Larry Harmon (born Lawrence Weiss), the man who popularised Bozo the Clown, died yesterday of congestive heart failure. 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. I remember watching Bozo on TV.. aaah.. sweet memories.
Larry Harmon will be known forever as the owner of Bozo the Clown, and his real name was Lawrence Weiss. He is (possibly) of Jewish descent.
ReplyDeleteOh, no, the REAL Bozo was in Chicago! Got it? Yours is just a regular bozo, but WE had the real one (lol).
ReplyDeleteWhat a surprisingly substantial piece of my childhood memories: watching the show at noon in school, on a TV rolled into the classroom, if one of the classes in school got to go to the show, getting to watch it at home if you were sick, lying on the couch with a glass of ginger ale with a bendy straw and a throw-up bucket next to you, watching the Grand Prize Game (where the first bucket won you a pair of Neu-Mode nylons (later pantyhose) for your mom and the last bucket won you a bike and x number of silver dollars that had been building up every week). Watching those lame-o Bozo cartoons during the breaks between pie-throwing, watching everyone march out and wave to the camera, to the music of the Big Top Band, watching the "magic arrows" bounce around the crowd to pick out the contestants, stopping and Ringmaster Ned saying "Oh, it's just a mom".... Even as an adult, oohing and aahing when someone gave a set of tickets as a baby shower gift, since the waiting list for the show was anywhere from five to eight years. Free tickets, but everybody was impressed at the thoughtfulness.
Go Bozo go! Our original Bozo (THE REAL BOZO, I'LL HAVE YOU KNOW) died maybe ten years ago. His place had long been taken by another Bozo who was too funny and clever, which is totally possible.
Good memories, thanks for bringing it up.