Bozo the Clown

Bozo the Clown is a clown character whose broad popularity peaked in the United States in the 1960s as a result of widespread franchising in early television.

Originally created by Alan W. Livingston and portrayed by Pinto Colvig for a children's storytelling record album and illustrative read-along book set, the character became very popular during the 1940s and was a mascot for record company Capitol Records.

The character first appeared on television in 1949 starring Pinto Colvig. After the creative rights to Bozo were purchased by Larry Harmon in 1956, the character became a common franchise across the United States, with local television stations producing their own Bozo shows featuring the character. Harmon bought out his business partners in 1965 and produced Bozo's Big Top for syndication to local television markets not producing their own Bozo shows in 1966, while Chicago's Bozo's Circus which premiered in 1960, went national via cable and satellite in 1978.

The most notable performers to have played Bozo, aside from Colvig and Harmon, include Willard Scott (1959-1962), Frank Avruch (1959–1970), Bob Bell (1960–1984) and Joey D'Auria (1984–2001). Bozo TV shows were also produced in other countries including Mexico, Thailand, Australia, Greece and Brazil. Larry Harmon claimed that more than 200 actors have portrayed the clown.

Bozo appeared in the animated series Bozo: The World's Most Famous Clown.

Bozo was created as a character by Alan W. Livingston, who produced a children's storytelling record-album and illustrative read-along book set, the first of its kind, titled Bozo at the Circus for Capitol Records and released in October 1946.Pinto Colvig portrayed the character on this and subsequent Bozo read-along records. The albums were very popular and the character became a mascot for the record company and was later nicknamed "Bozo the Capitol Clown." Many non-Bozo Capitol children's records had a "Bozo Approved" label on the jacket. In 1948, Capitol and Livingston began setting up royalty arrangements with manufacturers and television stations for use of the Bozo character. KTTV in Los Angeles began broadcasting the first show, Bozo's Circus, in 1949 featuring Colvig as Bozo with his blue-and-red costume, oversized red hair and whiteface clown makeup on Fridays at 7:30 p.m.

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