Hey, Kids!

Hey, kids – know what time it is?

If you’re like me, well, I’m

Remembering just what that meant –

“It’s Howdy Doody time!”

 

Now Howdy was a puppet

On a children’s TV show.

(Technically, a marionette,

In case you’d want to know.)

 

From 1947,

It was on for thirteen years,

Five days a week, before we ever

Heard of Mouseketeers.

 

With Clarabell the Clown

And host Bob Smith, we got to see

Some lucky kids who made it to

The Peanut Gallery.*

 

My buddies from the block all went

But I was in the dumps

Because I couldn’t join them,

Stuck at home, sick with the mumps.

 

Last Sunday, though, I got the chance,

So many years past due,

To go to a museum

Where some puppets were on view.

 

And there was Howdy Doody –

Freckled, smiling, on his strings,

With boots, plaid shirt and dungarees –

The memories he brings!

 

It made my day to see him,

So my grown-up self could greet

Such a symbol of my childhood

And a perfect birthday treat.

 

*the seating area for guest children