E. Roger Muir Backed Howdy Doody dies

Muir died Thursday near his home in Wolfeboro, N.H. Mr. Muir, who went on to produce other successful shows, including Concentration, was 89. The cause was a stroke, his son, Warren, said.

At a time when big, bulky wood-encased television sets were first coming out of their crates in homes across the country, The Howdy Doody Show was perhaps the primary attraction that brought baby-boom children in from their after-school play in time to settle down before dinner and maybe even homework.

Mr. Muir produced the show throughout its 13-year run on NBC, from 1947 to 1960, and was co-producer with Nick Nicholson of its syndicated version, The New Howdy Doody Show, in 1976 and 1977.

Mr. Muir was a sculptor of the show, said Ron Simon, the radio and television curator at the Paley Center for Media, in New York. Say, kids, what time is it? Buffalo Bob Smith would call out to the children in the Peanut Gallery. Its Howdy Doody time, they would roar back.

Buffalo Bob, a human, and Howdy, a freckle-faced puppet, would prance with the likes of Clarabell the Clown, a horn-honking human, and other puppets, like the always-grumpy Phineas T. Bluster.

In 1961 Mr. Muir and Mr. Nicholson started their own production company. Together, according to The Encyclopedia of TV Game Shows, they produced, among other programs, The Newlywed Game, which was later taken over by Chuck Barris; Pay Cards!, a game show based on poker; and Concentration.