Howdy Doody vs. Captain Kangaroo

When Golden Records issued Captain Kangaroo's 1961 remake of Howdy Doody's version of "A Christmas Carol" from 1955, the gauntlet was laid down.

So, who's the winner in this battle of former castmates?

Captain Kangaroo was played by Bob Keeshan, who had played the original Clarabell the Clown on "The Howdy Doody Show" back in the day. By Christmas of 1961, "Howdy Doody" had been off the air for a year or so and "Captain Kangaroo" was settled in for a long run.

A hip kid would then want a Captain Kangaroo record, so in the short term, that version would have been the winner.

Looking back over time, however, I think the Howdy Doody gang did a better job with their version of "A Christmas Carol," as adapted by Mary Rodgers.

Part of the reason is that I just think it sounds better. Buffalo Bob Smith is a better singer than Bob Keeshan, so there's that.

Also, I like how the Howdy Doody version uses its cast of characters to inhabit the roles. Howdy is Bob Cratchit, Dilly Dally is Tiny Tim and Captain Scuttlebutt is Scrooge.

With the Captain Kangaroo version, we don't really know who's playing whom. I do like the idea of Captain Kangaroo telling the story to Mr. Green Jeans, however, and the whole thing works well within the flow of the album.

All in all, I'm glad that this ballad was adapted for a slightly newer audience of kids!

A Christmas Carol - Howdy Doody - Part 3

The 1956 Howdy Doody version of "A Christmas Carol" only runs about three and a half minutes. So, what do they manage to fit in?

They actually get a lot in there!

Buffalo Bob narrates the proceedings in song and the other characters speak a few lines here and there.

Bob Cratchit wishes Scrooge "Merry Christmas," but Scrooge says, Bah, humbug" and tells Cratchit that he won't give him a raise.

Scrooge receives a ghostly visitor, who tells him he needs to change his ways and that three other ghosts will teach him. Interestingly, this first visitor is not identified as the ghost of Marley or anyone else.

This makes me think of that 1953 novelty song "Ebenezer Scrooge," which also has an unnamed party warning him.

This ghost has kind of a wacky voice that sounds like it could belong to a character from the show, but it's not billed on the record.

The first spirit is not identified as such, but it's the Ghost of Christmas Past. She shows Scrooge Christmases from the past. We get a little taste of Fezziwig's party, but the twist here is that the ghost says that Scrooge was invited, but didn't go!

This ghost has just that one line, but she has a pleasant sounding voice. This does not seem to be a Doodyville character.

The Ghost of Christmas Present is identified in the song, but he actually doesn't get any lines.

He shows Scrooge Bob Cratchit's family and we hear Tiny Tim say his famous line. Bob then tells us about Tiny Tim and how he can use a raise.

That's all just from the minute and change on Side 1!

Side 2 starts with the Ghost of Christmas Yet to Come, who shows Scrooge his own tomb and sings a little. He also has kind of a "character" voice, but is not identified.

Is this maybe the only version of any sort that has the Ghost of Christmas Yet to Come speak, but not the Ghost of Christmas Present?

In any event, Scrooge reforms and says he'll give his clerk a raise. Bob comes back to tell us that he got his raise and Tiny Tim got well.

The song explains that Scrooge has a happy life ahead and knew how to keep Christmas well.

So, a whirlwind trip through the story in only two sides of a little yellow record!

A Christmas Carol - Howdy Doody (1956) - Part 2

The 1956 Golden Record of Howdy Doody's adaptation of "A Christmas Carol" is a fascinating little thing.

The two sides together run less than three and a half minutes, which is the max for these records, but they squeeze a lot in there.

It's basically a song with some dialogue mixed in. The song itself doesn't have any particular Howdy Doody overtones, so it makes me think it was written before they decided to put Howdy and his friends in it.

The song was written by Mary Rodgers, with last name Beaty at the time, who was the daughter of Broadway luminary Richard Rodgers!

She's an interesting individual herself with credits running from composer of the Broadway show "Once Upon a Mattress" to author of the book "Freaky Friday."

The talent shows in this song, which is a snappy little condensation of the story. Kind of an overlooked gem.

Most of the heavy lifting is done by Buffalo Bob Smith, host of the "Howdy Doody" show and a pretty good singer.

From the Doodyville ranks we get Captain Windy Scuttlebutt as Scrooge. I would have thought that they would go with Phineas T. Bluster in the role, as he's their resident Scroogesque character, while Captain Scuttlebutt is relatively friendly.

I wonder if they just thought Captain Scuttlebutt's voice worked better, with which I'd agree. Or if we want to go meta, did Mr. Bluster refuse to do it, as his lack of Christmas spirit had previously been documented on the earlier "Howdy Doody's Christmas Party" record set?

In any event, the logical role for Howdy himself is Bob Cratchit, and indeed, that's his part here.

We also need a Tiny Tim, and Howdy's pal Dilly Dally has a fitting voice for the one line he gets.

Naturally I think it's awesome that they are billed on the record as performers playing parts!

Holding the whole thing together musically are the orchestra and chorus directed by Mitch Miller. He may have been a square, but he knew what he was doing and never phoned it in, no matter how big or small the project.

So, we have a lot of talent coming together to make a kiddie record that serves as a fun little blast from the past!

A Christmas Carol - Howdy Doody (1956) - Part 1

A Christmas Carol - Howdy Doody (1956)
Musical Director: Mitch Miller
Scrooge: Captain Windy Scuttlebutt

Keeping along the lines of "A Christmas Carol" adaptations featuring established characters, we turn our ears to this little Howdy Doody record.

This was issued by Golden Records in 1956. Golden Records were these little yellow plastic records that were about six inches and played at 78 RPM. Since they were smaller than a 45 and played at a faster speed, there wasn't as much room for content. Each side could only hold up to a minute and 45 seconds or so.

But kids have never had long attention spans anyway, and little hands could hold these and they were hard to break and every record player had the 78 speed back in the day, so it was all good!

Throw in the tons of licensed characters they used and you can see why they were popular in conjunction with their sister Little Golden Books and on their own.

One of the most popular characters of the mid-50s was Howdy Doody, the puppet star of perhaps the biggest kids' show ever.

As befitting his popularity, he was featured on quite a few records, including some Little Golden Records.

Fortunately for us, one of Howdy's records was a two-sided musical adaptation of "A Christmas Carol."

Give it a listen and then we'll do our usual deep dive...