All very uplifting, and all very successful. Lest anyone think children's TV programming was nothing but educational brainwashing to produce automaton drones, the same business model also offered semi-organized chaos, in the form of a clown: Bozo.
Bozo wasn't actually created for TV, though he could have been. The character was the invention of an executive at Capitol Records, says The Ringer, for a combination record-storybook about the adventures of the titular character. It was performed by a former vaudevillian and voice actor named Pinto Colvig, with the first release in 1946, according to Hollis. Pinto played the clown on local Los Angeles TV starting in 1949. And then came 1956 and Larry Harmon, says the Chicago Tribune, who bought the rights to the character for animation and voiced the character himself. He started leasing the cartoons and the character to local stations in 1958. As with Romper Room, local stations hired local talent to perform in the distinctive Bozo getup (they were required to buy the costume and the cartoons from Harmon, who also collected a licensing fee).
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