Bozo Goes to Hollywood
By Bill Miller - For the Mail Tribune
By Bill Miller - For the Mail Tribune
Last week, we left Pinto Colvig,
the self-described “Village Clown” of Jacksonville, telling us about playing
E-flat clarinet in Corvallis with the Oregon Agricultural College band. At best
it was a tongue in cheek education.
“I learned how to paddle a canoe
and roll Bull Durham cigarettes with one hand, before I broke lose as a chalk
talker.”
Pinto’s cartoons in student
publications had made him popular on campus and led to his chalk talks—standing
on stage, delivering a rapid fire, funny monologue, while quickly drawing
cartoon characters on a large blackboard.
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| Vance DeBar "Pinto" Colvig |
In early 1913, he left college,
joined a vaudeville circuit, and took his chalk talks on the road. In
September, he even appeared on Medford’s Page Theater stage. But the circus was
always on his mind.
“Come early springtime, the green
grass, elephants, and the call of the Calliope would lure me back to the
circus, where I clowned, played clarinet on the bandwagon, and often pitch hit
as barker for the big show. … The life I love.”
In the fall of 1914, he briefly
took a job as a cartoonist for two Nevada newspapers, but it couldn’t last.
“Then came another spring. ‘Twas
circus time and I was off. I finished the season atop the bandwagon and then sailed
from Los Angeles to Portland. There I met a wonderful girl, Miss Margaret
Slavin, who was willing to marry. I kissed all the elephants goodbye forever.”
One of Pinto’s prized possessions from
those circus days was a “good luck” hair from an elephant’s tail that he kept
in his wallet for the rest of his life.
The couple moved to San Francisco
where Pinto went to work as a cartoonist and feature writer for the Call Bulletin
newspaper.
“I was known as the ‘boob reporter’
and, after a year, I quit to make the first color animated cartoons.”
Pinto formed the Animated Cartoon
and Film Corporation and is indeed credited with creating the very first color
animated cartoon. Soon; however, most of his staff were drafted into the Army
to fight in WWI and his company closed down.
 |
| Pinto Colvig |
“Then I made a strip for the Chronicle, which was syndicated
throughout the country. My newspaper interviews put me in touch with the movie
people who encourage me until I kicked over the traces and went to Los
Angeles.”
Pinto was in demand, working as an
animator, gag writer, occasional film actor, and vocal sound effects man for
some of the biggest names in Hollywood, including Max Sennett of “Keystone
Cops” fame and Walter Lanz, future creator and voice of Woody Woodpecker.
Perhaps because they were close in age, one of
his favorite Hollywood “bosses” was the legendary silent film
producer/director
Jack White.
 |
| Vance DeBar "Pinto" Colvig |
“Jack White, only 24 years old with
12 different minds where only one ought to be. He’s a great fellow to work for.
Yet, I seem to work—with—not for him.”
In 1930, Pinto signed a contract
with Walt Disney.
Next week, the conclusion; when the
Jacksonville “Goof” becomes the world’s biggest Bozo. See you then.
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.
