Events Calendar
In This Section
Refugees in U.S. answer call to jihad
Sonia Sotomayor defies typecasting
President tells Africa to work toward future
Cheney linked to concealing CIA project
SOTOMAYOR CONFIRMATION: AT A GLANCE
Hospital worker causes hepatitis scare
British Airways sends team to check evacuated 747
Officer's children recant abuse claims 20 years after his jailing
Most Read Stories
Akron police investigate teen mob attack on family
Man found hanging at playground in Stow
Relatives doubt story of suicide
FBI asked to investigate attack on white family near Firestone Park
Man shot in back near Akron park
Robbery suspect's body left at Akron hospital
Blogs:
Pets:
Zeke, the basketball playing dog
The Heldenfiles:
Friday Notebook
Patrick McManamon:
For your Saturday entertainment …
Akron Zips:
Six new scholarship offers
Browns Bulletin:
Quick thought on Browns rookies
Tribe Matters:
7-12-09 Morning Highlights
Cleveland Browns:
Stallworth test showed marijuana
Kent State Sports:
Men's Basketball Scheduling update
Cleveland Cavaliers:
Andy’s Signed According to ESPN
All Da King's Men:
Our Radical New Science Czar
Blog of Mass Destruction:
Overwhelming Evidence
Akron Law Café:
New Wiretapping Revelations from Inspector General
Varsity Letters:
Report: Ontko selects Wisconsin
See Jane Style:
Oh Baby!
Car Chase:
Where do We Go from Here?
Let's Talk Real Estate:
Closings….Not the Good Kind!
Ohio Travels with Betty:
Margy inquires-when is a Taste of Hudson?
Sound Check:
LeVert II live performance Saturday night — "Dedication" album due July 13,
HRLite House:
DDI One of Best Places to Work
Akron Gamer:
Video game sales drop in May
Published on Friday, Jul 04, 2008
Associated Press
LOS ANGELES: Larry Harmon, who turned the character Bozo the Clown into a show business staple that delighted children for more than a half-century, died at his home Thursday of congestive heart failure. He was 83.
Although not the original Bozo, the Toledo native portrayed the popular clown in countless appearances and, as an entrepreneur, licensed the character to others, particularly dozens of television stations around the country. The stations in turn hired actors to be their local Bozos.
''You might say, in a way, I was cloning BTC [Bozo the Clown] before anybody else out there got around to cloning DNA,'' Harmon said in a 1996 interview.
''Bozo is a combination of the wonderful wisdom of the adult and the childlike ways in all of us.''
Pinto Colvig, who also provided the voice for Walt Disney's Goofy, originated Bozo the Clown when Capitol Records introduced a series of children's records in 1946. Harmon later met his alter ego while answering a casting call to make personal appearances as a clown to promote the records.
He got that job and eventually bought the rights to Bozo. Along the way, he embellished Bozo's distinctive look: the orange-tufted hair, the bulbous nose, the outlandish red, white and blue costume.
The business — combining animation, licensing of the character and personal appearances — made millions, as Harmon trained more than 200 Bozos over the years to represent him in local markets. The Chicago version of Bozo ran on WGN-TV in Chicago for 40 years and was seen in many other cities after cable television transformed WGN into a superstation.
Bozo — portrayed in Chicago for many years by Bob Bell — was so popular that the waiting list for tickets to a TV show eventually stretched to a decade, prompting the station to stop taking reservations for 10 years. On the day in 1990 when WGN started taking reservations again, it took just five hours to book the show for five more years.
Associated Press
LOS ANGELES: Larry Harmon, who turned the character Bozo the Clown into a show business staple that delighted children for more than a half-century, died at his home Thursday of congestive heart failure. He was 83.
Get the full article here.
Comments
Click here to post your comments
