This is 99% invisible. I'm Roman Mars.

Say kids, what time is it?

Howdy, Jody Time?

It's howdy, howdy, doy time.

If your parents or grandparents grew up in the United States in the 1950s,

there's a decent chance that you have heard them sing this song.

And if you're the right age you can

probably sing it yourself in fact if you're a boomer it might be stuck in your

head right now in which case I'm sorry it's those who don't know, this

for those who don't know, this nearly a tonal chanting is the theme song to one of the very first children's television

programs the howdy duty show as reporter and longtime 99 p.I contributor

David Weinberg. The howdy duty Show is one of those pieces of 1950s ephemera like the

hula hoop that has come to symbolize mid-century American childhood.

For over a decade, every weeknight at 5 p.m. kids all across the country would sit down in front of their parents tiny television and take in the Wild West adventures of Buffalo Bob and his Marionette puppet sidekick. Howdy Duty?

Howdy Dody.

Howdy, what do you think we ought to do?

Well, I don't know, Mr. Smith, but I guess everybody likes movies and why don't we show a movie now,

bet you the rabbit...

At the time, there wasn't anything quite like it.

Imagine a singing cowboy performing a puppet show for your birthday,

only five nights a week.

And now imagine nearly every other kid in America enjoying the same party at the same time.

...