Edward Kean, the writer behind the legendary TV show Howdy Doody, has died at the age of 85.
Mr. Kean made an amazing contribution to early television, almost single-handedly writing the popular series (including authoring many of its songs) and doing it on a daily basis. This obit will tell you all about his life but I wanted to append that Kean scripted many of the Howdy Doody comic books, as well as other kinds of Howdy Doody books for Western Publishing. In the late fifties, after Kean made the transition from Doody-writing to stockbrokering, he occasionally wrote for Western's New York office — more kids' books of a non-Doody bent, along with intermittent comics. They were the least of his accomplishments but they should be mentioned.