Bozo the Clown

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Pinto Colvig, the original Bozo the Clown (circa 1948)
Pinto Colvig, the original Bozo the Clown (circa 1948)

Bozo the Clown (also known as Bozo), is the name of a clown whose widespread franchising in early television made him the best-known clown character in the United States. Although the generic name Bozo is reckoned "of uncertain origin" by the Random House Unabridged Dictionary[1] and given an earliest use of c. 1915–20, when it was a common term referring to hobo or tramp clowns, the equation of "Bozo" and "dunce" may be credited to Anselm of Canterbury, who laid out many of his treatises in the familiar form of a dialogue, between A, who was Anselm, and B, who was Boso, who never got it right.[2]

Contents

[edit] History

Bozo the Clown was created in 1946 by Alan W. Livingston who produced a children's storytelling record-album and illustrative read-along book set which Livingston called a "Record Reader", the first of its kind, titled Bozo at the Circus for Capitol Records. Pinto Colvig portrayed the character on this and subsequent Bozo read-along records. The albums were extremely popular and the character became a mascot for the record company and was later nicknamed "Bozo the Capitol Clown." In 1949, Capitol and Livingston began setting up royalty arrangements with manufacturers and television stations for use of the Bozo character. KTTV-TV in Los Angeles began broadcasting the first show, "Bozo's Circus", featuring Colvig as Bozo with his blue-and-red costume, oversized red hair and classic "whiteface" clown makeup (as seen in photo) on Fridays at 7:30 p.m.

In 1956, Larry Harmon, one of several actors hired by Livingston and Capitol Records to portray Bozo at promotional appearances, formed a business partnership and bought the licensing rights (excluding the record-readers) to the character when Livingston briefly left Capitol in 1956. Harmon had the vision and the drive to take advantage of the growing television industry and make a better future for Bozo. He renamed the character "Bozo, The World’s Most Famous Clown" and modified the voice, laugh and costume. He then worked with a wig stylist to get the wing-tipped bright orange style and look of the hair that had previously appeared in Capitol's Bozo comic books. He started his own animation studio and distributed (through business partner Jayark Films Corporation) a series of cartoons (with Harmon as the voice of Bozo) to television stations, along with the rights for each to hire its own live Bozo host, beginning with KTLA-TV in Los Angeles on January 5, 1959 and starring Vance Colvig, Jr., son of the original "Bozo the Clown", Pinto Colvig. Unlike many other shows on television, "Bozo the Clown" was a franchise as opposed to being syndicated, meaning that local TV stations could put on their own local productions of the show complete with their own Bozo. Another show that had previously used this model successfully was Romper Room. Since each market used a different portrayer for the character, the voice and look of each market's Bozo also differed. One example is the voice and laugh of Chicago's Bob Bell, who also wore a red costume throughout the first decade of his portrayal.

[edit] Local Bozos

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This is a list of local television portrayers of Bozo since the original (Pinto Colvig):

[edit] United States

[edit] Canada

[edit] Mexico

[edit] Bozo on Chicago TV

The final incarnation of the Bozo franchise on WGN-TV from 1994 to 2001 had this logo.
The final incarnation of the Bozo franchise on WGN-TV from 1994 to 2001 had this logo.

The Chicago Bozo franchise was the most popular and successful locally-produced children's program in the history of television. It also became the most widely-known Bozo show as WGN-TV became a national cable television staple. Chicago's Bozo debuted on June 20, 1960 starring Bob Bell on a live half-hour show, weekdays at noon, performing comedy sketches and introducing cartoons. It evolved into Bozo's Circus on September 11, 1961, as a live hour-long show with additional cast members, a 13-piece orchestra, circus acts, games and prizes before a 200+ member studio audience. Erstwhile WGN-TV children's show host Ned Locke of Lunchtime Little Theater and Paddleboat presided as "Ringmaster Ned." Although Bell had previously portrayed Bozo, the character did not appear on the September 11th telecast due to a budgeting error by producer Jim McGinn. Hal Taylor, an NCAA trampoline champion from the University of Wisconsin, performed and served as Locke's foil in comedy sketches. Bell returned as Bozo the next day. In the early months of the series, a respected English acrobatic clown, Wimpey (played by Bertram William Hiles) worked on the show, providing some legitimate circus background and performing opposite Bell's Bozo in comedy sketches. Hiles continued to make periodic guest appearances on the show into the mid-1960s. In October 1961, Don Sandburg joined the show as producer and principal sketch writer, and also appeared as the mute clown Sandy, a character partly inspired by Harpo Marx. (He was announced by Locke at the start of each show as Sandy the Tramp, although Sandburg himself preferred to be called Sandy the Clown). By November, another eventual Chicago television legend joined the show's cast, Ray Rayner. Rayner was hosting WGN's Dick Tracy Show (which also premiered the same day as Bozo's Circus) and later replaced Dick Coughlan as host of Breakfast with Bugs Bunny, which was rechristened Ray Rayner and His Friends. Rayner portrayed Oliver O. Oliver, a country bumpkin from Puff Bluff, Kentucky. WGN musical director Bob Trendler led the WGN Orchestra, consisting of 13 musicians and dubbed the "Big Top Band." Games on the show included the "Grand Prize Game" created by Sandburg, where a boy and girl were selected from the studio audience by the Magic Arrows, and later the Bozoputer (a random number generator), to toss a ping-pong ball into a series of successively-numbered buckets until they missed. If they made the winning toss into the sixth bucket, they received a cash prize, a bike and, in later years, a trip. It became so popular, Larry Harmon adapted it for other Bozo shows (as "Bozo Buckets" to some and "Bucket Bonanza" to others) and also licensed home and coin-operated versions.

Over time, new characters were introduced to the cast. Some made a lasting impression while others were briefly tenured. In October 1968, Bell was hospitalized for a brain aneurysm and was absent from the show for several months. Meanwhile, Sandburg resolved to leave the show for the West Coast but stayed longer while Bell recuperated. To pick up the slack, WGN floor manager Richard Shiloh Lubbers appeared as Monty Melvin, named after a schoolmate of Sandburg's, while WGN Garfield Goose and Friends and Ray Rayner and His Friends puppeteer Roy Brown created a new character, Cooky the Cook. Magician Marshall Brodien, who had been making semi-regular guest appearances in which he frequently interacted with the clowns, also appeared as a wizard character in an Arabian Nights-inspired costume and by the early 1970s evolved into Wizzo the Wizard. Sandburg finally left the show in January 1969 and Bell returned in March. Lubbers left as well with Brown staying on as a permanent cast member. Rayner left Bozo's Circus in 1971 and was briefly replaced, first by Pat Tobin as Oliver's cousin Elrod T. Potter and then by magician John Thompson (an acquaintance of Brown's and Brodien's) as Clod Hopper. (Tobin previously had played Bozo on a local production on KSOO-TV in Sioux Falls, South Dakota.) Rayner periodically returned to guest host as himself in his morning show's jumpsuit as "Mr. Ray" when Ned Locke was absent. By 1973, WGN gave up on Thompson and increased Brodien's appearances as Wizzo. In 1975, Bob Trendler retired from television and his Big Top Band was reduced to a three-piece band led by Tom Fitzsimmons. Ned Locke also retired from television in 1976 and was replaced by Frazier Thomas, host of WGN's Family Classics and Garfield Goose and Friends, at which point Garfield Goose and Friends ended its 24-year run on Chicago television with the puppets moving to an abbreviated segment on Bozo's Circus. As the storyline went, Garfield "bought" Bozo's Circus from the retiring Mr. Ned and appointed "Prime Minister" Thomas as the new Circus Manager.

By 1980, Chicago's public schools stopped allowing students to go home for lunch and Ray Rayner announced his imminent departure from his morning show and Chicago television. Bozo’s Circus was renamed The Bozo Show and moved to weekdays at 8:00 a.m., on tape, immediately following Ray Rayner and His Friends. On January 26, 1981, The Bozo Show replaced Ray Rayner and His Friends at 7:00 a.m. The program expanded to 90 minutes, the circus acts and Garfield Goose and Friends puppets were dropped, while Cuddly Dudley and more cartoons are added. In 1983, Pat Hurley, from ABC-TV's Kids Are People Too, joined the cast as himself mingling with the studio audience and periodically participating in the sketches. The biggest change occurred in 1984 with the retirement of Bob Bell, with the show still #1 in its timeslot. After a nationwide search, Bell was replaced by Gong Show regular Joey D'Auria, who would play the role of Bozo for the next 17 years. In 1985, Frazier Thomas died and Hurley served as a semi-authority through the end of the 1986-1987 season. At that point, Hurley was "downsized" in a series of cutbacks, with the show's timeslot being reduced to 60 minutes. The selection of cartoons featured on the show was streamlined; also that year, a synthesizer performed by Andy Mitran as Professor Andy replaced the three-piece Big Top Band. Roy Brown began suffering heart-related problems and was absent from the show for an extended period during the 1991-92 season. Since this coincided with the show's 30th anniversary, a reunion special was produced and Don Sandburg returned to play Sandy, filling in for Cooky for the first two weeks of the season. Actor Adrian Zmed (best known from ABC-TV's T.J. Hooker), who was a childhood fan of Bozo's Circus and former Grand Prize Game contestant, also appeared on the special and portrayed himself as a "Rookie Clown" for the following two weeks. Actor Michael Immel then joined the show as Spiffy (Spifford Q. Fahrquahrrr). Brown returned in January 1992, initially on a part-time basis, but suffered additional health setbacks and took another extended leave of absence in the fall of 1993.

Brown's presence on the show remained as previously aired segments as Cooky and Cuddly Dudley were incorporated until 1994, when he and Marshall Brodien retired from television and the show was moved to Sunday mornings and rechristened The Bozo Super Sunday Show on September 11th. Immel, Brown and Brodien were replaced by new characters: Robin Eurich as Rusty the Handyman (whose father, Howell Eurich, had been the local Bozo in El Paso, Texas), along with the show's first female characters, Pepper (Cathy Schenkelberg) and Tunia (Michele Gregory). Schenkelberg and Gregory rotated each week until Schenkelberg left in 1996. The show's format was revised in 1997 in response to an FCC rule requiring broadcast television stations to air a minimum three hours per week of "educational and informational" children's programs. In 1998, Gregory left the show.

The last show taped on June 12, 2001 was the Bozo: 40 Years of Fun! special, and aired on July 14, 2001, featuring a guest appearance by singer Billy Corgan, a loyal fan of the WGN show, who performed Bob Dylan's "Forever Young." The final rerun of The Bozo Super Sunday Show was broadcast August 26, 2001.

WGN-TV's Bozo returned to the airwaves on a two-hour retrospective titled Bozo, Gar & Ray: WGN TV Classics on December 24, 2005. The primetime premiere was #1 in the Chicago market and has since been rebroadcast annually during the holiday season.

[edit] Chicago Bozo Trivia

  • On September 11, 1978, the show celebrated its 17th anniversary, with guest appearances by acting Chicago Mayor Michael Bilandic and WGN-based talk show host Phil Donahue.
  • On a show taped February 6, 1984 and aired the following week, Ray Rayner, who was visiting Chicago to play Nathan Detroit in a Candelight Dinner Playhouse production of Guys and Dolls, returned for a guest appearance (dressed in his familiar Ray Rayner and His Friends jumpsuit) and sang the title song of the musical with Bob Bell as Bozo and Roy Brown as Cooky.
  • On April 4, 1984, local and national media jammed WGN-TV's Studio One to cover Bob Bell's final show taping as Bozo. The final sketch involved a pie fight and Bell, covered with shaving cream, led his final Grand March.
  • On September 5, 1984, Joey D'Auria taped his first Bozo Show. It aired five days later in September 10, 1984.
  • On April 3, 1985, William Frazier Thomas died at the age of 66 in Chicago. The City Council of the City of Chicago passed a resolution naming Bradley Place, between Campbell Avenue and Talman Avenue, "Frazier Thomas Place."
  • The Bozo 25th Anniversary Special was telecast live from Medinah Temple on September 7, 1986 reuniting current with former cast members Ned Locke as Ringmaster Ned, Bob Trendler with the Big Top Band, Ray Rayner as Oliver O. Oliver, and Don Sandburg as Sandy. Joey D'Auria, who portrayed Bozo throughout the show, introduced Bob Bell (as himself) to a lengthy standing ovation.
  • During the height of the Bo Jackson TV ads with the running theme "Bo knows football", "Bo knows baseball", etc., WGN-TV had a clever promo featuring Bozo with the theme that "Boze" knows football, baseball, news, etc. Naturally, Bozo was mostly in over his head, finding himself tangled up in videotape and so forth.
  • On September 8, 1991, The Bozo Show 30th Anniversary Special featured Joey D'Auria as Bozo, Marshall Brodien as Wizzo, and Don Sandburg as Sandy. Ray Rayner (again as himself wearing the jumpsuit) co-hosted the show, introducing clips with D'Auria. Rayner also "brought along" Chelveston the duck from his old morning show. Ned Locke appeared as Ringmaster Ned midway through the special to preside over the Grand Prize Game.
  • On February 4, 1992, Norbert Stoyke “Ned” Locke died at the age of 72 in Kimberling City, Missouri. He served as mayor of Kimberling City from 1988 until his death.
  • The Bozo Super Sunday Show celebrated its 35th anniversary on September 8, 1996 with a regular feature, "The Best Of Bozo", presenting vintage clips each week. Roy Brown returned to play Cooky on the season premiere telecast which also featured footage from Bob Bell's recent induction into the International Clown Hall Of Fame in Wisconsin. Cooky led the Grand March that day. He had previously led the Grand March on a few other occasions: September 30, 1988 after a fan had presented WGN with a 10,000-signature petition; January 13, 1992 when Cooky returned to the show after an extended illness; December 23, 1992 for his induction into the International Clown Hall Of Fame; and at least two other instances in the late 1970s and the 1992-93 season when "Fair and Square Contest" bits did not work out as planned.
  • On December 8, 1997, Robert Lewis "Bob" Bell died at the age of 75 in San Marcos, California. Illinois Governor Jim Edgar and Chicago Mayor Richard M. Daley proclaimed April 18, 1998 "Bob Bell Day" in the State of Illinois and City of Chicago. The City Council of the City of Chicago passed a resolution naming Addison Street, between Western Avenue and the Chicago River (near the WGN-TV Studios), "Bob Bell Way."
  • Actor Dan Castellaneta, a Chicago native, has credited Bob Bell's Bozo (with his slightly raspy voice) as the inspiration for his very raspy-voiced characterization of Krusty the Clown on The Simpsons television series.
  • On a show taped October 25, 2000 and aired December 31, 2000, Roy Brown made an appearance as Cooky at the tail end of a pie fight and, again, led the Grand March. This turned out to be the final episode of The Bozo Super Sunday Show taped, prior to the Bozo: 40 Years of Fun! finale several months later. WGN intended to repeat this episode for the show's final broadcast on Sunday, August 26, 2001, but since it was New Year's Eve themed, only the final couple of segments featuring Cooky were edited into a rerun of a different episode.
  • On January 22, 2001, Roy Thomas Brown died at the age of 68 in Elk Grove Village, Illinois.
  • On January 21, 2004, Raymond M. Rahner (Rayner) died at the age of 84 in Fort Myers, Florida.

[edit] Bozo urban legends

Many rumors have arisen about misbehavior on a Bozo show making it onto the air although none have been substantiated and relatively few of the local Bozo episodes were preserved on tape. The most famous tale involves Bozo attempting to manage the behavior of an outspoken child by making the comment, "That's a Bozo no-no", which is said to have elicited the response from the kid: "Cram it, clownie!" On a Kermit Schaefer compilation of bloopers, a clip appears with the retort, "Fuck off, clown!". However, Schaefer was notorious for fabricating audio clips using hired actors.

[edit] Ronald McDonald

Former Washington, D.C. Bozo, Willard Scott, as Ronald McDonald in 1963.
Former Washington, D.C. Bozo, Willard Scott, as Ronald McDonald in 1963.

Immediately following Willard Scott's three-year-run as WRC-TV Washington, D.C.'s Bozo, the show's sponsors, McDonald's drive-in restaurant franchisees John Gibson and Oscar Goldstein (Gee Gee Distributing Corporation), hired Scott to portray "Ronald McDonald, the Hamburger-Happy Clown" for their local commercials on the character's first three television 'spots.' McDonald's replaced Scott with other actors for their national commercials and the character's costume was changed. One of them was Ray Rayner (Oliver O. Oliver on WGN-TV's Bozo's Circus), who appeared in McDonald's national ads in 1968.

[edit] Bozo around the world

Bozo TV shows were also produced in other countries including: Mexico, Thailand, Greece and Brazil. Larry Harmon has claimed that more than 200 actors have portrayed the clown.

[edit] Brazil

In 1981, Brazil's famous TV show host Silvio Santos (founder and owner of the SBT television network) decided to produce a national version of a Bozo the Clown show for the extinct TVS-Record TV station. Comedian Wandeko Pipoca was chosen by Larry Harmon to be the first Brazilian Bozo.

With the clown's large success in Brazil, two more actors, Luís Ricardo and Arlindo Barreto, were hired to play Bozo for additional shows which ran from mornings to afternoons and more comedians were chosen to play Bozo in other parts of the country. Brazil's Bozo shows ended in 1991, following the death of Décio Roberto, the last actor to portray the clown in that country.

Brazil's Bozo won five Troféu Imprensa, a famous Brazilian award given to personalities and productions in the media (in 1984, 1985, 1986, 1987 and 1989), as well as three Gold Albums.

[edit] "Bozo" as generic noun or verb

  • The Firesign Theatre produced a comedy album called, I Think We're All Bozos on This Bus.
  • At the height of the Watergate scandal, comedian Robert Klein observed how apt it was that Richard Nixon's good friend was named Bebe Rebozo, as his last name sounded like a verb meaning "to Bozo again."
  • Trucker radio host Dale Sommers, who goes by the name "The Truckin' Bozo", supposedly got his nickname by kicking an unsupported wall, causing it to fall over and prompting his boss to say "God, you're a bozo."
  • Comedian Jerry Seinfeld has suggested in his stand-up act that "the Clown" part of the moniker "Bozo the Clown" is superfluous - "Are we going to confuse him with Bozo the Tax Attorney? Bozo the Pope?" says Seinfeld.
  • The term is used in a clear derogatory sense in the 1931 Marx Brothers film, Monkey Business - Alky Briggs (Harry Woods): "Say, I can help you bozos!" Groucho: "Mister Bozos to you!" Alky Briggs: "Alright, mister Bozo."

[edit] Mexican parody of Bozo

In Mexico, TV star, comedian and political commentarist Victor Trujillo created in 1988 the character of Brozo, El Payaso Tenebroso (Brozo, the Creepy Clown) as a parody of Bozo for a TV Azteca program with Ausencio Cruz called La Caravana (The Caravan). He pleased the audience with his typical Mexican double-entendre humor and adult, sarcastic versions of classic children's tales. He became so popular that TV Azteca asked him to join the reporters and anchors during coverage of the FIFA World Cup in 1994, 1998 and 2002. He also gave his particular view on the Olympics, starting with the 1992 Summer Olympics in Barcelona until the 2004 Summer Olympics in Athens. From 2002 to 2004, Trujillo as Brozo was anchor of a popular and successful TV news show: El Mañanero[1]. Curiously, it was broadcast on TV Azteca's XHTVM-TV and later Televisa, since TV Azteca was unable to provide him a daily morning timeslot. Trujillo discontinued the Brozo character, mostly in respect for his late wife, producer Carolina Padilla. However, due the popularity of the character, Trujillo brought back Brozo in a new TV program that began in early 2006 on Televisa´s XEW-TV.

[edit] See also

[edit] Notes

  1. ^ Random House Unabridged Dictionary, 2006
  2. ^ Constance B. Bouchard, "The Bosonids or Rising to Power in the Late Carolingian Age" French Historical Studies 15.3 (Spring 1988, pp. 407-431) p. 408. Bouchard notes that the name had previously been carried by numerous Carolingian aristocrats: see Boso of Provence.

[edit] External links

[edit] Bozo the Clown on WGN-TV (U.S.)

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