Editing Howdy Doody (section)

==Merchandising and licensing==
Three Musketeers candy bars offered a promotion early in 1950 in which sending in 10 cents and one wrapper from a Three Musketeers bar obtained a Howdy Doody puppet. The show had two one-minute announcements about the promotion on consecutive weeks. The first announcement resulted in 80,000 requests; the second increased the total number of requests to 240,000.<ref>{{cite magazine |date=February 11, 1950 |page=10 |title=Giveaways and Premiums for Kids |url=https://archive.org/details/rossreportstele06ross/page/n18/mode/1up?view=theater |magazine=Ross Reports |access-date=July 19, 2023 }}</ref>  In the early 1960s, William Rosenberg founded a fast food chain, Howdy Beefburgers (later Howdy Beef n' Burger), in Massachusetts, locating many of its restaurants beside Dunkin' Donuts shops so they could share common parking lots to compete with larger chains such as McDonald's for retail space and customer draw. Howdy Beefburgers was inspired by The Howdy Doody Show that had run on television from 1947 to 1960, and even adopted Howdy Doody as its mascot. Serving such products as hamburgers, French fries, fish sandwiches and New England clam chowder, the chain had restaurants in as many as 27 locations throughout New England before dissolving toward the end of the 1970s.

[[File:Howdydoody22452.jpg|thumb|Chad Grothkopf's ''Howdy Doody'' (February 24, 1952)]]
A 1955 merchandise catalog had 24 pages showcasing the range of products licensed by the show. The extensive merchandising included the aforementioned puppet, toys and clothing, plus tie-ins with cereals and other food products. [[Dell Comics|Dell]] published a comic book from 1950 to 1956 along with [[Little Golden Books]] and Tell-a-Tale books, many written by Doody head writer [[Edward Kean]].<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.newsfromme.com/archives/2010_08_24.html#019411|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100828014625/http://www.newsfromme.com/archives/2010_08_24.html|url-status=dead|title=Edward Kean, R.I.P.|archive-date=August 28, 2010}}</ref> In addition Dell scribe [[John Stanley (comics)|John Stanley]] contributed scripts for the comic book.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://stanleystories.blogspot.com/2010/07/stanley-does-doody-infuses-stale-puppet.html|title=STANLEY STORIES: Stanley Does "Doody"--Infuses Stale Puppet, Sidekicks With Energy (Selections from Howdy Doody 4 and 7, 1950/1)|author=Frank M. Young|work=stanleystories.blogspot.com|access-date=April 14, 2015|date=July 14, 2010}}</ref> Kean also did some scripting (along with [[Stan Lee]]) of a [[Sunday strip|Sunday-only Doody comic strip]] through [[United Feature Syndicate]] which ran from October 15, 1950, to June 21, 1953. [[Milt Neil]]<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.lambiek.net/artists/n/neil_milt.htm|title=Milt Neil|website=lambiek.net}}</ref> and [[Chad Grothkopf]]<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.lambiek.net/artists/g/grothkopf_chad.htm|title=Chad Grothkopf|website=lambiek.net}}</ref> were the initial art team through December 3, 1950, after which Grothkopf handled the art solo.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://strippersguide.blogspot.com/2010/09/obscurity-of-day-howdy-doody.html|title=Stripper's Guide|work=strippersguide.blogspot.com|access-date=April 14, 2015}}</ref>

===Cartoon===
[[UPA (animation studio)|UPA]] was hired to do an animated cartoon (''Howdy Doody and his Magic Hat''), the first directorial effort of [[Gene Deitch]] and long thought lost until a print turned up at the [[Library of Congress]] in 2010.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.cartoonbrew.com/classic/lost-upa-cartoon-howdy-doody-and-his-magic-hat.html |title=''Lost UPA Cartoon: Howdy Doody and his Magic Hat'' |publisher=Cartoonbrew.com |access-date=July 14, 2010 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20091202092331/http://www.cartoonbrew.com/classic/lost-upa-cartoon-howdy-doody-and-his-magic-hat.html |archive-date=December 2, 2009 }}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.imdb.com/title/tt1164589/|title=Howdy Doody and His Magic Hat (1954)|author=tavm|date=April 16, 2010|work=IMDb|access-date=April 14, 2015}}</ref> On April 15 of that year, the film was posted online.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.cartoonbrew.com/brewtv/howdydoody-22435.html |title=TV #22: Howdy Doody and His Magic Hat (1953) &#124; Cartoon Brew: Leading the Animation Conversation |publisher=[[Cartoon Brew]] |date= April 15, 2010|access-date=April 21, 2016}}</ref>