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Another familiar figure from 1950s and '60s TV in Los Angeles has died, the L.A. Times reports. Charles Runyon portrayed Chucko the Birthday Clown on Channel 7 from 1955 to 1963 and on Channel 11 in 63-64. He also would open TV coverage of the Santa Claus Lane Parade in Hollywood. From Dennis McLellan's obituary:
He wore a spinning merry-go-round hat, a red-and-white-striped clown suit with a fluffy Elizabethan collar and big blue pompon buttons, and white gloves, and he had arching blue eyebrows on a white face with a rhinestone-tipped nose and an upturned red smile.His live, hourlong show included cartoons and games with his studio audience, which consisted of two children celebrating their birthdays and their young guests.
At the end of the show, the camera would show a large birthday cake, and Chucko the Birthday Clown would sing: "Here's a hap, hap, happy birthday from me (that's me), to you (that's you) ....."
These obits of early TV icons mean nothing to younger readers or newcomers to SoCal, but to baby boomers who grew up in Los Angeles their deaths mark the passage of time. I usually get a fair bit of email about them.
Recently:
Lloyd Thaxton, 81
George Putnam, 94
Engineer Bill, 97
Stu Nahan, 81