Here is something for the baby boomers out there… 52 years ago today, January 5, 1959 KTLA-TV in Los Angeles California broadcast the first episode of Bozo the Clown. In the Boston area the Bozo Show was produced by WHDH TV (now WCVB) and starred Frank Avruch as the silly clown.

A personal note: When I was producing The Morning Magazine Show for WLLH radio in Lowell someone gave me the name and number of a show biz person named Larry Harmon. I called his house and his wife answered the phone. After I introduced myself, the first thing she said was “you know Larry is the original Bozo”.  And in the background I could hear Larry yelling, “did you tell him I’m the real Bozo”. Anyway, he was a great guy and a great guess.

The video below is from 1966 and was first posted by Vintage Television. Here is the video description:

Boston’s original Channel 5, WHDH-TV, produced a local, weekday version of the “Bozo the Clown” children’s program between 1959 and 1970. Booth announcer Frank Avruch played the title role. These excerpts are from a 1966 broadcast.
Episodes videotaped at WHDH between 1965 and ’67 were syndicated to markets that did not produce a local version of the show.