Who is this Bozo?
BY
Bill Miller for the Mail Tribune January 07, 2019
“Many years ago, a mother wrapped her newborn
baby in a crazy quilt and — well, here I am — and I’ve been crazy ever since.”
Vance DeBar Colvig was born
Sept. 11, 1892.
“Me? I’m from Jay-ville — a
little lumber and mining town in Oregon. No special nationalities, just
universal — a little of this and that. I always looked like the goof — the
typical village clown who was blamed for everything.”
His theatrical career began
when he was 4 years old, standing on stage as an extra in a local Christmas
pageant. When he was 7, with no mischievous pranks reported, he was best man at
his sister’s wedding.
“At age 7, because of too
many freckles and my goony antics, I was named ‘Pinto, The Village Clown.’ I
was a goofy-looking kid who figured that if people were going to laugh at me,
they might
as well pay for it. I didn’t know whether I wanted to be a clown,
draw cartoons, write, hobo around, or be a musician. So I wrapped it all up and
made stew out of it.”
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| Pinto Colvig the Original BOZO |
He learned to play a squeaky
E-flat clarinet and make funny faces. Everyone laughed.
“It was probably because my
eyes crossed naturally when I played it. By the time I was 7, I was marching
and clowning in all the parades and local events.”
He was always fascinated with
circuses and carnivals, and when he was 13, he somehow made it all the way to
Portland. There, until his father retrieved him, he briefly became a carnival
clown at the Lewis and Clark Exposition.
“My future was a serious
matter with dad. He wanted me to be a great lawyer or a great baseball player,
but after mature deliberation, he got me a job at the Medford Depot.”
He spent his time drawing
cartoons on the loading dock, and when Pinto’s boss eventually caught him, he
told him he was working on the railroad and not on a comic strip for a
newspaper.
“I objected to the way he ran
down my art and I quit. Next day I was en route to Portland to take a job with
a traveling band that breathed its last in Pendleton a few days later.”
It was a cowboy clown band,
and after it folded, Pinto hopped a couple of freight trains, heading south.
“I had to move around on the
under or top side of freight cars, ‘hoboeing’ my way to Corvallis, where I met
a lot of my hometown guys.”
Pinto’s brother, Don, was a
student at the college (Oregon State) and a player in the school’s band. Don
took Pinto to meet the band director, who was excited to learn that Pinto
played clarinet.
“He encouraged me to sign up
for a course in the art department so I could play in the band. I became an
earnest student at the Oregon Agricultural College. Maybe I wasn’t the best in
the band, but I was
the loudest.”
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| Pinto Colvig the Original BOZO |
Pinto still didn’t know who
or what he wanted to be. It was college for now, but the future had to be a
whole lot better.
That’s all for now folks.
Join Pinto and me next week, as we continue Pinto’s journey to Hollywood.
Writer Bill Miller is the
author of “History Snoopin’,” a collection of his previous history columns and
stories. Reach him at newsmiller@live.com or WilliamMMiller.com.
http://mailtribune.com/lifestyle/who-is-this-bozo
