This clip has the opening credits, mid-episode bumper, final goodbye song, Clarabell’s “big surprise”, and closing credits from the long-running kids show. It aired on NBC on 24 Sep. 1960. Update (8/31/08) – To those of you who want to own this episode, it will be released at part of a 40-episode Howdy Doody DVD set (in 11/08). (See your favorite dealer.) The set is also very cheap. The street price will be close to – or just 50 cents an episode! Update (May 3, 2009) – Due to popular demand, I’ve uploaded the entire last episode (in eight parts). Watch this if you’d like to get an overview, but watch the others if you’d like to see the whole thing (the video and audio are improved, too!)
Video Rating: 4 / 5
I wonder what Howdy is doing these days since Buffalo Bob is gone?
The clown sounded so depressed at the end.
The hand at the left of the screen during the closing credits seems to be a tiny marionette hand, perhaps Howdy’s.
that bit with clarabelle saying goodbye always tears me up
that nbc didnt even wait a minute to announce howdy’s replacement was cold
didnt in the 1970′s they made a new howdy doody show?
@SuperSundance7 I had a huge crush on Shari Lewis!
I never understood why a male clown would be named Clarabelle!
The lambchop lady was hot
I WAS AN AVID HOWDY DOODY FAN. I LOOKED FORWARD TO SEEING THE SHOW EVERYDAY AND I’LL NEVER FORGET IT. I ENJOYED IT SO MUCH, MAYBE ESPECIALLY, BECAUSE MY FATHER WAS SERIOUSLY ILL AND THE SHOW WAS SUCH A GREAT, FUN ESCAPE. I LOVE WATCHING THE HOWDY DOODY VIDEO, EVEN THOUGH IT’S A LITTLE SAD. I THOUGHT BUFFALO BOB WAS THE GREATEST.
I bet Buffalo Bob wanted to strangle Shari Lewis
Joe Dicso – stage manager on SNL from 75-96 is listed in the credits
I remember this vividly. I bawled my eyes out when Clarabelle said, “Goodbye Kids”……..he talked!……This was one of my favorite shows. I still have a Howdy Doody Little Golden Book & I bought a reproduction Howdy Doody where the mouth moves. I can’t believe I’m 61 years old & still cried while Clarabelle’s lips trembled as he finally said, “Goodbye, kids!” as I watched this again……Lyneeeeeenostalgia
CAN SOMEBODY TELL ME WHY I SEE A HAND DURING THE CREDITS AND WHY I CANT HEAR KIDS CRYING LIKE EVERYBODY CAN?!!
The Ending Is Slighty Disturbing….
Mmmm. Clarabells got a kinda creepy/sexy voice going on.
i can’t hear the kids and what’s that hand at the side at the credits and man, clarabelle scares me a little
@Aldatross nine?
@mattybock nine people are part time clowns?
@iloveshiloh1 it name was lambchop
That clown is creepy also dummies make me a little uneasy as well.
Oh, my goodness. How moving. But it’s odd, too.
For a second I thought, “Well, what a fuss over a TV show going off the air!”, but I suppose in those days, there was a sense of the relationship with the audience that TV doesn’t have now; not with so many channels and programs.
Fifty years since the last episode and there are a ton of comments here. Along with the local kids shows of the 60s and 70s, they will never return in an age of Nick and Disney Channel
I miss Hobo Kelly and Captain Gus.
so sweet! but wow, different world , huh?
This must have been really sad for the kids of that era (including my dad!).. You van hear kids crying in the studio in the background at the credits.
Something random, I had a strange stuffed lamb with closed eyes in my room as a kid, I had no idea where the little guy came from or his name. And now I know.
The last show aired on 9/24/60. It was my 8th birthday. I remember it like it was yesterday. When Clarabell said “good-bye kids” at the end of the show I cried for hours. I now know why I never liked Shari Lewis, she replaced Howdy Doody.