Dueling Bozos

[Otto]

Bozo battle royale

MILWAUKEE - There are no hand buzzers, trick flowers or balloon animals in this clown story. The issue is who created Bozo the Clown — and the dispute is wiping the smile off some clowns’ faces.

For years, promoter and entertainer Larry Harmon claimed to have both created the character and said he was the original.

Now the International Clown Hall of Fame in downtown Milwaukee is formally endorsing a different version: Capitol Records executive Alan Livingston created Bozo for recordings in 1946, and the late Vance “Pinto” Colvig was the first person to play the clown.

On Friday, the hall is posthumously inducting Colvig as the first Bozo.

That reverses the hall’s “Lifetime of Laughter Award” given to Harmon in 1990 as Bozo’s creator. The hall has since taken Harmon’s plaque off its honor wall.

[AskNott]

Wow. What a shock. Bozo didn’t invent himself. He purchased himself. I still don’t quite know how I feel about that.

[astro]

“I think we’re all Bozo’s on this bus!”

[astro]

“I think we’re all Bozo’s on this bus!”

[AskNott]

“…from the Spanish vosotros, with the V and the B being the same…”
–Firesign Theater
“Be sure to inflate shoes before crossing the water.”

It’s popular to call a damn fool a Bozo. I thought at first it was an insult to a fine clown. Now I wonder if a professional damn fool would take it as a compliment that his character had become a part of the language. Old “Pinto” is gone, but I wonder what Larry Harmon would say.