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EVERYDAY'S A HOLIDAY... |
For a birthday clown, just ask Chucko! "The most important day in a child's life is his birthday,it doesn't belong to anyone else. We tried to create a theme for birthdays, with the clown as the symbol, like the Easter Bunny for Eastertime or Santa Claus for Christmas. There should be a symbol for a child's birthday--it's their day." With this thought Charles Runyon went on to become that symbol. It all started when he decided to become a birthday clown by dressing up to entertain at his own child's birthday party back in 1954. He was so successful that soon other parents were calling him up toentertain for their children's birthdays and not long after he was in business. Starting out in a suburb of Long Beach with his "Merry-Gobile" he would be booked for seven parties a day, seven days a week. He was so popular that he even got a call from Channel 7-KABC inviting him to audition for a new children's show that was being planned. Twenty-seven other clowns showed up for the audition and Charles thought he didn't have a chance at getting the job with professional clowns in the running. However, by the time he arrived home from the audition he received a phone call from the station telling him to turn around and come back the job was his. |
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When he first started on the show in the fall of 1955, the station used the children more as props rather than little guests. Children would arrive, do the show and then be kicked out the gate. With Chucko show, he made sure this practice was stopped. "These people are guests in our home. We were an early morning show and these people got up at 4:00 in the morning and drove all the way from San Bernadino to bring these props. It was unfair to treat them as a piece of goods--they were people." Chucko's love and respect for children made him one of the most popular and beloved personalities from back then. The show was ad-libbed and the kid's were the stars. Every weekday at 7:30 a.m. the birthday children and their invited guests would play games, watch cartoons, participate in stunts and sing songs along with their favorite clown. |
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Chucko was living in the San Fernando Valley at the time with his wife Millie and their three children. He often tested his clown expressions, gimmicks and ideas on his family members. |
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The show continued as a big success, but by 1962, the station wanted to change the format of the show. Gone would be the interaction between Chucko and his kids in favor of him being a host to a cartoon show. A true clown needs somebody to have fun with and just introducing cartoons is a poor subsitute for the laughter of children, so by mutual agreement the show ended. It had been on for seven years, seven months, and seven days. Chucko's son went on to continue the Chucko character (after Charles Runyon Sr. retired), playing children's parties and other events, picking up the clowning where his father left off Chucko always believed that a clown is the personification of make-believe in a child's life. Like a child, a clown can be fulled of fun and yet have a tinge of sadness that lets even adults laugh at their own troubles. Perhaps the best indication of Chucko's special regard for birthdays is revealed in the way he would autograph pictures to his young fans, "May all your days be as happy as birthdays." |
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See Chucko one more time with Real Media. |
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