A Throwback Thursday Offering
When I was a kid, one of the top after-school TV shows was Bozo’s Circus. Bozo would cavort with forced glee in front of a live audience composed solely of screaming humans of the non-adult persuasion.
Between cartoons, he would engage in intellectually stimulating activities like “accidentally” hitting himself on the foot. But my favorite activity was Joke Time, during which the on-set meemies were invited to run up, face the camera, and blurt out their jolliest japes.
One day, as I tucked into my milk and cookies, a beefy ten-year-old (let’s call him Stevie) rushed forward, shouting, “Me! Me!” Bozo grinned, maybe (who could tell under all that greasepaint?), and said, “Go!”
“What’s green and hangs from trees?” Stevie shouted at the camera.
“I don’t know,” Bozo chortled. “What?”
“Elephant snot!” Stevie screamed. Then he stomped maniacally back to his seat, joining his supervillain-friends-in-training. Some of the boys laughed. Several girls cried. Bozo turned jelly bean green.
I snorted half a glass of milk into my lap.
After the commercial break, Bozo announced that henceforth all jokes must be whispered in his ear before they could be shared with TV land.
The actors who played Bozo changed regularly, by the way. This was necessary in order to allow the previous ones to attend AA meetings.
There are numerous urban legends about inappropriate kid behavior on the old Bozo show, especially the apocryphal “Cram it, clowny!” line, supposedly shouted by a bitter proto-Stevie who’d lost at Bozo Buckets. But I can attest to this one’s authenticity since I witnessed it first hand in the presence of my family’s gigantic 22″ vacuum tube TV. Incidentally, Stevie (or whatever his name is) is up for probation next year.
We had Sailor Bill. He was disgraced and we got Captain Talltower the next day.
Oh, dear. I hope the Captain stayed on course.
We didn’t get much of Bozo out here in CA, but had our share of locally produced kid shows of about the same caliber. Many of the hosts retired early, left town and refused interviews.
Where in California, Andrew? I grew up in the L.A. area, where Bozo premiered in 1961. Other faves were Engineer Bill and Sherriff John.
San Jose. We got stations from SF and Oakland with one in SJ. They didn’t bring in a lot of the afternoon national shows, the local ones I remember were, “Charley and Humphrey,” and “Captain Satellite.”
Bozo was a franchise, with different versions in different cities (guess San Jose wasn’t one of them). Engineer Bill and Sheriff John were L.A. locals. Almost forgot: I loved Captain Kangaroo, which was a nationally broadcast show.
bozo since 61, what was since 67?
do you have a big 47″ vacuum tube tv
LOL!!!
Captain Kangaroo was a favorite. In Philly we watched Sally Star and Chief Half town. Oh yea, personal Saturday morning favorite was Gene London with his “golden” fleece. Thanks for sharing and stirring up the memories Mitch!
Everyone loved the Captain! I just read up on Gene London; he sounds like a fun guy and talented cartoonist. We had a guy in L.A. named Tom Hatten who showed Popeye cartoons and drew like London did. Kids would scribble on a pad, then Hatten would make cartoons (“squiggles”) out of them. My wife and I stole that and did it with our kids when they were growing up.
Wow! Thanks for sharing Mitch. I remember out of all I watched it was Gene London. I remember now he did have a drawing pad on a easel set up if memories serve. Thanks for the hope back in sweet time! Blessings
You too, Denise!
Oh that Stevie!
Poor me, I grew up with only a radio. 😉 Hmmm. I wonder exactly what happens to your emotions when you watch a kid show instead of just hearing it. Do the pictures make your remember more? ??? I remember waiting faithfully to hear Sky King and The Shadow mystery shows once to week. Another night was Jack Benny, the Hit Parade, and George and Gracie Allen. The funny thing was that I chose to sit close to the radio (It was actually in a piece of furniture the size of a chest.) the whole time instead of thinking of the radio as being portable like we do now.
I doubt you really missed anything, Twink. You just had a different experience–and a pretty rich one, I imagine–picturing things in your mind!
Do you remember Soupy Sales? Now that had some borderline entertainment which is more enjoyable now when I come across it on YouTube.
I do indeed. It seemed like he was in trouble with the network every other week!
Looking up his shows now is fairly enlightening—live TV at its best moments of spontaneity.
Mitch. since we grew up with similar selections on the tube in So. Cal. do you remember Hobo Kelly?
I was aware of her, but was a teenager by the time her show aired. Was she a fave of yours?
Oh dang, I didn’t see that you elicited more engagement, yeah I like her I’m surprised you can’t be that much older than me, ah but at that age, 9-14 is a lot where now 59-64 is nothing
Hilarious! Thanks for the great belly-laugh, Mitch!
Is this the show which inspired based Krusty the Clown in The Simpsons? Not sure whether to be glad or sad we didn’t have it in the UK!
Yes, I believe it is. And I think you can be glad it didn’t play in the UK; it wasn’t the best kids’ show ever.