Edward George Kean (October 28, 1924 – August 13, 2010) was an American television pioneer and writer who helped create ''
The Howdy Doody Show'' and wrote over 2,000 episodes of the program.
Early years
Kean was born in 1924 in
Manhattan. As a child, he started writing songs while at summer camp.
[ Kean served in the United States Navy during World War II. He was based at Cornell University through the V-12 Navy College Training Program and earned a degree from Columbia University.][McLellan, Dennis]
"Edward Kean dies at 85; head writer for 'The Howdy Doody Show': Kean created storylines and characters and wrote songs for the wildly popular half-hour children's show, which ran five days a week throughout the 1950s. He also invented the word 'cowabunga'".
'' Los Angeles Times'', August 24, 2010. Accessed August 24, 2010.
Howdy Doody
A song he wrote when he was in his 20s attracted the interest of Buffalo Bob Smith, then hosting a radio show, and Smith hired Kean as a writer. When Smith was invited by NBC in 1947 to create a television program for children, he came along to create "something that will keep the small fry intently absorbed, and out of possible mischief, for an hour" as he told '' Variety''.
The show debuted as ''Puppet Playhouse'' on December 27, 1947, as a Saturday morning program and was aired as a half-hour program five days each week at 5:30 PM from 1948 through 1956 on 200 television stations nationwide.[Hevesi, Dennis]
"Edward Kean, Chief Writer of ‘Howdy Doody’, Dies at 85"
'' The New York Times'', August 24, 2010; accessed August 24, 2010.
Stephen Davis, a historian who wrote the 1987 book, ''Say Kids! What Time Is It?'', which chronicled the history of ''The Howdy Doody Show'', credited Kean with writing the show's theme song as the program's "chief writer, philosopher and theoretician". In his eight years with the show, he scripted "almost every line spoken and every note sung", created characters such as Clarabell the Clown
Clarabell the Clown is a character who was part of the main cast on the 1947-1960 series ''The Howdy Doody Show''. Clarabell, who wore a baggy, striped costume, communicated through mime and by honking a horn for "yes" or "no". Clarabell would also ...
and Princess Summerfall Winterspring
''Howdy Doody'' is an American Children's television series, children's television program (with circus and Western (genre), Western frontier themes) that was created and produced by Victor F Campbell , and conceived of Howdy Doody's 1948 run for President of the United States. Kean coined the word "kawabonga" as a greeting for the character Chief Thunderthud,