# Bozo the Clown-Jesse Helms Dead **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [July 4, 2008, 3:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bozo-the-clown-jesse-helms-dead/455296 "2008-07-04T15:10:09Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 8\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Ignatz](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/3be4f8/32.png) [@Ignatz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ignatz)\ **Post date:** [July 4, 2008, 3:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bozo-the-clown-jesse-helms-dead/455296/1 "2008-07-04T15:10:09Z")
> **[BBC NEWS | World | Americas | Man behind 'Bozo the Clown' dies](http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/7489067.stm)** > > Larry Harmon, the man who popularised the show business character Bozo the Clown, dies of heart failure aged 83. [http://abclocal.go.com/wtvd/story?section=news/local&id=6245448](http://abclocal.go.com/wtvd/story?section=news/local&id=6245448) Have a Happy Fourth of July! ---
**Author:** ![Risha](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/5fc32e/32.png) [@Risha](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Risha)\ **Post date:** [July 4, 2008, 3:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bozo-the-clown-jesse-helms-dead/455296/2 "2008-07-04T15:17:12Z")
You know, I was absolutely no fan of Helms, but that was pretty tasteless. ---
**Author:** ![Cheez\_Whia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/d26b3c/32.png) [@Cheez\_Whia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cheez_Whia)\ **Post date:** [July 4, 2008, 3:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bozo-the-clown-jesse-helms-dead/455296/3 "2008-07-04T15:26:12Z")
[Useless Trivia]The article on Bozo says that the first person to play the clown was [Pinto Colvig](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pinto_Colvig), probably known best as the original voice of [Goofy](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Goofy). [/Useless Trivia] ---
**Author:** ![Kid\_A\_1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/ed8c4c/32.png) [@Kid\_A\_1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kid_A_1)\ **Post date:** [July 4, 2008, 3:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bozo-the-clown-jesse-helms-dead/455296/4 "2008-07-04T15:33:30Z")
I didn’t click on the second link so I was pretty confused. Figured I’d somehow been whooshed. ---
**Author:** ![Beware\_of\_Doug](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/278dde/32.png) [@Beware\_of\_Doug](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Beware_of_Doug)\ **Post date:** [July 4, 2008, 3:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bozo-the-clown-jesse-helms-dead/455296/5 "2008-07-04T15:40:10Z")
Hey, if two founding fathers can die on July 4, two bozos can die on July 3. ---
**Author:** ![Rilchiam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/2bfe46/32.png) [@Rilchiam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rilchiam)\ **Post date:** [July 4, 2008, 3:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bozo-the-clown-jesse-helms-dead/455296/6 "2008-07-04T15:54:04Z")
Yeah, I was thinking of that. Perhaps his dying words were “Jerry Falwell…still lives!” (Which he doesn’t, of course, but Helms might have been past remembering.) ---
**Author:** ![squeegee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/squeegee/32/14537_2.png) [@squeegee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/squeegee)\ **Post date:** [July 4, 2008, 4:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bozo-the-clown-jesse-helms-dead/455296/7 "2008-07-04T16:07:40Z")
Sorry, [Bob Bell](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bob_Bell_(actor)) was the _real_ Bozo. ---
**Author:** ![jayjay](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jayjay/32/6765_2.png) [@jayjay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jayjay)\ **Post date:** [July 4, 2008, 5:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bozo-the-clown-jesse-helms-dead/455296/8 "2008-07-04T17:42:25Z")
I don’t want to speak ill of the dead, but Jesse Helms deserves far less than to have died on the same day that Jefferson and Adams did…