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Off-Ramp

You Knew Him As Bozo

By Off-Ramp Staff
Published Jul 12, 2008
The late Larry Harmon didn't invent Bozo the Clown. The International Clown Museum credits Alan Livingston with creating Bozo in 1946. Harmon bought the rights to the name in the 1950s. But the caption for this image from the LA Public Library's online photo archive shows "Bozo" was around earlier: "Bozo the clown is blowing up balloons in the New Chinatown street for the Moon Festival on August 7, 1941. Several non-Chinese viewers are in the crowd."
The late Larry Harmon didn't invent Bozo the Clown. The International Clown Museum credits Alan Livingston with creating Bozo in 1946. Harmon bought the rights to the name in the 1950s. But the caption for this image from the LA Public Library's online photo archive shows "Bozo" was around earlier: "Bozo the clown is blowing up balloons in the New Chinatown street for the Moon Festival on August 7, 1941. Several non-Chinese viewers are in the crowd."
(
Harry Quillen/LAPL
)

About the Show

Over 11 years and 570 episodes, John Rabe and Team Off-Ramp scoured SoCal for the people, places, and ideas whose stories needed to be told, and the show became a love-letter to Los Angeles. Now, John is sharing selections from the Off-Ramp vault to help you explore this imperfect paradise.

Funding provided by:

Corporation for Public Broadcasting

Hank Rosenberg remembers his one encounter with Larry Harmon, the man who made Bozo a household name.

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