He used to play records with children's song -- which I presumed made them the canonical versions. It was especially exciting when we had the very same performance recorded on those little yellow 78rpm's. (I still remember how annoyed I was in second grade when the kids insisted on singing "Here Comes Suzy Snowman" with incorrect phrasing.)
I notice that Bob Keeshan stopped being Howdy Doody's Clarabelle the Clown long before I ever watched that show. That's good, because I always hated the character. I thought the character was surreal and pathetic, and I didn't understand the fun of laughing at the handicapped. (Clarabelle was a mute; and the jerky way the little red-haired boy moved clearly indicated some sort of neurological condition. Of course, at three I didn't have the vocabulary to express my concerns.)
For similar reasons I disliked Dancing Bear on the Captain Kangaroo show. He never said a
word, but had a big black mouth that was always wide open round as if he was trying to scream, but couldn't. Years later, I saw a line from a horror movie ad that reminded me of it -- it went: "I HAVE NO MOUTH, AND CANNOT SCREAM!")
[ January 26, 2004: Message edited by: Frank Silbermann ]