Larry Harmon (Bozo The Clown) dead at 83
I was never big on clowns when I was a kid. Except for one that is, Bozo.
Larry Harmon wasn’t the only person to play Bozo The Clown, but he is the person most identified with the role. A man named Pinto Colvig was the first Bozo The Clown in the mid-1940s on several children’s records, and then Harmon was hired to play Bozo in the mid-50s and eventually got the licensing rights to the character and arranged for various people to play the clown on TV in different markets, including Willard Scott in Washington, D.C., Frank Avruch in Boston, and Bob Bell in Chicago. The last show aired on WGN in 2001, and Harmon was involved in a controversy in 2004 when the International Clown Hall of Fame took down Harmon’s plaque and recognized Colvig as Bozo. But Harmon never claimed to have created the character, just that he made him what he became.
Harmon died of congestive heart failure in Los Angeles at age 83.
Larry Harmon, aka Bozo the Clown, RIP
Larry Harmon, the man who delighted millions of kids playing Bozo the Clown for over five decades and is widely credited with popularizing the character the world over, has died. He was 83.
His longtime publicist, Jerry Digney, told Reuters that Harmon passed away from congestive heart failure on Thursday at his home in Los Angeles.
While not the original Bozo, Harmon was largely hailed for honing the clown’s trademark look by adding the orange clumps of hair, the big red nose and that crazy red, white and blue costume.
He was also responsible for making the clown a household name after he and a group of investors bought the licensing rights to the character from Capitol Records in the early ’50s.
Bozo turned out to be a marketing bonanza for the budding entrepreneur as he launched local TV shows featuring the clown on almost every major U.S. station and farmed him out globally to such far-flung countries as Thailand and Brazil.
Those stations, in turn, hired various actors to portray Bozo, including Bob Bell for WGN-TV Chicago and perhaps most famously Willard Scott, who donned the makeup before becoming the longtime weatherman for NBC’s The Today Show.
“We didn’t have satellite, syndication and networking like today,” Harmon once told Reuters in an interview. “So, I created my own network of local clowns and productions, a cross-country operation that kept me on the road for 50 weeks a year for decades.”
Aside from continuing to make countless personal appearances as the character throughout the years, Harmon trained over 200 Bozos, marketed a variety of Bozo merchandise and even helped hatch a cartoon.
Bozo became so ubiquitous in pop culture that the name ended up coming to define zany, foolish behavior. He and his TV show also served as an early inspiration for Krusty the Clown’s hijinks on The Itchy & Scratchy Show on The Simpsons.
Harmon is survived by his wife of 29 years, Susan Harmon, son Jeff Harmon and daughters Lori Harmon, Marci Breth-Carabet, Ellen Kosberg and Leslie Breth.
Maher, Shandling Attend Carlin Memorial
George Carlin may have been one of comedy’s biggest stars, but his memorial was a smalland privateaffair.
Roughly 150 people, among them Garry Shandling, Bill Maher and Carlin’s former stand-up partner, Jack Burns, turned up at a private memorial for the late comedian in Los Angeles Sunday, which was closed off to both the public and the media.
“It was a very, very light event, as he wanted it,” Carlin’s only child, daughter Kelly Carlin McCall, told the Associated Press after the two-hour event. “He wanted a lot of laughter. I’d say 90 percent of it was laughing and just remembering what he brought to us in his funny way.”
The celebrated comic died of heart failure June 22 at age 71.
McCall said Shandling spoke during the service of a “life-changing moment” he experienced nearly 40 years ago, when, as a college student, he sought out Carlin. The comedian not only agreed to read Shandling’s material but encouraged him in his career.
“He went out of his way to make sure friends and family members, if they needed anything, he was there for them,” McCall told the AP.
Meanwhle, Kenny Rankin sang “Here’s That Rainy Day,” while Spanky McFarlane, from the ’60s pop group Spanky and Our Gang, sang “Coming Home.”
Carlin’s older brother, Patrick, and partner, Sally Wade, were also among the mourners. During the service, a montage of clips from the controversial funnyman’s 51-year career was shown, with Carlin himself speaking over the footage.
“He was a complete man,” McCall said. “He was more than just the seven words you can never say on television.”
George Carlin dead at 71
Wow. I just got in from a very, very late flight from Denver, and the early-morning newscasts hit me with this wallop: my favorite comedian, George Carlin, passed away last night. On Sunday, he admitted himself into a local Santa Monica hospital, complaining of chest pains, and ended up dying that evening of heart failure. He was 71.
Carlin, of course, is most famous for the 1970s comedy routine “Seven Words You Can Never Say on TV.” It was a bit which not only got radio stations that played it in trouble with the FCC, leading to landmark First Amendment and decency rulings by the Supreme Court, but he was also arrested in Milwaukee on indecency charges after doing the routine on stage there.
During a long and varied career, Carlin went from doing goofy, straight-arrow comedy bits like “The Hippy-Dippy Weatherman” on The Ed Sullivan Show to being the ultimate counterculture spokesman, giving his observations — big and small — about the world on stage and TV. He was one of the first comedians to do hour-long specials on HBO, and his last one, It’s Bad for Ya, was well-received when it aired earlier this year. He also had a self-titled FOX series for a couple of years in the Nineties. So his tie to TV is quite strong.
Sigh. I’m sure Carlin’s fans will have more to say later today and this week. He’ll be sorely missed.