Bozo the Clown
Bozo the Clown is the name of a clown whose widespread syndication in early television made him the best-known clown character in the United States. Partly as a result, the word "bozo" has become synonymous in America with a foolish person.
Bozo was created in 1946 by Alan W. Livingston. He released a children's record titled Bozo at the Circus on Capitol Records, with a read-along book set. Pinto Colvig narrated this record and all the other read-along records. They were extremely popular, and by 1949, KTTV in Los Angeles was broadcasting a children's show featuring Pinto Colvig as Bozo, with his blue-and-red costume, oversized red hair, and classic "whiteface" clown makeup, were starting to appear on then-new television.
Bozo has became even more famous after Larry Harmon purchased the rights to the character in 1956, and franchised it to local television stations as a daily half-hour show with a live Bozo the Clown. A different man in each city in front of a studio audience of children, as well as five-minute cartoons. Many people became locally or nationally famous after playing Bozo the Clown, including Bob Bell at WGN in Chicago and Willard Scott, later a weatherman on NBC's Today Show.
By the 'mid-1960s, Bozo was reportedly grossing over $150 million in merchandise worldwide.
Many stories have arisen about misbehavior on the show making it onto the air, although it is often difficult to know whether they are true or not, particularly because relatively few of the local Bozo episodes were preserved on tape. The most famous alleged incident involves Bozo attempting to manage the behavior of an outspoken child in the audience by making the comment: "That's a Bozo no-no," which elicited the response from the kid: "Cram it, clownie!"
Joey D'Auria has played Bozo the Clown on The Bozo Super Sunday Show and other versions of the series since 1984.