Say kids, what day is it? It’s Howdy Doody Day! So-called because the creator of the freckled-faced cowboy puppet that entranced a nation of children was born on this day in 1917. We’re talking about Robert Emil Schmidt, who was better known as Buffalo Bob Smith, the big man with an easy smile and fringed rawhide jacket. Buffalo Bob was a little more complicated than his fun-loving character on the show would suggest. He liked to approach strangers and demand, “What time is it?” Then, before they could consult their watches, he’d pointedly say, “It’s Howdy Doody Time. It’s always Howdy Doody Time.” Uh-huh. He also got in a bit of trouble during his morning radio show when he announced, completely deadpan and serious, that, à la Orson Welles’s War of the Worlds broadcast, pint-sized aliens were invading South Carolina. Apparently, a lot of his listeners believed him and freaked out. Fun fact: Buffalo Bob had something else in common with Orson Welles. Later in their careers, they both hawked under-priced wine. Orson famously did commercials for Paul Masson wines, while Bob was the first commercial spokesman for Riunite sparkling wine. “What time is it?” he would ask during the radio spots, then energetically solve his own riddle, shouting, “It’s Riunite time!”
