Newspapers are reporting the death of the man (sort of) behind Bozo the Clown, Larry Harmon, at age 83. Harmon's role in the grand history of Bozo is a little confusing due to the claim — intermittently made and retracted — that Mr. Harmon had created Bozo the Clown. Here's a quick history…
Bozo was created in 1946 by a man named Alan Livingston. Livingston was an executive with Capitol Records and he wanted to launch a series of kids' records that would employ the unique voice of Pinto Colvig, a former circus clown who'd moved into animation work both as a gagman and voice actor. The records were popular and in 1946, Colvig began portraying Bozo on a TV show broadcast on KTTV in Los Angeles. The show was also successful and soon after, Livingston and Capitol began franchising it to other cities. Colvig's shows were not rerun elsewhere or even, in those days, recorded. Instead, stations in other towns bought the right to dress up some local performer as Bozo and to have him host a locally-produced program.
Capitol also hired other actors to play Bozo for personal appearances. Larry Harmon, a performer who had dabbled in childrens' programming and puppet shows in Los Angeles, was one of them. In the mid-fifties, Harmon purchased ownership of the clown from Capitol and continued the franchising, going further than his predecessors in training the legion of Bozos and in supplying them with material for their programs. He also tooled up for animation and in 1959, the franchise package included Bozo cartoons in which Harmon provided the voice. Bozo's TV presence eventually ended but for the rest of his life, Harmon operated a successful licensing operation that put the well-known clown face on a wide array of toys and merchandise.
Unmentioned in most obits this morning is that Bozo was one of two properties successfully handled by Harmon. The other was Laurel and Hardy. In the early sixties, Harmon acquired some rights from Stan Laurel and ever after, if you wanted to depict Laurel and Hardy on a piece of merchandise, Harmon was the man you went to see. He was also responsible for the 1966 Laurel and Hardy cartoon series from Hanna-Barbera (and for which he voiced Laurel) and the "new" Laurel and Hardy movie made in 1999, For Love or Mummy. Among Laurel and Hardy fans, he was quite controversial as many did not care for his exploitations of the classic duo.
I met Mr. Harmon a few times…usually when he wanted to hire me for a new Laurel and Hardy project he was planning. We disagreed on the approach, content, storyline and style of humor…but I think our main incompatibility stemmed from this odd idea I had about getting paid. I did admire his tenacity and ingenuity at keeping Bozo alive and earning all these years, and I trust that will continue in his absence.