James H. Allen (b. May 15, 1928) portrayed the clown character Rusty Nails and was the host of various children's television shows in the Portland, Oregon, U.S. television market from 1957–1972. His program on KPTV was the second-longest running children's program in Portland, second only to Ramblin' Rod Anders.
He hosted shows on KOIN, KPTV, and KATU as Rusty Nails (originally known as Rusty the Clown), and at last report, still makes local appearances.
Matt Groening, who grew up in Portland watching the shows, loosely based the Krusty the Clown character from The Simpsons on the real-life clown, though Groening says that Krusty's cantankerous nature is nothing like Rusty Nails.
Famous quotes containing the words rusty and/or nails:
“The feathers of the willow
Are half of them grown yellow
Above the swelling stream;
And ragged are the bushes,
And rusty now the rushes,
And wild the clouded gleam.”
—Richard Watson Dixon (1833–1900)
““There comes Emerson first, whose rich words, every one,
Are like gold nails in temples to hang trophies on,
Whose prose is grand verse, while his verse, the Lord knows,
Is some of it pr—No, ‘t is not even prose;
I’m speaking of metres;”
—James Russell Lowell (1819–1891)