Robert Emil Schmidt, nicknamed Buffalo Bob, was an American television personality and television host; he was well known as the host of the children's show Howdy Doody.
Buffalo Bob Smith and Howdy Doody in 1972
Howdy Doody is an American children's television program that was created and produced by Victor F. Campbell and E. Roger Muir. It was broadcast on the NBC television network in the United States from December 27, 1947, until September 24, 1960. It was a pioneer of children's programming and set the pattern for many similar shows. One of the first television series produced at NBC in Rockefeller Center, in Studio 3A, it pioneered color production in 1956 and NBC used the show to promote color television sets in the late 1950s.
Buffalo Bob Smith and Howdy Doody in 1972
On the air with the first Howdy Doody puppet. The original Howdy is immediately to Smith's left. The two other puppets are Mr. Huff and Eustis, who appeared only for a short time on a Saturday edition of the Puppet Playhouse show.
Howdy Doody views the results of his "plastic surgery."
The original Dawson Howdy Doody at Detroit Institute of Arts