… so here’s something, part 2 of my ongoing boxing series, apparently.
Other fun stuff. While I await my copy of Kim Deitch’s new book, The Search for Smilin’ Ed
And a good story to go with:
The catch to this opportunity was that all of us bright young hotshot UPA stars absolutely hated the Howdy Doody show, and felt that the puppet itself was gross—a ten on a kitsch scale of one to ten. We determined to “improve” the Howdy Doody character to the level of our hallowed UPA design standard. After all, we were already the toast of New York animation, raking in the prizes and publicity. We simply couldn’t lower ourselves to something so crude, even if the client was paying us to do just that. So we just blithely went ahead with transforming Howdy Doody in our own image.
Unfortunately, this God-like endeavor went down in flames. Kagran paid for the film, but “Buffalo Bob” Smith, Howdy Doody’s Daddy, hated what we had wrought, and ordered the negative destroyed. Our little pride and joy experiment was never shown publicly, and was never properly listed on the International Motion Picture Database. In plain language, it simply did not exist.
So far as I’m concerned, that’s the heart of liberalism: you take some red-blooded red state icon like Howdy Doody and you succumb to the unbearable temptation to ‘make it more like Europe’ – all ‘modern’, New York stiff and flat. And you emphasize that – hey, it’s just a hat. (Thus does the liberal strike at the heart of American exceptionalism.)
At any rate, I’d rather look at Howdy Doody (even without ears) than Glenn Reynolds.
{ 9 comments }
rea 06.04.10 at 4:29 pm
I’d rather look at Howdy Doody (even without ears) than Glenn Reynolds.
How do you tell the difference?
nnyhav 06.04.10 at 7:10 pm
(His dachshunds were Box & Box II)
BrendanH 06.04.10 at 9:20 pm
Looking at Reynolds every time I clicked on Crooked Timber for the past seventeen weeks confirmed to me that blogging is dead. I’m going back to Usenet.
Gene O'Grady 06.04.10 at 10:26 pm
I remember about forty years ago sitting around one night with she-whom-Ioved-but-didn’t-love-me and reflecting on how little the Howdy Doody revival of the early 70’s had to do with the beloved puppet of our youth.
vivian 06.05.10 at 1:00 am
Thank you John. Now to coax my libido out of the corner where it is rocking and muttering to itself.
Peter 06.05.10 at 4:53 pm
There have been several boxers named Bud Anderson. Given the complete obscurity of many, as well as the age of the photograph, my reasoned guess is that it is this boxer.
Matt McIrvin 06.06.10 at 4:35 am
The odd thing about its “lost” status is that the cartoon got a Little Golden Book adaptation. The artwork isn’t quite in the UPA style–Howdy Doody looks much more like his puppet self, but it’s clearly the same story.
Salient 06.06.10 at 7:17 pm
At any rate, I’d rather look at Howdy Doody (even without ears) than Glenn Reynolds.
Well, honestly, Professor Holbo, as I understand it’s not as if you yourself are possessed of matinee-idol good looks. And to indulge in such blatant objectification of conservatively drawn intellectual luminaries like Mr. Doody? For shame, sir. :)
Looking at Reynolds every time I clicked on Crooked Timber for the past seventeen weeks confirmed to me that blogging is dead. I’m going back to Usenet.
That’s really a bit like saying your favorite lake in Canada is all dried up this year so you’re going to walk back across the North Atlantic land bridge.
Salient 06.06.10 at 7:23 pm
[An aside, for those who don’t ever click over to CT authors’ individual blogsites: the above repost of mds’ earlier comment is only funny if you happen to know the portrait that JH chose to represent himself on J&B’s blog.]
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