Bozo (comic strip)

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Bozo
Author(s)Francis "FoXo" Reardon
Websitehttps://www.gocomics.com/bozo
Launch date1925
End date1955
Syndicate(s)The Times-Dispatch, Chicago Sun-Times Syndicate, Universal Press Syndicate/Universal Uclick/Andrews McMeel Syndication (2021–present)

Bozo is the first pantomime-style comic strip, was created by the cartoonist Francis X. Reardon (with the pen name , or FoXo Reardon), who penned it beginning from 1921, until his death in 1955. Bozo is called America's original pantomime comic strip. Bozo ran both as a daily comic strip as well as on Sundays.[1][2][3]

The word "bozo", that was practically unknown in the 1920s, was popularized by the cartoonist Foxo Reardon through this weekly newspaper strip, decades before the appearance of Bozo the Clown.[4]

About Bozo Comics[]

The character Bozo was created by Foxo Reardon at age 16.[5] Starting as early as 1925, the comic strip appeared as a local weekly in The Times-Dispatch until it achieved national and international syndication through the Chicago Sun-Times Syndicate in 1945.[2] Bozo appeared in the Richmond Times-Dispatch on Sunday for twenty years before it was syndicated nationally and internationally by Field Enterprises in 1945.[6] Bozo was syndicated from 1945 to 1955.[4][7]

In 1943, the Times-Dispatch called Bozo "the world's first pantomime comic strip," predating comics like Henry, The Little King, and other pantomime-style comics that arrived in the 1930s. Unlike most other pantomime comics where at least one or the other character may speak a word or a sentence, any of the characters in Bozo did not originally speak a word. [2][5]

From an article in the Richmond-Times Dispatch on March 24, 1935, the cartoonist himself, FoXo Reardon, says that, "Bozo and Bozanne were born in 1924 and I had to do em in pantomime because I hadn't learned to spell yet... ...But now I know all about spelling because the editorial department bought a new dictionary and I swiped the old one...", and the article goes on to say that, "So now every once in a while Bozo opens that big mouth of his and says something, but his pantomime is still his best humor."[5]

The Times-Dispatch conducted a 1935 survey of 1,500 readers and found Bozo to be the second most popular comic, behind "Bringing Up Father". Once it reached syndication, the Chicago Sun-Times Syndicate conducted a similar survey where readers voted it the most popular comic carried by that syndicate. The Chicago Sun-Times Syndicate promoted Bozo as the world's original pantomime comic strip.[2] The Bulletin of the Virginia Press Association (in page 8 and page 15) dated May 1946 called Bozo "The Mighty Nobody an Antidote For Blues".[8]

These classic Bozo comics are being republished by Andrew Mc Meel's comics website Go Comics since February 22, 2021.[4]

Main Characters[]

  • Bozo: The title character. A short and unimpressive-looking man called Bozo. The syndicate described him as "America's roughneck."[1]
  • Bozann: Bozo's beautiful girlfriend.
  • Man with an umbrella: A mysterious "man with the umbrella" who appeared in the background in several strips, who, on very rare occasions appeared in the foreground too.

External Links[]

Bozo on Go Comics

References[]

  1. ^ a b Team, GoComics (2021-07-26). "A Firsthand History of 'Bozo', the World's First Pantomime-Style Strip | GoComics.com". GoComics. Retrieved 2021-09-23.
  2. ^ a b c d "About Bozo Comic Strips - GoComics". www.gocomics.com. Retrieved 2021-09-23.
  3. ^ Reardon, Michael T. (2008). Whistling down the halls : the times and cartoons of America's original pantomime comic strip artist. Albany, GA. ISBN 978-1-59393-149-0. OCLC 232606246.
  4. ^ a b c "A New Panel and An Old Strip Added to GoComics". The Daily Cartoonist. 2021-03-03. Retrieved 2021-09-23.
  5. ^ a b c "Bozo by FoXo". The Daily Cartoonist. 2021-07-27. Retrieved 2021-09-23.
  6. ^ "Foxo Reardon". lambiek.net. Retrieved 2021-09-23.
  7. ^ Holtz, Allan (2012). American Newspaper Comics. doi:10.3998/mpub.2133963. ISBN 9780472117567.
  8. ^ Bulletin. Virginia Press Association. 1944.
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