Bozo the Clown is back for the weekend. For some Chicagoans, was he ever gone?
Ahead of an event organized by musician Billy Corgan, Bozo fans shared memories with WBEZ that are nostalgic, funny and bizarre.
By Mark Guarino
Oct 16, 2024, 5:00am CST
Bozo now ranks among the people and things Chicagoans of a certain vintage speak of with fondness — Frango Mints, Mike Royko, Marshall Field’s, Riverview, ChicagoFest and Harry Caray — because the show represents a time when the city itself felt simpler and more local.
Many of us grew up during prime Bozo years. Due to the dominant reach of WGN, which broadcast the show nationwide, Bozo’s Circus (later renamed The Bozo Show) was must-see noontime television. For decades, actors played Bozo and his cohorts, like Cooky the Cook, Wizzo the Wizard, Ringmaster Ned and later, Circus Manager Frazier Thomas.
The actors (Bob Bell, Roy Brown and Marshall Brodien, among others) all came from early television, a time when local stations created original programming, many shows were broadcast live and production values were intentionally simple.
A spirit of controlled chaos ruled the Bozo stage, and slapstick humor was the norm. Their makeup, exaggerated clothing and wigs made Bozo and his buddies seem not unlike the clowns you’d find under the big top at any touring circus.
But unlike a real circus, Bozo’s Circus was largely a scripted show, and the clowns’ comedy sketches felt familiar to anyone schooled in the early film comedy of Buster Keaton, Charlie Chaplin or the Marx Brothers. Back then, film clowns like Keaton or Chaplin deceptively used their physicality and storylines to comment on societal problems or to lampoon the powerful elite.
Bozo’s Circus didn’t have such lofty goals, but its humor was just as raw, urbane — and hilarious. Broadcast on a soundstage before a live audience, the show demanded that viewers take leaps with their imagination. It wasn’t just Bozo and his co-stars engaging in creative play; the people watching were right there along with them — which is why children in the audience always felt free to scream, laugh or gasp at whatever twist or turn the story might take.
By comparison, today’s children’s fare feels more bubble-wrapped, more message-driven. Live actors have largely been replaced with animated ones. Appointment television is also a thing of the past; now, children stream content in isolation on tablets whenever they feel like it. In its prime, Bozo’s Circus was so popular, families had to wait up to 10 years for tickets. It would sound like an urban legend if it weren’t true.
In the post-COVID world, the idea of being part of a large studio audience feels quaint. Thanks to streaming, entertainment is becoming less communal and more individually curated. And thanks to movies like IT, clowns can be scary too.
From the outside, the involvement of Billy Corgan in a public celebration of Bozo the Clown might seem unusual. He’s one of the pioneering figures from the alternative rock era of the 1990s; his band the Smashing Pumpkins is best known for its sheets of psychedelic guitars, complex rhythms and brooding lyrical themes.
But his — and our — nostalgia for Bozo’s Circus also makes sense, in the same way we’ve rekindled interest in vinyl records and other trademarks of the pre-digital age.
The clown always made it clear his only objective was spreading joy. With just minutes to go, each show ended with the Grand March. Children streamed out of their seats to follow Bozo up and down the floor as he waved his baton, moved his arms with comical bravado and stepped high in his oversized red shoes: a daily parade that left viewers with a spring in their step for years to follow.