Voice legend Allen Swift passed away last weekend but so far, I haven't seen an obit in any major news source. I'm sure they're coming…but in the meantime, Barry Mitchell has assembled a video of some of Swift's work on the Howdy Doody show. As I noted here, Swift joined the cast when several of the actors were hired and he used his gift for mimickry to give new voices to various denizens of Doodyville — for a time, most of the important males except for Howdy. The show's star, "Buffalo" Bob Smith voiced Howdy…but then Smith had a heart attack and Swift took over that job. The producers were so happy with how he did it that when Buffalo Bob returned to the show, Swift continued to speak for Howdy. Here's a sample, along with Swift doing an on-camera role…
