Roy Brown (clown)
Encyclopedia
Roy Thomas Brown was an American
television
personality, puppeteer, clown and artist best known for playing "Cooky the Cook" on Chicago's
long running Bozo's Circus
.
but had lived in the Chicago area since he was a boy. His mother was an artist with an at-home studio, which gave him the opportunity to also become interested in art. Brown graduated from Chicago's Austin High School
; when he entered the Chicago Academy of Fine Arts, Brown intended to become a cartoonist. He started working on the children's series Garfield Goose and Friends
at WBKB-TV in 1952 as a puppeteer and art director. When Garfield Goose moved to WGN-TV
in 1955, Brown followed along and stayed until the show went off the air in 1976.
By 1953, the program was popular enough for Thomas to write a book about the character, Garfield Goose Memory Book, detailing his family, years of growing up and his average day as King of the United States in his castle. Brown contributed the illustrations for the 32 page booklet, which was also able to be used as a coloring book.
Brown's first puppet contribution to the show made his debut on Christmas Day
, 1953. Christmas Goose, the nephew of Garfield, was the first puppet cast member outside of Garfield Goose. A capuchin monkey
named Geronimo had joined the cast on Thanksgiving Day
as a butler. During the time he was working on the Garfield Goose show, Brown also created puppets and performed them for another WGN-TV children's show called Quiet Riot. One of Brown's creations for this show was a rabbit named Romberg; when Quiet Riot was cancelled, Brown brought Romberg Rabbit to Frazier Thomas
, who liked the puppet so much, he asked Brown to make him part of the Garfield Goose cast.
The show was originally called Garfield Goose and Friend, as it started out with just Thomas and his goose puppet. Because the cast of characters had grown, Thomas decided to change the name of his program to Garfield Goose and Friends with the addition of Romberg Rabbit. Brown's next creation for the progam was a sleepy bloodhound called Beauregard Burnside III, who came to full attention when "hotdogs, hamburgers, spaghetti and meatballs" was said into his ear. Macintosh Mouse came to the show to work in the castle mailroom.
In 1961, Thomas began hosting a weekly series called Family Classics
where he served as the host, introducing classic movies which were suitable for family viewing. Brown was also the art director for this program, taking Thomas' designs for the set and turning them into a warm study, complete with a Brown oil painting of Garfield Goose. The portrait and set are part of the exhibits at the Museum of Broadcast Communications.
When Ray Rayner
started his programs Ray Rayner and His Friends and the Dick Tracy Show on WGN-TV, Brown was hired as art director, creating a dog puppet called Tracer for the Tracy show. He also did puppetry on Rayner's morning show for a character called Cuddly Dudley
, a large, orange dog created by WGN-TV's owner, the Chicago Tribune
, as a promotional item. The Cuddly Dudley puppet and his dog house are now part of the Museum of Broadcast Communication's collection. He stayed on the Rayner show until it went off the air in 1981. When Rayner joined the "Bozo's Circus" cast as country clown Oliver O. Oliver, Brown designed and built the noses for the character. Among Brown's other creations were puppets for other WGN television shows, such as The Blue Fairy, Treetop House, and Paddleboat, which starred a pre-Bozo's Circus Ned Locke
.
, who doubled as a clown called Sandy the Tramp, announced in 1968 he would leave the show, Brown took one of Bozo's old red wigs, trimmed and restyled it and cobbled together some other props and wardrobe. Before he found the right makeup for Cooky, Brown had made 60 other tries with it for his character. Told by Sandberg that if he wanted to become Sandy's replacement on the show, he would need to appear without any other preparation, Brown did his audition live on the air as Cooky the clown. Brown, who had no previous on-camera experience, created the Cooky character as an initial tongue-in-cheek reference to the food at the station's cafeteria.
The viewer reaction was positive, but Brown was not the only person who wanted to replace Sandy. Dick Lubbers, a WGN-TV floor manager, also auditioned for the role as Monty Melvin. Until Lubbers left the station about a year later, Brown and Lubbers appeared on the show on alternating days. Lubbers' leaving meant the job was finally all Roy Brown's. When Rayner, who also starred as Oliver O. Oliver on Bozo's Circus, left the show in 1971, Cooky became Bozo's main foil until his retirement in 1994. Fellow cast member Marshall Brodien
, who played Wizzo the Magician on the show, teamed up with Brown in 1973 for an act they brought to the Kane County
and DuPage County
fairs each summer for twenty-one years. Brodien also retired from the program in 1994.
The tradition on "Bozo's Circus" from its start was that at the end of the program, Bozo would lead the audience out of the television studio in a Grand March, complete with baton and music. In 1987, a viewer petition gathered 10,000 names for Brown's Cooky character to lead the Grand March, and Brown was given the honors for a day. Although Brown's Cooky outlasted Bob Bell
's 24 years as Bozo by a year, Cooky's appearances during his final year were from previous shows due to health problems.
in 1992. He was elected into the International Clown Hall of Fame
the next year; it was not until three years later that his colleague, Bob Bell, joined him. Roy also became a member of the Chicago chapter of the National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences Silver Circle in 1993. His health forced Brown to retire in 1994. Upon his retirement, he donated some of his costumes and clown-related material to the International Clown Hall of Fame. Brown was able to be a part of the 35th anniversary Bozo's Circus program in 1996 and also to take part in "An Evening With Roy Brown", presented by the Museum of Broadcast Communications. Brown made his final appearance on the show on August 26, 2000. He died in 2001 of congestive heart failure. He was survived by his second wife, Mary Lu, four sons, three stepsons, and three step-grandchildren. His interment was at Memory Gardens Cemetery in Arlington Heights, Illinois
. One of Brown's Cooky costumes is part of the collection of the Museum of Broadcast Communications' Bozo's Circus collection. The cast of characters that he created for Garfield Goose and Friends are also in the museum.
In 2005, the Museum of Broadcast Communications
awarded WGN-TV's Studio 1 a plaque to commemorate the forty years of children's television broadcast from the studio. Garfield Goose and Friends
is on the plaque along with Ray Rayner and Friends
and Bozo's Circus
. Roy Brown was an important part of all three of the shows; his work delighted three generations of young Chicagoans.
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
television
Television
Television is a telecommunication medium for transmitting and receiving moving images that can be monochrome or colored, with accompanying sound...
personality, puppeteer, clown and artist best known for playing "Cooky the Cook" on Chicago's
Chicago
Chicago is the largest city in the US state of Illinois. With nearly 2.7 million residents, it is the most populous city in the Midwestern United States and the third most populous in the US, after New York City and Los Angeles...
long running Bozo's Circus
The Bozo Show
The Bozo Show is a locally-produced children's television program that aired on WGN-TV in Chicago and nationally on what is now WGN America. Recognized as the most popular and successful locally-produced children's program in the history of television, it only aired under this title for 14 of its...
.
Early years
Roy Brown was born in Tucson, ArizonaTucson, Arizona
Tucson is a city in and the county seat of Pima County, Arizona, United States. The city is located 118 miles southeast of Phoenix and 60 miles north of the U.S.-Mexico border. The 2010 United States Census puts the city's population at 520,116 with a metropolitan area population at 1,020,200...
but had lived in the Chicago area since he was a boy. His mother was an artist with an at-home studio, which gave him the opportunity to also become interested in art. Brown graduated from Chicago's Austin High School
Austin Community Academy High School
Austin Community Academy High School was a public high school located at 231 N Pine Avenue in the Austin community on the west side of Chicago, Illinois. The school opened in 1890, and was named after Henry W. Austin, a local real estate developer The online newsletter Chicago-Catalyst.org called...
; when he entered the Chicago Academy of Fine Arts, Brown intended to become a cartoonist. He started working on the children's series Garfield Goose and Friends
Garfield Goose and Friends
Garfield Goose and Friends was a children's television show produced by WGN-TV in Chicago, Illinois, United States from 1955 to 1976. The show was known as Garfield Goose and Friend from 1952 to 1955 when it aired on WBKB and WBBM-TV. It was the longest running puppet show on television. The host...
at WBKB-TV in 1952 as a puppeteer and art director. When Garfield Goose moved to WGN-TV
WGN-TV
WGN-TV, virtual channel 9 , is the CW-affiliated television station in Chicago, Illinois built, signed on, and owned by the Tribune Company. WGN-TV's studios and offices are located at 2501 W...
in 1955, Brown followed along and stayed until the show went off the air in 1976.
Behind the scenes work
When Frazier Thomas hired Brown for Garfield Goose and Friend in 1952, he was still an art student and had no prior experience as a puppeteer. Brown's talent for this work was quickly evident. In a later interview, he talked about his many years of work with Thomas on the show, saying that while Thomas was a perfectionist, he was very willing to grant Brown the freedom to be creative with the program's puppet characters. Brown developed a movement with his hand that would make Garfield Goose appear to smile. He also created greeting cards for the program which were sent to young viewers in response to their letters, the title cards for the show, and created illustrations of Garfield Goose's travels away from his castle.By 1953, the program was popular enough for Thomas to write a book about the character, Garfield Goose Memory Book, detailing his family, years of growing up and his average day as King of the United States in his castle. Brown contributed the illustrations for the 32 page booklet, which was also able to be used as a coloring book.
Brown's first puppet contribution to the show made his debut on Christmas Day
Christmas
Christmas or Christmas Day is an annual holiday generally celebrated on December 25 by billions of people around the world. It is a Christian feast that commemorates the birth of Jesus Christ, liturgically closing the Advent season and initiating the season of Christmastide, which lasts twelve days...
, 1953. Christmas Goose, the nephew of Garfield, was the first puppet cast member outside of Garfield Goose. A capuchin monkey
Capuchin monkey
The capuchins are New World monkeys of the genus Cebus. The range of capuchin monkeys includes Central America and South America as far south as northern Argentina...
named Geronimo had joined the cast on Thanksgiving Day
Thanksgiving
Thanksgiving Day is a holiday celebrated primarily in the United States and Canada. Thanksgiving is celebrated each year on the second Monday of October in Canada and on the fourth Thursday of November in the United States. In Canada, Thanksgiving falls on the same day as Columbus Day in the...
as a butler. During the time he was working on the Garfield Goose show, Brown also created puppets and performed them for another WGN-TV children's show called Quiet Riot. One of Brown's creations for this show was a rabbit named Romberg; when Quiet Riot was cancelled, Brown brought Romberg Rabbit to Frazier Thomas
Frazier Thomas
William Frazier Thomas was a Chicago television personality. While Thomas became the author of nine children's books, he was best known for creating, hosting, writing and producing the long-running children's television program Garfield Goose and Friends on WGN-TV.-Magic and broadcasting:Thomas...
, who liked the puppet so much, he asked Brown to make him part of the Garfield Goose cast.
The show was originally called Garfield Goose and Friend, as it started out with just Thomas and his goose puppet. Because the cast of characters had grown, Thomas decided to change the name of his program to Garfield Goose and Friends with the addition of Romberg Rabbit. Brown's next creation for the progam was a sleepy bloodhound called Beauregard Burnside III, who came to full attention when "hotdogs, hamburgers, spaghetti and meatballs" was said into his ear. Macintosh Mouse came to the show to work in the castle mailroom.
In 1961, Thomas began hosting a weekly series called Family Classics
Family Classics
Family Classics was a Chicago television series which began in 1962 when Frazier Thomas was added to another program at WGN-TV. Thomas not only hosted classic films but also selected the titles and personally edited them to remove those scenes which he thought were not fit for family viewing. After...
where he served as the host, introducing classic movies which were suitable for family viewing. Brown was also the art director for this program, taking Thomas' designs for the set and turning them into a warm study, complete with a Brown oil painting of Garfield Goose. The portrait and set are part of the exhibits at the Museum of Broadcast Communications.
When Ray Rayner
Ray Rayner
Ray Rayner was a staple of Chicago children's television in the 1960s and 1970s on WGN-TV.-Early life:...
started his programs Ray Rayner and His Friends and the Dick Tracy Show on WGN-TV, Brown was hired as art director, creating a dog puppet called Tracer for the Tracy show. He also did puppetry on Rayner's morning show for a character called Cuddly Dudley
Cuddly Dudley
Cuddly Dudley is a lifesize shiny plush stuffed animal nostalgic cocker spaniel doll that was used as a subscription sales promotional item by the Chicago Tribune in the mid-1960s...
, a large, orange dog created by WGN-TV's owner, the Chicago Tribune
Chicago Tribune
The Chicago Tribune is a major daily newspaper based in Chicago, Illinois, and the flagship publication of the Tribune Company. Formerly self-styled as the "World's Greatest Newspaper" , it remains the most read daily newspaper of the Chicago metropolitan area and the Great Lakes region and is...
, as a promotional item. The Cuddly Dudley puppet and his dog house are now part of the Museum of Broadcast Communication's collection. He stayed on the Rayner show until it went off the air in 1981. When Rayner joined the "Bozo's Circus" cast as country clown Oliver O. Oliver, Brown designed and built the noses for the character. Among Brown's other creations were puppets for other WGN television shows, such as The Blue Fairy, Treetop House, and Paddleboat, which starred a pre-Bozo's Circus Ned Locke
Ned Locke
Norbert Locke, better known as Ned Locke , was an American television personality and radio announcer, best known for the role of "Ringmaster Ned" on WGN-TV's Bozo's Circus from 1961 - 1976....
.
On camera performer
It was on Bozo's Circus, however, that Brown had his chance to shine in front of the camera as a performer. When show producer Don SandburgDon Sandburg
Don Sandburg is an American writer, actor, and producer who has worked in television, most notably as producer of The Banana Splits for Hanna-Barbera as well as WGN-TV's Bozo's Circus....
, who doubled as a clown called Sandy the Tramp, announced in 1968 he would leave the show, Brown took one of Bozo's old red wigs, trimmed and restyled it and cobbled together some other props and wardrobe. Before he found the right makeup for Cooky, Brown had made 60 other tries with it for his character. Told by Sandberg that if he wanted to become Sandy's replacement on the show, he would need to appear without any other preparation, Brown did his audition live on the air as Cooky the clown. Brown, who had no previous on-camera experience, created the Cooky character as an initial tongue-in-cheek reference to the food at the station's cafeteria.
The viewer reaction was positive, but Brown was not the only person who wanted to replace Sandy. Dick Lubbers, a WGN-TV floor manager, also auditioned for the role as Monty Melvin. Until Lubbers left the station about a year later, Brown and Lubbers appeared on the show on alternating days. Lubbers' leaving meant the job was finally all Roy Brown's. When Rayner, who also starred as Oliver O. Oliver on Bozo's Circus, left the show in 1971, Cooky became Bozo's main foil until his retirement in 1994. Fellow cast member Marshall Brodien
Marshall Brodien
Marshall Brodien, known for his role as Wizzo the Wizard, played a wizard clown that performed on WGN-TV's Bozo's Circus and The Bozo Show from 1968-1994. Brodien, who had been making semi-regular guest appearances since 1968, later appeared as a wizard character in an Arabian Nights-inspired...
, who played Wizzo the Magician on the show, teamed up with Brown in 1973 for an act they brought to the Kane County
Kane County, Illinois
Kane County is a county located in the U.S. state of Illinois. According to the 2010 census, it has a population of 515,269, which is an increase of 27.5% from 404,119 in 2000. Its county seat is Geneva, and its largest city is Aurora.- Geography :...
and DuPage County
DuPage County, Illinois
As of the 2010 Census, the population of the county was 916,924, White Americans made up 77.9% of Dupage County's population; non-Hispanic whites represented 70.5% of the population. Black Americans made up 4.6% of the population. Native Americans made up 0.3% of Dupage County's population...
fairs each summer for twenty-one years. Brodien also retired from the program in 1994.
The tradition on "Bozo's Circus" from its start was that at the end of the program, Bozo would lead the audience out of the television studio in a Grand March, complete with baton and music. In 1987, a viewer petition gathered 10,000 names for Brown's Cooky character to lead the Grand March, and Brown was given the honors for a day. Although Brown's Cooky outlasted Bob Bell
Bob Bell (actor)
Robert Lewis Bell , better known as Bob Bell, was famous for his alter-ego, Bozo the Clown. He was the original portrayer of the character for Chicago superstation WGN-TV.- Early life :...
's 24 years as Bozo by a year, Cooky's appearances during his final year were from previous shows due to health problems.
Legacy
Brown won a Chicago/Midwest Emmy AwardEmmy Award
An Emmy Award, often referred to simply as the Emmy, is a television production award, similar in nature to the Peabody Awards but more focused on entertainment, and is considered the television equivalent to the Academy Awards and the Grammy Awards .A majority of Emmys are presented in various...
in 1992. He was elected into the International Clown Hall of Fame
International Clown Hall of Fame
The International Clown Hall of Fame and Research Center , located in Baraboo, Wisconsin, USA, is dedicated to the preservation and advancement of clown art and achievement...
the next year; it was not until three years later that his colleague, Bob Bell, joined him. Roy also became a member of the Chicago chapter of the National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences Silver Circle in 1993. His health forced Brown to retire in 1994. Upon his retirement, he donated some of his costumes and clown-related material to the International Clown Hall of Fame. Brown was able to be a part of the 35th anniversary Bozo's Circus program in 1996 and also to take part in "An Evening With Roy Brown", presented by the Museum of Broadcast Communications. Brown made his final appearance on the show on August 26, 2000. He died in 2001 of congestive heart failure. He was survived by his second wife, Mary Lu, four sons, three stepsons, and three step-grandchildren. His interment was at Memory Gardens Cemetery in Arlington Heights, Illinois
Arlington Heights, Illinois
Arlington Heights is a village in Cook and Lake counties in the U.S. state of Illinois. A suburb of Chicago, it lies about 25 miles northwest of the city's downtown. The population was 75,101 at the 2010 census....
. One of Brown's Cooky costumes is part of the collection of the Museum of Broadcast Communications' Bozo's Circus collection. The cast of characters that he created for Garfield Goose and Friends are also in the museum.
In 2005, the Museum of Broadcast Communications
Museum of Broadcast Communications
The Museum of Broadcast Communications is an American museum that currently exists exclusively on the Internet and not in any physical capacity. Its stated mission is "to collect, preserve, and present historic and contemporary radio and television content as well as educate, inform and entertain...
awarded WGN-TV's Studio 1 a plaque to commemorate the forty years of children's television broadcast from the studio. Garfield Goose and Friends
Garfield Goose and Friends
Garfield Goose and Friends was a children's television show produced by WGN-TV in Chicago, Illinois, United States from 1955 to 1976. The show was known as Garfield Goose and Friend from 1952 to 1955 when it aired on WBKB and WBBM-TV. It was the longest running puppet show on television. The host...
is on the plaque along with Ray Rayner and Friends
Ray Rayner
Ray Rayner was a staple of Chicago children's television in the 1960s and 1970s on WGN-TV.-Early life:...
and Bozo's Circus
The Bozo Show
The Bozo Show is a locally-produced children's television program that aired on WGN-TV in Chicago and nationally on what is now WGN America. Recognized as the most popular and successful locally-produced children's program in the history of television, it only aired under this title for 14 of its...
. Roy Brown was an important part of all three of the shows; his work delighted three generations of young Chicagoans.
External links
Watch
- [mms://208.100.39.213:80/MGWMS/MBC/TV%20Radio%20News/TV_01476/stream0.asf Bozo's Circus at Chicagofest] 1979. Brown as Cooky. Museum of Broadcast Communications (Windows Media PlayerWindows Media PlayerWindows Media Player is a media player and media library application developed by Microsoft that is used for playing audio, video and viewing images on personal computers running the Microsoft Windows operating system, as well as on Pocket PC and Windows Mobile-based devices...
) - [mms://208.100.39.213:80/MGWMS/MBC/features/chicagotv/bozo25anv.wmv Bozo 25th Anniversary] 1986. Museum of Broadcast Communications (Windows Media PlayerWindows Media PlayerWindows Media Player is a media player and media library application developed by Microsoft that is used for playing audio, video and viewing images on personal computers running the Microsoft Windows operating system, as well as on Pocket PC and Windows Mobile-based devices...
) - [mms://208.100.39.213:80/MGWMS/MBC/TV%20Radio%20News/TV_00251-1/stream0.asf Garfield Goose and Friends clip] circa 1970s Museum of Broadcast Communications (Windows Media PlayerWindows Media PlayerWindows Media Player is a media player and media library application developed by Microsoft that is used for playing audio, video and viewing images on personal computers running the Microsoft Windows operating system, as well as on Pocket PC and Windows Mobile-based devices...
) - [mms://208.100.39.213:80/MGWMS/MBC/TV%20Radio%20News/TV_00926/stream0.asf Garfield Goose and Friends clips] circa 1970s Museum of Broadcast Communications (Windows Media PlayerWindows Media PlayerWindows Media Player is a media player and media library application developed by Microsoft that is used for playing audio, video and viewing images on personal computers running the Microsoft Windows operating system, as well as on Pocket PC and Windows Mobile-based devices...
) - [mms://208.100.39.213:80/MGWMS/MBC/TV%20Radio%20News/TV_00251-2/stream0.asf Garfield Goose and Friends clip] circa 1970s Museum of Broadcast Communications (Windows Media PlayerWindows Media PlayerWindows Media Player is a media player and media library application developed by Microsoft that is used for playing audio, video and viewing images on personal computers running the Microsoft Windows operating system, as well as on Pocket PC and Windows Mobile-based devices...
)