"Howdy, folks!"
Created by Alan Livingston, Bozo the Clown was featured on a series of children's records by Capitol Records. At that time, The Bozo Show began airing, and a gentleman named Larry Harmon was hired to portray him. Harmon became so enamored of the character he bought the rights to him and launched a franchise of local Bozo TV shows throughout the country (the most famous edition was from Chicago and was syndicated nationally).
In 1958, Harmon and Theodore Ticktin launched an animation studio where he had cartoons, billed as Bozo, The World's Most Famous Clown, made. 156 cartoons were made through three seasons—1958, 1959 and 1962. Bozo was given a circus boss to play off as well as a kid sidekick Butchy Boy. The cartoons were general comedy adventures with Bozo usually squaring off against harmless monsters and evil-doers but generally mischief at the circus.
Harmon's studio was notable for employing Hal Sutherland and Lou Schiemer, two guys who would create a consortium that founded the Filmation studio.
This series contains examples of:
- Achievements in Ignorance: In "Oodles Duck's Dilemma," Oodles (a duck that appeared in at least two cartoons) is being chased by a duck hunter. As the hunter chases Oodles off a cliff and hovers in mid-air:Oodles: I can fly...can you?
Hunter: Come ta think of it, I can't... (plummets out of shot) - Answering Echo: In "Bozo the Lion Hearted," Bozo is a fill-in lion tamer, and he thinks the lion he's facing is Butchy Boy in a lion suit. Bozo puts his head in the lion's mouth and calls "Hello in there!" His echo calls back "Hello out there!"
- Arson, Murder, and Jaywalking: In "Beast With the Least," Bozo is running a giant mechanical dragon that the police (and Butch) think is real. An APB is issued:Calling all cars...calling all cars...be on the lookout for a monster. Height: about 100 feet. Weight: 50 tons. Caucasian.
- Art Shift: In the third season, Bozo's design became more simplified and the animation more static than usual.
- Beastly Bloodsports: Bozo becomes a bullfighter in "Bully For Bozo," although it's not his forte. The crowd wanted him to be the bullfighter after his playing of a horn he bought earlier tamed the bull.
- Big Guy, Little Guy: Some cartoons featured two thugs, Short Biggie and Big Shorty. Short Biggie was the pint-sized leader (Paul Frees voice) and Big Shorty was his lumbering stooge (Larry Harmon). Needless to say, they never came out on top against Bozo as on a Sliding Scale of Villain Threat, they're about a 2. In season three, the two crooks took on different designs but same voices.
- In most episodes, Bozo and Butch would definitely count as this.
- Catchphrase: Bozo's "Whoa Nelly!" Also as a running gag sometimes, when Bozo or an antagonist is confronted with something, an exchange of "Who sir, me sir? / Yes sir, you sir!" takes place.
- Chekhov's Gun: In "Injun-eer Bozo," Bozo and Butch are in a runaway train engine which levels an Indian settlement. During the ride, they retrieve a sack of mail dated 1859. Bozo and Butch are held by the Indian chief for what they did, saying war is imminent against the white man. Bozo tells them the President signed a peace treaty but the chief says he never received it. When Bozo presents the mail bag, the chief finds the treaty in it, signed as official by the President. The Indians make peace and make Bozo an honorary chief.
- Comically Missing the Point: Bozo gets involved in a bank robbery driving the getaway car (episode "Hollywood Holdup"). When a policeman in his car is ordered to fire at will, he asks "Who's Will?"
- Counting Sheep: Bozo is watching after his uncle's sheep flock in "Sheep Thief Grief." He takes a spot check and counts them off, getting sleepy in the process.
- Dick Dastardly Stops to Cheat: Hot Rod Rodney's schtick in "Hot Rod Bozo." Rodney had won 20 races in a row simply because he hates to lose, and he uses Dick Dastardly-type schemes to stop Bozo and Butch, who have entered the race in an import car they take for a test drive.
- Here We Go Again!: In "Bozo's Bozo-mow-bile," Bozo turns a regular lawn mower into a power mower. It goes out of control and eventually lands him in the hospital. Butch casually comments that there should be a motor on Bozo's wheelchair, which Bozo takes to heart. Once again, Bozo starts it and goes off out of control.
- Butch says this at the end of "Nightmare Scare" after Bozo hypnotizes himself a second time, the first leading to him in a sleepwalking trance.
- The Hunter Becomes the Hunted: In the aforementioned episode with Oodles Duck, the hunter has Oodles at gunpoint. Oodles takes out a gun of his own and starts firing at the hunter.
- Insult Backfire: In "Red Riding Hood Hoodwinks," Bozo is dressed as grandma in an effort to apprehend the wolf (the cartoon plays out like a Dragnet episode). When the wolf comments on his nose, Bozo cracks "Flattery will get you nowhere!"
- Limited Animation: Pretty much a given, being a TV cartoon. Quality of movement varies significantly depending on the director (Jerry Hathcock was usually pretty good at staying on model). Significant decline in the 1962 cartoons.
- Limited Wardrobe: Bozo's clown suit, regardless on what period in time the story takes place. "Stormy Knight Fright" and "Sir Bozo and the Fire Breathing Dragon" are notable examples. Also, Butchy Boy's junior ringmaster uniform.
- Lorre Lookalike: The episode "Manhunt Stunts" has a character based on Peter Lorre as the Villain of the Week named Slippery Bligh, Spy Guy.
- Mythology Gag: In "Broken Bones Jones," a demolition derby sign promoting an act named "Homicide McBride" is displayed. A year later, an Al Brodax Popeye cartoon made at the Larry Harmon studio featured Brutus as a western outlaw named Suicide McBride.
- Non-Ironic Clown: Bozo is an early version of this. In the cartoons he's either heroic or mischievous and a few times even a butt-monkey, but never threatening or scary.
- Non Sequitur, *Thud*: In "The Missing Sphinx of King Jinx," Butch is being chased by a mummy, who is actually Bozo (having been ambushed by their tour guide). Butch conks him with a mallet, followed by a dazed Bozo saying "I thought the light was green, officer!"
- Fearless Freddie the lion tamer, after he's carried off on a stretcher following an unsuccessful encounter with the circus lion:
Did anyone get the license number of that truck? - Or My Name Isn't...: From "Horse Thief Grief":"I'll corral that horse or my name isn't Big Shorty!"
- Recycled Animation: The line of racers in "Hot Rod Bozo" would be reused two years later in the Larry Harmon-produced Popeye cartoon "Floppy Jalopy."
- Rhymes on a Dime: Many episode titles fall into this, such as "Please Please Hercules," "Big Deal On a Small Wheel," "Paleface Chase" and "Beast With The Least."
- Rump Roast: Bozo applies a heated branding iron to the keister of the wolf in a scene from "Sheep Thief Grief." Bozo falls victim to this in "Horse Thief Grief."
- "Scooby-Doo" Hoax: The episode "Go Go Ghosts." Butch inherits a dilapidated mansion where two thugs try to scare off him and Bozo as the mansion is sitting on a lode of oil.
- Sea Serpents: Bozo, the circus boss and Butch run into one in "Sea Serpent Seance." It's a friendly sea serpent with a rather healthy appetite.
- Signature Laugh: Bozo ended many cartoons with this, even when he came out on the losing end (like in "Big Man In Tin Can" and "Tally Ho Bozo").
- Talking Animal: Bozo and Butchy Boy would get some help from a talking dog named Elvis. A goofy wolf named Wacko Wolf would appear in third season cartoons. Bozo would also get help from a laconic bloodhound named Sniffer, who took a dog biscuit infused with vitamin XYZ-3 to turn his nose into a virtual vacuum to sniff out clues.
- Tempting Fate: In "Hark Hark, the Shark," Bozo tells Butch of how he and the circus boss caught the man-eating shark which is displayed and mounted on the wall. It's a pretty tall tale, and when Bozo says "If that isn't the truth, I hope to get bitten by a man-eating shark!", the mounted shark bites him in the butt.
- Trivial Title: The titular character of the episode "Broken Bones Jones" appears for about a minute and doesn't do anything except drive a demolition derby car up and down a pair of ramps. The episode itself is about the chaos Bozo causes when he takes a foreign sports car for a test drive and he winds up at the derby.
- You Wouldn't Believe Me If I Told You: In "Flying Shoes Blues," Bozo takes off in a pair of jet-propelled shoes an alien left. The Air Force mistakes him as a UFO; a pilot goes off his nut when he sees Bozo, so when the tower asks for a description, the pilot replies "If I told you, you wouldn't believe it!"
- Zany Scheme: Cartoons that take place at the circus involve this when Bozo is asked to take on an impossible task. "Kitty Kat Spat" and "Bozo the Lion Hearted" each feature Bozo tasked with performing with a tiger and a lion respectively, so to save his skin, he has imposters set up to face (a cat painted to look like a tiger and Butch dressed as a lion). Only through mechanisms out of his control, Bozo winds up facing the real beast, not knowing it's real.
