Cast
The action of the program centered around its eponymous host. Tico Bonomo said that finding a host wasn't easy. "You can't teach clowns to do magic, you have to have a magician and turn him into a clown. And, believe me, it's tough teaching a good magician to put on white face and act like a clown."
The first "Magic Clown" was known only by his stage name, Zovella, and he hosted the program from its inception in 1949 until 1952. At that time, a comedian named Richard DuBois took over, serving even after the show was cancelled by NBC and moved to DuMont-owned WABD, until 1958, when the show moved to Newark, NJ based WNTA.
The WNTA run was hosted by comedian, mimic, cartoonist, and puppeteer Doug Anderson, with assistance from his wife, former model Gayle Anderson. The couple added new segments to the show, including informational pieces and in-studio interviews as the show expanded from a weekly to a weekday basis. The Andersons, however, choked at the amount of creative control the sponsor had over the show, and the show was cancelled after only one year on WNTA.
A short-lived revival of the program, produced in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, was created for syndication in 1970. The Magic Clown was performed in this version by now-famous magician James Randi (a.k.a. "The Amazing Randi.")
Read more about this topic: The Magic Clown
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“indolence read as abnegation,
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every lapse forgiven, our crime
only to cast too bold a shadow
or smash the mold straight off.”
—Adrienne Rich (b. 1929)
“By the time a person has achieved years adequate for choosing a direction, the die is cast and the moment has long since passed which determined the future.”
—Zelda Fitzgerald (1900–1948)
“You have overcome yourself: but why do you show yourself to me only as the one overcome? I want to see the victor: cast roses into the abyss and say, “Here is my thanks to the monster, because it didn’t know how to swallow me!””
—Friedrich Nietzsche (1844–1900)