howdy Doody marionettes were created and built by puppeteers Velma Wayne Dawson and Rufus Rose throughout the show's run.[ The redheaded Howdy marionette on the original show was operated with 11 strings: two head, one mouth, one eyes, two shoulders, one back, two hands and two knees. Three strings were added when the show returned—two elbows and one nose. This gap-toothed puppet in cowboy boots remains a favorite baby boomer childhood memory and popular culture icon.
The original Howdy Doody marionette now resides at the Detroit Institute of Arts. There were also duplicate Howdy Doody puppets, used expressly for off-the-air purposes (lighting rehearsals, personal appearances, etc.). Double Doody (Howdy) was the Howdy stand-in puppet; now on permanent display at the Smithsonian. Photo Doody (Howdy), is the near-stringless marionette that was used in personal appearances, photos, parades, and the famed NBC test pattern. He was sold by Leland's Sports Auction House in 1997 for more than $113,000 to a private art collector, TJ Fisher[1]. Other puppet characters included Heidi Doody (Howdy's sister), Mayor Phineas T. Bluster, Dilly Dally, Princess Summerfall Winterspring, and the curious Flub-a-Dub (a combination of eight animals—a duck's bill, a cat's whiskers, a spaniel's ears, a giraffe's neck, a dachshund's body, a seal's flippers, a pig's tail,and an elephant's memory).
The show's host was Bob Smith (November 27, 1917 - July 30, 1998), who was dubbed "Buffalo Bob" early in the show's run. Smith wore cowboy garb, and the name of the puppet "star" was derived from the western U.S. expression "howdy do", a familiar form of the greeting "How Do You Do?" (The straightforward use of that expression was also in the theme song's lyrics.) Smith, who had gotten his start as a singing radio personality in Buffalo, New York, used music frequently in the program. Cast members Lew Anderson and Bobby Nicholson were both experienced jazz musicians.
There also were several human characters, most notably the mute Clarabell the Clown, who communicated by honking horns on his belt and squirting seltzer, and Chief Thunderthud, head of the Ooragnak tribe of Native Americans (kangaroo spelled backward, possibly from Bob Keeshan), who originated the cry "Kowabonga!" Princess Summerfall Winterspring, originally a puppet, was later played by the actress Judy Tyler. The characters inhabited the fictional town of "Doodyville." Several characters were also voiced by comedian and voice actor Dayton Allen, who later went on to become a cast regular on NBC's prime-time Steve Allen Show. The Howdy show's non-televised rehearsals were renowned for including considerable double-entendre dialogue between the cast members (particularly the witty Dayton Allen) and the puppet characters.
Clarabell was first played by Keeshan, who continued in that role until 1952. Keeshan left in a salary dispute and later became Captain Kangaroo at CBS. At the end of the final episode, broadcast on September 24, 1960, Clarabell (then played by jazz musician Lew Anderson) broke his series-long silence to say the final words of the final broadcast: "Goodbye, kids." Lew Anderson followed Bobby Nicholson, who also played Doodyville's J. Cornelius Cobb.
After the death of Buffalo Bob Smith, a fierce legal and custody battle for the original Howdy Doody erupted between the heirs of Bob Smith, the Rufus Rose estates, and a museum that the marionette had been bequeathed to. Howdy was once again in the news, with his face and story making headline broadcast, wire, talk show, and print news around the world. For a while, during the tug-of-war fight, Howdy was held hostage in a bank safety deposit box while his saga played out in the federal courts. The Detroit Institute for Arts, which has one of the largest collections of historically significant puppets in North America, prevailed and now has custody of the original Howdy.
Late in life Bob Smith befriended New York-based voice actor Jack Roth, who was already quite familiar with Smith's gallery of puppet characters. Shortly before his death, Smith passed the mantle to Roth, who has been the voice of Howdy Doody in TV appearances and live venues since 1998.
