The Real Bozo - Part 2

Bozo Goes to Hollywood
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.

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

Vance DeBar "Pinto" Colvig

producer/director Jack White.

“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.

The Real Bozo - Part 1

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

Pinto Colvig the Original BOZO

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.”

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

Pinto Colvig the Original BOZO

the loudest.”

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