No more clowning around for Bozo

[David Paleg]

Larry Harmon, longtime Bozo the Clown, dies at 83
Jul 3, 9:12 PM (ET)
By JOHN ROGERS

LOS ANGELES (AP) - Larry Harmon, who turned the character Bozo the Clown into a show business staple that delighted children for more than a half-century, died Thursday of congestive heart failure. He was 83.

His publicist, Jerry Digney, told The Associated Press he died at his home.
Although not the original Bozo, Harmon portrayed the popular clown in countless appearances and, as an entrepreneur, he 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 told the AP in a 1996 interview.

[CoolBreeze]

When I was around 10 years old (1960) me and a younger friend were running the streets of Charleston, and happened to stumble upon the side door of WCHS TV. I opened the door a bit to see what all the commotion was, and lo and behold there was Bozo doing a live show. He saw me the same time I saw him, and invited me and my friend onto the set while still live on the air. He had me set in a swing that the studio had as part of it's set. Then he asked me and my friend the average questions that kids get asked. My friend and I were filthy from playing, but that didn't seem to matter.... after all.. this was black & white TV anyway. We did an entire segment and then left through the side door.

I never knew who was playing the local Bozo and still don't. I just know it was a pretty popular show for a while.