Strings of Time: Witter's timeless marionette display is a reminder of Howdy's origins, long before the doody hit the fan

It was an age of dungarees, playing cowboys and indians, dime double sodas and an infant medium called television. But innocence doesn't last forever.

Storm Lake native Margo Skewis Rose spent her lifetime making children smile, but after her death, her greatest achievement became a controversial tangle of marionette strings - a twisting, turning story of intrigue, potential riches, and a bizarre legal battle for custody.

Of a puppet.

But not just any puppet - the most beloved puppet character of all time, the nearly priceless star of over 2,300 episodes of the "Howdy Doody Show" from the late 1940s until 1960.

So how does a pretty young Storm Lake artist come to be involved in such a mess? It's a long story that begins long ago, at a pleasant family home at 303 Lake Avenue in Storm Lake. Margaret, the middle daughter of local builder and grain company owner Charles Skewis, grew up in that house, where the children were encouraged to delve into the arts. Older sister Dorothy, who went on to study at the Chicago Institute of Arts and help found the Witter Art Gallery in Storm Lake, taught her sister how to make simple paper mache puppets. They gave shows in the backyard, charging buttons and pins for admission.

As a young woman, Margaret worked in the summer as a swimming instructor at Lake Okoboji, where she remembered the childhood skill. She passed her free time by putting on puppet shows for the visiting children.

Four years later, in 1928, she was working on a fledgling career as an actress when she met Rufus Rose, a young thespian with the same company who was also interested in pupperty. Love pulled at the stings of their hearts, and by 1931, the Rufus Rose Marionette Company was in full swing. A few years later, the now-famous performing duo helped to form the Puppetters of America.

Read more of this story in the March 6 Pilot Tribune.