Chucko the Birthday Clown

Another bit of childhood memories and the Golden Age of Los Angeles television has passed on.

If you were a kid growing up in 1950s and 1960s Los Angeles, no doubt you watched the Chucko the Birthday Clown show.

From the Los Angeles Times:

Charles M. Runyon, who as Chucko the Birthday Clown was a popular Los Angeles children's TV show host in the 1950s and '60s, has died. He was 86.

Runyon died Saturday of respiratory failure in an assisted-living facility in Grants Pass, Ore., said his son, Randy Runyon.

On KABC-TV Channel 7 from 1955 to 1963 and on KTTV Channel 11 from 1963 to 1964, Runyon's Chucko the Clown was a familiar -- and welcome -- sight to thousands of young Southern California viewers.

The jovial and genteel clown wore a spinning merry-go-round hat with his name on it, a half red and half red-and-white-striped clown suit with a fluffy Elizabethan-style collar and cuffs, and white gloves; and he had arching blue eyebrows on a white face with a rhinestone-tipped nose and an upturned red smile.

His live, hourlong show included cartoons, special guests and games with his studio audience, which consisted of two children celebrating their birthdays and their young friends.

At the end of the show, the camera would show a large birthday cake, and Chucko would sing: "Here's a hap, hap, happy birthday from me (that's me), to you (that's you). . . ."

During his heyday, Runyon's Chucko would open the television coverage of the annual Santa Claus Lane Parade by jumping through a bass drum head.

"They'd say, 'And now from Hollywood, the Santa Claus Lane Parade' -- and BOOM! -- he'd bust through the drum and usually bow and salute," recalled Randy Runyon, who said his father spent most of his time during the parade outside the car that was provided for him and danced along with the marching bands.

Chucko also made countless personal appearances at supermarkets and shopping centers. "He'd pull into, say, the Topanga Plaza or whatever and there'd be thousands of people as far as you could see," his son said.

For his personal appearances, Runyon created a circus wagon -- a converted delivery truck with a stage on top.

I remember seeing Chucko and his circus wagon in the early 1960s at the Food Giant market at Western Ave. and Imperial Highway in Los Angeles. Back in those days, color television was extremely rare, so seeing Chucko's colorful costume and make-up was something to behold!

After leaving television, Chucko performed birthday shows at the Jungleland wild animal amusement park in Thousand Oaks until it closed in 1969.

He later retired to Oregon.

Thanks, Mr. Runyon for the memories.