Whatevs. He couldn't hold a candle to Mr. Toot.

I do believe Bozo and Mr. Toot were the same person.

Yes, Ray Paulson played both Bozo and Mr. Toot on channel 6 in Duluth.

when i was six years old and growing up in Chicago, getting to be on the Bozo show--even in the audience--was considered to be the height of fame. when one of my Lutheran school classmates was there, schoolwork stopped and we watched Mark S. get all googly eyed when Bozo the Clown shook his hand.

to get tickets, it was rumored you had to sign up for them when your child was born.

Just to clear things up, Ray Paulson, the Bozo/Mr. Toot of local fame isn't dead.

Larry Harmon, the guy who owned the rights to the Bozo character and licensed it to local performers like Paulson, is the one who just died.

I had a Mr. Toot bank when I was a kid, so I always preferred Mr. Toot. Plus his name was more fun to say. Mr. Toot.

Toot merch is highly (?) collectible it seems. I somehow* came across a Mr. Toot bank while browsing ebay a while back. I can't remember what it went for, but I did copy the photo. For reasons unknown.

*I am not, nor have I ever been, an aficianado of ceramic clown collectibles.

As a friend put it:

"Jesse Helms died today.

So did Bozo the Clown.

You never saw them in the same place at the same time either, did you?"

Speaking of helms, did they find his collection of little shoes yet?

That was quite inspirational, Sjxxxy.