Distinctly Montana Magazine

58 D I S T I N C T LY M O N TA N A M A G A Z I N E • S U M M E R 2 0 2 4 I T WAS ONE OF THOSE GORGEOUS MONTANA AUTUMNS that we all hope for at the end of every too-short summer. Billings was awash with red, yellow and orange as the trees reluctantly surrendered their leaves to the wind, and people were easing into sweater weather, enjoying a few extra days of above-aver- age temperatures before the inevitable snowfall ushered in an- other long, cold winter. Then an unspeakable crime sent a sudden chill through the city, plunging its residents into a mild panic. It was an atrocity so shocking that it was mentioned on the national news. They even made a movie about it. One of Montana's most beloved television personalities had been abducted, and the bizarre ransom demand that followed drew the attention of the FBI. The perpetrators were never caught, and the victim was found a short time later, dismembered, his body parts strewn along a fence line outside of town, his decapitated head hanging from a post. Luckily, the body parts were reunited, the head reattached, and the victim was able to return to his popular children's TV show, Froggy Doo and Happy Herb. Froggy Doo, the beloved marionette was as good as new. "They tore him apart pretty good," said "Happy" Herb McAl- lister from his home in Kalispell, where he lives with his wife Janet. "The mouth was torn out and the head was off. We had to put him back together again. We had quite an operation there." Herb built the Froggy Doo character in 1956 for The Happy Herb Show, introducing the puppet on Halloween a year after the show debuted on KFBB in Great Falls. In 1963 McAllister brought his program to a much larger audience at KGHL-TV by EDNOR THERRIAULT THE UNSPEAKABLE CRIME SENT A SUDDEN CHILL THROUGH THE CITY, PLUNGING ITS RESIDENTS INTO A MILD PANIC. IT WAS AN ATROCITY SO SHOCKING THAT IT WAS MENTIONED ON THE NATIONAL NEWS.

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