04 July 2008

Just a quick flashback


The Bozo Show

Who didn't love THE BOZO SHOW?


I'll tell ya who: my husband. Every time I've brought up this show, he doesn't know what I'm talking about. HUH? Seriously...I don't know if it didn't air in Missouri (sucks to be them) or if he just wasn't very fortunate to watch this show, but it was something we LIVED to watch.


It was so funny, and sometimes when I am around my sisters the phrase "Doody Doody Doo" comes up quite often, a phrase made famous by a man named Wizzo. The main characters on the show were Bozo the Clown, Cooky the Cook, and Wizzo the Wizard. These three characters made up a show that was aired in various parts of the world...it was a variety show that included a game show for contestants.


The best part of the show was the "Grand Prize Game." I always wanted to go and participate, and throw the ping-pong balls in the cups to win the GRAND PRIZE. Seriously...how hard is that? And yet little kids, under the age of ten were always walking off the set with red wagons, Schwinn bicycles, and a year's supply of cookies.

I always wondered what happened to the show...so here's what I've managed to find this morning. The show started airing in the 1960s, and a variety of shows were produced throughout the country. It kept growing and improving until fairly recently. In 2001, it took a big hit. The man who was the original Cooky died, and the last show aired toward the end of the year due to other children's shows being broadcast and becoming more popular. Also, I found out that today, Larry Harmon, who made a huge contribution to the popularity of Bozo, died.

Ahhhh...memories!

If you'd like to find out a bit more about the show, for those of you who want to see what you missed out on, click HERE. Or to see the dedication to Larry Harmon, visit HERE.

5 comments:

Steve said...

I know I'm a clown sometimes, but does that mean you have to call me Bozo? I'm hurt.

Tamara said...

well...if your hair EVER gets that long, and orange 'n crazy........yep, i sure do, BOZO!

Beckie said...

Tamara, I have to say, I have never seen the show either. Not at friends houses or anything. Furthermore, ever since Pee-Wee's Big Adventure, clowns terrify me. I mean, they cut up his bike!!!

genevieve said...

I'm with Beckie, although my fear of clowns goes back to when I was a zygote. And yeah, I don't think they showed this in Missouri...what they did show, however, was the best kids' show around, SQUARE ONE TV!!! Oh man, I would give anything to get that on DVD. I love remembering old TV shows! :)

~genny

Julina said...

As the oldest (so far) to post, I'll vouch for the lack of Bozo in CoMo, and further add that with our college affiliate being NBC instead of PBS, those growing up without cable (aka Lambsons :-) also missed out on Sesame Street, Mr Roger's and the other classic PBS kids programs - unless we caught a glimpse at a friends house, or caught re-runs at some later time. Sigh.

As for clowns, one of my mission companions had a post card that said "can't sleep, clowns will eat me..." It always makes me think of Beckie. Maybe if we'd been raised on Bozo, we wouldn't have been so traumatized by PeeWee.

Thanks for sharing :-)