Howdy

Television, always solid with sport fans, has proved that it can also score a hit with youngsters. NBC's "Howdy Doody," a lop-legged, mop-wigged puppet with a Snerdish grin, is the children's special delight.*

Having recently decided to run for President, Howdy adds a new "thingumajig" to his platform each week from viewers' suggestions (samples: cut-rate banana splits, more pictures in history books, free circus and rodeo admissions). Last week Howdy announced that he would send campaign buttons to any child who wrote in. Two days later, the first order of 5,000 buttons had been exhausted, and requests were still arriving by the sackful.

* Also some grownups': Arturo Toscanini, arriving early at the NBC studio to conduct his first television concert (TIME, March 29), overlooked CBS's competing production (the Philadelphia Orchestra's first telecast) and happily tuned in Howdy.

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