Another death this week in addition to former Senator Jesse Helms was Larry Harmon, better known as Bozo the Clown, the character that enchanted children for more than 50 years. Harmon died at his home Thursday due to congestive heart failure.
The character of Bozo the Clown was originated by Pinto Colvig back in 1946; however, it was Harmon that made countless appearances as Bozo and eventually licensed the character (after having bought the rights to Bozo) to others. Bozo the Clown was seen on stations all over the country, played by other actors. All in all, Harmon trained over 200 others to play the much beloved character Bozo over the years. Because of his astute business acumen to purchase the Bozo rights, Harmon made millions through Bozo animation, licensing of the character and personal appearances.
When I was in first and second grade, I lived near Chicago and I remember watching Bozo on television. I read today that Bozo was played by Bob Bell and the show ran on the WGN network for over 40 years. That Bozo was so popular and had such a huge waiting list for tickets that WGN had to stop taking reservations for 10 years. Once they decided to start taking reservations again in 1990, five more years worth of tickets to the show was booked in only 5 hours. The phone company said over 27 million attempted calls had been made during that time frame.
There was a bit of controversy in 2004 surrounding the Bozo character. The Clown Hall of Fame (who know?) in Milwaukee had a plaque of Harmon up, but took that down and replaced it with a plaque dedicated to Colvig for originally creating the character. Harmon said he never tried to misrepresent the history of Bozo and said “Isn’t it a shame the credit that was given to me for the work I have done, they arbitrarily take it down, like I didn’t do anything for the last 52 years?”
Harmon is survived by his wife Susan, son Jeff Harmon, and daughters Lori Harmon, Marci Breth-Carabet, and Leslie Breth.
Other Recent Celebrity Deaths:
Former North Carolina Senator Jesse Helms Dead at 86
Wide World of Sports Host Jim McKay Dies