Roy Brown (clown) - Behind The Scenes Work

Behind The Scenes Work

When Frazier Thomas hired Brown for Garfield Goose and Friend in 1952, he was still an art student and had no prior experience as a puppeteer. Brown's talent for this work was quickly evident. In a later interview, he talked about his many years of work with Thomas on the show, saying that while Thomas was a perfectionist, he was very willing to grant Brown the freedom to be creative with the program's puppet characters. Brown developed a movement with his hand that would make Garfield Goose appear to smile. He also created greeting cards for the program which were sent to young viewers in response to their letters, the title cards for the show, and created illustrations of Garfield Goose's travels away from his castle.

By 1953, the program was popular enough for Thomas to write a book about the character, Garfield Goose Memory Book, detailing his family, years of growing up and his average day as King of the United States in his castle. Brown contributed the illustrations for the 32 page booklet, which was also able to be used as a coloring book.

Brown's first puppet contribution to the show made his debut on Christmas Day, 1953. Christmas Goose, the nephew of Garfield, was the first puppet cast member outside of Garfield Goose. A capuchin monkey named Geronimo had joined the cast on Thanksgiving Day as a butler. During the time he was working on the Garfield Goose show, Brown also created puppets and performed them for another WGN-TV children's show called Quiet Riot. One of Brown's creations for this show was a rabbit named Romberg; when Quiet Riot was cancelled, Brown brought Romberg Rabbit to Frazier Thomas, who liked the puppet so much, he asked Brown to make him part of the Garfield Goose cast.

The show was originally called Garfield Goose and Friend, as it started out with just Thomas and his goose puppet. Because the cast of characters had grown, Thomas decided to change the name of his program to Garfield Goose and Friends with the addition of Romberg Rabbit. Brown's next creation for the program was a sleepy bloodhound called Beauregard Burnside III, who came to full attention when "hotdogs, hamburgers, spaghetti and meatballs" was said into his ear. Macintosh Mouse came to the show to work in the castle mailroom.

In 1961, Thomas began hosting a weekly series called Family Classics where he served as the host, introducing classic movies which were suitable for family viewing. Brown was also the art director for this program, taking Thomas' designs for the set and turning them into a warm study, complete with a Brown oil painting of Garfield Goose. The portrait and set are part of the exhibits at the Museum of Broadcast Communications.

When Ray Rayner started his programs Ray Rayner and His Friends and the Dick Tracy Show on WGN-TV, Brown was hired as art director, creating a dog puppet called Tracer for the Tracy show. He also did puppetry on Rayner's morning show for a character called Cuddly Dudley, a large, orange dog created by WGN-TV's owner, the Chicago Tribune, as a promotional item. The Cuddly Dudley puppet and his dog house are now part of the Museum of Broadcast Communication's collection. He stayed on the Rayner show until it went off the air in 1981. When Rayner joined the "Bozo's Circus" cast as country clown Oliver O. Oliver, Brown designed and built the noses for the character. Among Brown's other creations were puppets for other WGN television shows, such as The Blue Fairy, Treetop House, and Paddleboat, which starred a pre-Bozo's Circus Ned Locke.