Best known as the longtime owner of the name and likeness of "Bozo the
Clown". Although Harmon credited himself as the character's creator and
original portrayer, Capitol Records producer
Alan Livingston created
Bozo in 1946 for a popular series of children's storytelling
record-album and illustrative read-along book sets, the first of their
kind; and
Pinto Colvig portrayed the character on the
recordings, radio and first television series
Bozo's Circus (1951) on KTTV-Channel 11 (CBS) Los Angeles,
California in 1949. Harmon, one of several actors hired by Livingston
and Capitol Records to portray Bozo at promotional appearances, formed
a business partnership and bought the licensing rights (excluding the
record-readers) to the character in 1957. In 1959, Jayark Films Corporation distributed a series of
Harmon-produced limited-animation cartoons (with Harmon as the voice of
Bozo) to television stations, along with the rights for each to hire
its own live Bozo host. In 1965, Harmon became the sole owner of the
licensing rights after buying out his business partners. In 1971, Larry
Harmon Pictures Corporation took over Capitol Records' "Bozo the Clown"
copyright. In 2001, the last Bozo television series ended a 40-year-run
on Superstation WGN-Channel 9 Chicago, Illinois.
