I used to rush home from school at lunch to catch the first half hour of Bozo’s Circus on WGN (after the first half hour we switched to Let’s Make a Deal). And in honor of my sister Sue’s ninth birthday—in 1966, when I was six—we got coveted seats on the set. I got to thinking about that day recently, when I read that Larry Harmon, who owned the licensing rights to the character and was largely responsible for Bozo’s iconic look, had died at the age of 83.
Best of Chicago voting is live now. Vote for your favorites »
Created for a series of records and read-along book sets, Bozo first made it onto TV in Los Angeles in 1949. He was originally voiced and then played by Pinto Colvig (who went on to even greater fame as the voice of Goofy), but in 1956 Harmon, who occasionally played the clown at promotional appearances, bought the rights and started shows elsewhere. Harmon was very strict about how Bozo had to look and dress—the orange hair, the big red rose, the blue-and-red suit, the famous size 83AAA shoes.
Oliver O. Oliver, the country bumpkin clown, was played by the brilliant Ray Rayner. (Rayner was a local institution with his own morning show, where he’d host cartoons like Clutch Cargo and interact with the canine puppet Cuddley Duddley and an actual duck named Chelveston, which was constantly attacking him.) Don Sandburg was the silent Sandy the Clown. He left the show a few years later and was replaced by Cooky the Cook, played by Roy Brown, who was also the voice of Cuddley Duddley.
Ringmaster Ned left the show in 1976 and was replaced by WGN star Frazier Thomas, who also hosted Garfield Goose & Friends and Family Classics, two other staples of my childhood. When Bell retired in 1984 he was replaced by comedian Joey D’Auria, who had a 17-year run. The 13-piece Big Top Band I saw on my visit was eventually replaced by a three-piece combo and then by canned music.
