Bozo the Clown is dead

[VITE1]

https://www.pix11.com/entertainment/...s-died-report?
fbclid=IwAR163q8nCtjPCCEoSWQKFfOFT0EeKI4GfEDeJiREsOuxxXvAbgf5OfPQJ6k

NEW YORK — Bill Britten, who played a beloved "Bozo the Clown" on WPIX, has died, according to an obituary on legacy.com.

He passed away on Feb. 4, PIX11 learned over the weekend.

Britten also played the memorable role of "Johnny Jellybean" on "Time for Fun."

In addition to performing, Britten worked as a programming director at WNYC and taught drama at the Performing Arts High School in New York, according to his obituary.

[Rodnok1]

I watched Bozo on WGN out of Chicago when a kid, if we tuned the antenna just right I could get it.

[Mike Mercury]

from Wikipee:

The character was created by Alan W. Livingston and portrayed by Pinto Colvig for a children's storytelling record album and illustrative read-along book set in 1946. He became popular during the 1940s and served as the mascot for Capitol Records.

The character first appeared on US television in 1949 portrayed by Colvig. After the creative rights to Bozo were purchased by Larry Harmon in 1956, the character became a common franchise across the United States, with local television stations producing their own Bozo shows featuring the character. Harmon bought out his business partners in 1965 and produced Bozo's Big Top for syndication to local television markets not producing their own Bozo shows in 1966, while Chicago's Bozo's Circus, which premiered in 1960, went national via cable and satellite in 1978.

Performers who have portrayed Bozo, aside from Colvig and Harmon, include Willard Scott (1959–1962), Frank Avruch (1959–1970), Bob Bell (1960–1984), and Joey D'Auria (1984–2001). Bozo TV shows were also produced in other countries including Mexico, Brazil, Greece, Australia and Thailand.

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 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 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 mostly 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 fellow children's program Romper Room. Because each market used a different portrayer for the character, the voice and look of each market's Bozo also differed slightly. One example is the voice and laugh of Chicago's WGN-TV Bob Bell, who also wore a red costume throughout the first decade of his portrayal. [/img]

In 1965, Harmon bought out his business partners and became the sole owner of the licensing rights. Thinking that one national show that he fully owned would be more profitable for his company, Harmon produced 130 of his own half-hour shows from 1965 to 1967 titled Bozo's Big Top which aired on Boston's WHDH-TV (now WCVB-TV) with Boston's Bozo, Frank Avruch, for syndication in 1966. Avruch's portrayal and look of Bozo resembled Harmon's more so than most of the other portrayer's at the time. Avruch was enlisted by UNICEF as an international ambassador and was featured in a documentary, Bozo's Adventures in Asia.

The show's distribution network included New York City, Los Angeles, Washington, D.C. and Boston at one point, though most television stations still preferred to continue producing their own versions. The most popular local version was Bob Bell and WGN-TV Chicago's Bozo's Circus, which went national via cable and satellite in 1978 and had a waiting list for studio audience reservations that eventually reached ten years.

Bell retired in 1984 and was replaced by Joey D'Auria. The WGN version successfully survived competition from syndicated and network children's programs until 1994, when WGN management decided to get out of the weekday children's television business and buried The Bozo Show in an early Sunday timeslot as The Bozo Super Sunday Show. It suffered another blow in 1997, when its format became educational following a Federal Communications Commission mandate requiring broadcast television stations to air a minimum three hours of educational children's programs per week.

Local TV Bozos

Austin, Texas
James Franklin Davis III at KHFI TV 42

Baltimore, Maryland
Stu Kerr (1960s) at WMAR-TV

Bangor, Maine
Mike Dolley (1962–1967) at WABI-TV

Birmingham, Alabama
Bart Darby (1961–1962) at WBRC-TV
Ward McIntyre (1962–1968) at WBRC-TV

Boston, Massachusetts
Frank Avruch (1959–1970) at WHDH-TV (now WCVB-TV)

Buffalo, New York
Francis X Stack at WUTV-TV

Belo Horizonte, Brazil
Jonas Santos (1980s) at TV Alterosa
Evandro Antunes (1980s) at TV Alterosa

Brazil (national broadcasting based in São Paulo)[26]
Wandeko Pipoca (1980–1981) at TV Record São Paulo and TVS Rio de Janeiro; at SBT (1981–1982)
Edilson Oliveira (1986–1987) at SBT
Décio Roberto (1984–1991) at SBT
Paulo Seyssel (1980s) at SBT
André Luiz Sucesso (2007–2011, guest appearances) at SBT
Jean Santos (2012–2014) at SBT

Charlotte, North Carolina
Jim Patterson (1962–1966) at WBTV-TV

Chicago, Illinois
Bob Bell (1960–1984) at WGN-TV
Joey D'Auria (1984–2001) at WGN-TV

Cincinnati, Ohio
Bob Shreve (1965-1968) at WKRC-TV

Dayton/Springfield, Ohio
David Eaton (late 1960s – early 1970s) at WSWO-TV

Denver, Colorado
Ned Austin (1956–1961) at KUSA (KBTV Channel 9)

Detroit, Michigan (see also Windsor, Ontario)
Bob McNea (1959–1967) at WWJ-TV
Jerry Booth (1967) at CKLW-TV
Art Cervi (1967–1979) at CKLW-TV (1967–1977) and WJBK-TV (1977–1979)

El Paso, Texas
Howell Eurich (1968–1972) at KROD-TV

Flint, Michigan
Frank Cady (1967–1979)[27] at WJRT-TV

Fort Wayne, Indiana
Dan Berry (1987–1989)

Grand Rapids, Michigan
Bill Merchant (August 1966 – 1968) at WZZM-TV
Dick Richards (1968–1999) at WZZM-TV

Green Bay, Wisconsin
Jerry Drake (1960s) at WLUK-TV

Jacksonville, Florida
Andrew H. Amyx (1961–1966) at WFGA-TV (now WTLV-TV)
Bill Boydston (1967–1975) at WFGA-TV (now WTLV-TV)

Roger Bowers as WJHL-TV Johnson City, Tennessee's Bozo.

Johnson City, Tennessee
Roger Bowers (1960–1961) at WJHL-TV (Bowers used a ventriloquist dummy that looked like Bozo's "little pal Butchie" in the cartoons.)

Little Rock, Arkansas
Gary Weir (1966–early 1970s) at KATV-TV; also (late 1980s) at KARK-TV; also at KAIT-TV in Jonesboro, Arkansas (1970s–1980s); also at KLRT-TV in Little Rock in the late 1980s.

Los Angeles, California
Vance Colvig, Jr. (1959–1964) at KTLA-TV (son of the original Bozo the Clown)

Memphis, Tennessee
Jim Chapin (1955) at WHBQ-TV

Mexico City
Jose Manuel Vargas (1960s–1990s) at Canal de las Estrellas

Miami, Florida
Alan Rock (1968–1970) at WAJA-TV

Moline, Illinois
Keith Andrews (1967) at WQAD-TV

Monterrey
Jose Marroquin (1961–1963) at XHX-TV

Nashville, Tennessee
Tom Tichenor (1959) at WSM-TV (now WSM-TV) (WSM-TV later became WSMV-TV)
Dick Brackett (late 1959–1966) at WSM-TV (now WSM-TV) (Tom Tichenor accepted a Broadway show opportunity and Dick Brackett took his place.)
Joe Holcombe (mid 1960s – late 1970s) at WSIX-TV (now WKRN-TV). His wife played Cousin Littlefoot, an Indian Maid Clown.
Jim Kent (late 1960 to early 1970s) at WSIX-TV (now WKRN-TV)

New Bedford, Massachusetts
Bennett B. Schneider IV (1970–1972) at WTEV-TV (now WLNE-TV)

New Orleans, Louisiana
Samuel "Sonny" Tustin Adams, Jr. (1957–?) at WWL-TV[28]
Rob Labby 1970's

New York City, New York
Bill Britten (1959–1964) at WPIX-TV
Gordon Ramsey (1969–1970) at WOR-TV
Orlando, Florida
Alan Rock (1971–1974) at WFTV-TV

Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Doug Wing (1969) (WTAF-TV)
Craig Michael Mann (1970) (WTAF-TV)
Deon Aumier (1989–1990) at WGBS-TV
Bob McCone (1990–1994) (WGBS-TV)

Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
Deeny Kaplan at WPGH-TV

Providence, Rhode Island
Jeremy Baker at WNAC-TV

Raleigh, North Carolina
Paul Montgomery (1960–1961) at WRAL-TV

Rio de Janeiro, Brasil
Charles Myara (1980s) at TVS Rio de Janeiro
Nani Souza (1980s) at TVS Rio de Janeiro

Richmond, Virginia
Jerry Harrell (until 1974) at WTVR-TV

Salvador, Bahia, Brazil
Cau Alves (1980s) at TV Itapoan

Shreveport, Louisiana at KTBS-TV
Joe Miot (1967–1968)
Terry MacDonald (now Mac McDonald) (1968)
Drew Hunter (1969–1970)

Sioux Falls, South Dakota
Pat Tobin (1960–1962) at KSOO-TV

Syracuse, New York
Mike Lattif (1971–1972) at WNYS-TV (now WSYR-TV)

Toledo, Ohio
Jim Chaplin (1960s) at WSPD-TV

Minneapolis-St. Paul-Bloomington, Minnesota
Roger Erickson (c. 1959–63) at WCCO-TV

Utica, New York
Ed Whittaker (early to late 1960s) at WKTV-TV

Washington, D.C.
Willard Scott (1959–1962) at WRC-TV
Tony Alexi (1971–1972) at WDCA-TV
Dick Dyszel (1972–1977) at WDCA-TV

Windsor, Ontario (see also Detroit, Michigan)
Jerry Booth (1967) CKLW-TV
Art Cervi (1967–1977) at CKLW-TV

Worcester, Massachusetts
Tom Matzell (1970–1974) at WSMW-TV

[dvarapala]

Originally Posted by Rodnok1

I watched Bozo on WGN out of Chicago when a kid, if we tuned the antenna just right I could get it.

Bob Bell died in 1997.

[04 commemorative]

https://www.cnn.com/2018/03/22/enter...uch/index.html

so young

[69camfrk]

Clowns ain't funny...

[VITE1]

Originally Posted by 69camfrk

Clowns ain't funny...

That's a Bozo no no.

[Mike Mercury]

[MadInNc]

Originally Posted by 69camfrk

Clowns ain't funny...

...

[Anjdog2003]

For a minute i thought Joe Biden died.

[Mike Mercury]

Originally Posted by Anjdog2003

For a minute i thought Joe Biden died.