setting the record straight

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With the media scrutiny Christine O'Donnell's dad is getting as the result of her claim that he was Bozo on a Philadelphia TV station (which was not included in the Wikipedia article on Bozo or Bozos, possibly because O'Donnell Senior was a fill-in Bozo when the regular clown was away), I've noticed an omission in the Wikipedia entry that should be fixed.

Based on information from the book Hi There, Boys and Girls! America's Local Childrens TV Shows by Tim Hollis, the Bozo of Richmond, Virginia up until the show went off the air in 1974 was Jerry Harrell.

My friends back in the Hampton Roads area of Virginia should recognize Mr. Harrell more quickly as Dr. Madblood, beloved local horror movie host whose mad persona operates from Pungo, former home of illustrator Kelly Freas. Harrell started that gig in 1975, originally as a one-shot Halloween special (which means his 35th anniversary is coming right up).

I was lucky enough to view a museum show of Madblood props and memorabilia while living in Virginia. Oddly enough, you never see Madblood exhibitions in Massachusetts or New York. Some of his original props were made by Dave Merriman, a peerless crafter of miniatures for the movies.

But I'm wandering off the track. I have the book that mentions Harrell's Bozo stint, and as fortune would have it, the excerpt that mentions is is viewable at Google Books (see link above). So just now I went to Wikipedia and entered Harrell's name in their list of local Bozos, and inserted a mention of it in the entry for Dr. Madblood as well.

Of course, maybe the man is modest and didn't want this mentioned. But if I'd been a local TV Bozo, I would think I'd at least mention it. (As Harrell does on the bio at his own web page.)

Just doing my job. So to speak.
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Comments

[carbonel]

You closed your italic tag with a bold tag, so there's a mismatch, leaving the rest of your post italicized.

It wasn't until I was an adult that I learned there was more than one Bozo. I grew up in Chicago, home of the Bozo, and even got to attend a show when I was seven or eight. It was rather an anticlimax; everything looked so much larger on TV, even (or especially) on the small screen.

[kalimac.livejournal.com]

No, no, it's all a huge mistake. He didn't play Bozo; he played Bonzo, as in Bedtime for.

[geckoman.livejournal.com]

I got to see Dr. Madblood this past weekend at MonsterFest at the Chesapeake Library where they did a retrospect for the 35th anniversary of the good Doctor. Of course, I wasn't around for most of his hey-day in the Tidewater area, but it was obvious that he was loved by most, if not all, of the attending audience.

[redaxe.livejournal.com]

The O'Donnell Clown Legacy: The jokes just write themselves. Really.

There was so much other good kids' TV on in NYC that I never paid much attention to Bozo (I was raised on Jay Ward cartoons, on Captain Kangaroo, and on Wonderama, among other late great shows).

I don't think we had Dr. Madblood. We did have Chiller Theater (on which I will never forget seeing Donovan's Brain at far too young an age), and several other horror movie specialty programs, but I don't remember him at all.

[pgranzeau.livejournal.com]

I only watched a few Madbloods. I remember lots of local mentions, and I assumed he was strictly local to Hampton Road (specifically, the south side).

I don't know anything about his props, but I remember one thing where he showed a film of him (I think) running around Pungo in a Morgan three wheeler, and I always wondered where he foud that particular classic.